Risen Star Stakes Handicapping Picks
Horse racing gamblers are you looking for 2022 Risen Star Stakes Free Pick & Handicapping Odds…plus some predictions? Need some advice on who to take? The 2022 Risen Star Stakes is set for February 19 at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana. Here’s a preview of our top contenders.
Risen Star Stakes Preview
- Race: Risen Star Stakes
- Purse: $400,000
- Track: Fair Grounds Race Course
- Date: February 19
- Post Time: 6:58 PM (ET)
- Live: Risen Star Stakes Odds: Click Here
2022 Risen Star Stakes Handicapping
The feature of an excellent Saturday card that includes seven stakes races at Fair Grounds, the (G2) Risen Star Stakes is the first of the 2022 Kentucky Derby qualifying races to award points on a 50-20-10-5 scale.
Several of the runners in this field already have points on the board, and given that 40 points will generally get you into the Derby field, at least one and possibly two horses in this race could punch their ticket to the Derby.
The Risen Star is run at 1 1/8 miles on the Fair Grounds dirt track.
Odds listed here are provided by the Fair Grounds track handicapper.
2022 Risen Star Stakes Free Pick & Handicapping: Smile Happy Race Odds: 7-2
One of the key angles in handicapping is to look for horses that in their previous race beat others that came back to win their next start. In winning the (G2) Jockey Club Stakes in late November Smile Happy beat not one, not two, but three other horses that came back to win their next start, all at the graded-stakes level.
He’s been off since then and will be making his three-yer-old debut stretching out in distance beyond the JC Stakes 1 1/16 miles.
Trainer Ken McPeek won this race way back in 2002, jockey Corey Lanerie gets the call.
2022 Risen Star Stakes Free Pick & Handicapping: Epicenter Race Odds: 4-1
The runner-up last out in the (G3) Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds, Epicenter almost took that field wire-to-wire but was just headed at the line by a 29-1 long shot that came rallying from way back. (That horse, incidentally, was one of the three next-out winners from the Jockey Club Stakes field).
Prior to that he was the easy winner of the Gun Runner Stakes, also at Fair Grounds. He’ll likely be on or close to the lead here right out of the gate.
Trainer Steve Asmussen is a two-time race winner, Joel Rosario will be in the irons.
2022 Risen Star Stakes Free Pick & Handicapping: Pappacap Race Odds: 4-1
The runner-up in the 2021 (G1) Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, Pappacap doesn’t have a win in his last four races but has hit the board in his last three, all at the graded-stakes level.
Last out he was third in the Lecomte but only a length back of the winner. One of the more experience runners in the field, he sports an overall record of two wins, two seconds and a third in six lifetime starts.
Trainer Mark Casse and jockey Tyler Gaffalione teamed up to win the Risen Star in 2019.
2022 Risen Star Stakes Free Pick & Handicapping: Zandon Race Odds: 9-2
The only horse in the race with a try at the distance, Zandon checked that box when finishing second by a nose after a very tough stretch battle in the (G2) Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct in early December.
It should be noted that race came back in a very slow time, and the winner could do no better than third next out in the (G2) Holy Bull Stakes where he was well beaten by one of the horses that finished behind Smile Happy in the Jockey Club.
Chad Brown and Jose Ortiz both go for their first Risen Star win as trainer and jockey, respectively.
Here’s My 2022 Risen Star Stakes Free Pick.
When all is said and done, this could prove to be the best race of the Kentucky Derby prep season and the winner will have to be regarded as a serious Derby contender.
I’ve been a bit of an Epicenter fan over the past couple of months and I think he deserved a better fate in the Lecomte where he was under pressure from the get-go and fought off all challengers, only to be headed late by a horse he probably didn’t see rallying down the middle of the track.
If he gets an easier lead here he could take them gate-to-wire. That being said, the quality of field that Smile Happy beat last out just can’t be ignored. Typically I’d have some concern with the layoff, but he’s put in six good works since the start of January and trainer McPeek should have him ready to go.
I seriously doubt I’ll get 7-2 when the gates open, but Smile Happy is my win pick.
Full Field: Risen Star Stakes Odds
(By post position)
- #1 – Pappacap 4-1
- #2 – Russian Tank 50-1
- #3 – Trafalger 10-1
- #4 – Tawny Port 12-1
- #5 – Epicenter 4-1
- #6 – Pioneer of Medina 12-1
- #7 – Zandon 9-2
- #8 – Smile Happy 7-2
- #9 – Bodock 10-1
- #10 – Slow Down Andy 9-2
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