135th Kentucky Derby – Risen Star May Yield a Contender
Preps for the 135th Kentucky Derby are off and running. There are many — some dating back before the world wars. Others are relative new like the $200,000 Risen Star Stakes that will be staged for the 36th time at Fair Grounds.
Navajo won the inaugural when the race was known as the Louisiana Derby Trial Stakes in 1973 – the year Secretariat won the Triple Crown.In ’88, Risen Star scored in the 15th running before the son of Secretariat captured the Louisiana Derby.
After Risen Star ran third in the Kentucky Derby, he triumphed in the Preakness and Belmont. The following year, the Louisiana Derby prep was named for him.
Since then four other 3-year-olds that won the Risen Star repeated in the Louisiana Derby: Pyro, last year; Repent, ’02; Comic Strip, ’98; and Dixieland Heat, ’93, when it was run in two divisions.
However, only two made the Run for the Roses and didn’t perform up to expectations: Pyro finished eighth and Dixieland Heat ran 12th. The last Risen Star winner to win the Kentucky Derby was Grindstone in ’96.
The 1 1/16-mile contest is wide open this year, but may produce a contender or two en route to Louisville. The baker’s dozen field will include Friesan Fire and It Happened Again, both trained by Larry Jones.
“Both horses have talent and both should are still learning the game,” he told Brisnet.com. “It’s up to them which one wants to become a major player and step up to the plate.”
Friesan Fire looks like he can coming off a 1 ½-length victory in the Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 10 at Fair Grounds after getting blinkers. A trio that finished behind the son of A. P. Indy are in the hunt: Au Moon, third; Uno Mas, fourth; and Indygo Mountain, sixth.
It Happened Again won the Triple Sec. Stakes on Jan. 16 at Deltra Downs, defeating another starter, Code of Honour, who finished third.
Indygo Mountain, another son of A. P. Indy, is the hard-luck sophomore so far this year. The Bret Calhoun trainee missed an allowance contest when it was canceled because of a freak snowstorm in New Orleans and then a hoof bruise cost him another start.
His most recent outing at Fair Grounds following an impressive maiden victory last fall at Churchill Downs was a nightmare from the start when he hit the gate from the ninth and outside post. He draws post 2 Saturday and jockey Jamie Theriot returns.
Au Moon wasn’t so lucky. The son of Malibu Moon will break from the outside 13th post. Next door is Flying Pegasus, who ran a strong second in the Belmont Park Futurity last September finishing ahead of Friesan Fire.
But since then the son of Fusaichi Pegasus has been out of action because he required surgery to repair an injured hind ankle.
Trainer Steve Asmussen sends out Dumar, a first-level allowance winner last month at the track along with Uno Mas.
Others in the field are Summer’s Empire, an Illinois-bred stakes winner at 2; Theregoesjojo, who captured an allowance race at Gulfstream; and Nowhere to Hide, a maiden winner that was scratched from the Holy Bull.
The entry going for Jones, who is retiring after the end of the year, looks like the horses to beat. He could use a little luck since his Derby horses were runner-ups two of the past three years: Hard Spun in ’06 and Eight Belles last year when she broke down and had to be euthinized.
