The Louisiana Derby rolls into the Bayou Saturday at the Fair Grounds and the Grade 1 event at 9 furlongs offers a purse of a cool million.
There is a little of something for every handicapper’s taste as there are runners that just broke their maiden competing and proven stakes winners. The winner will earn 100 points and automatically qualify for the Kentucky Derby.
The winner of the Louisiana Derby will be trying to follow in the footsteps of Black Gold and Grindstone. Black Gold won this race in 1924 and went on to win the Kentucky Derby. Grindstone posted the same double in 1996.
Trainer Steve Asmussen won the Louisiana Derby last year with Gun Runner and he is back with the $500,000 purchase Local Hero. The name fits big time as the runner broke his maiden on this Fair Grounds surface by over seven lengths. He returned last month and set the pace in the Risen Star stakes before reality set in and he ran third.
Todd Pletcher will be looking for his fourth win in the Louisiana Derby and he will be represented Saturday by Patch and Monaco. Patch was bred by the iconic Calumet Stable and after a wide debut, he graduated at Gulfstream Park in a mile race with an 89 Beyer Speed Figure. Monaco was short in his racing debut at Saratoga and may not have liked a wet/fast strip in his 2017 opener. Pletcher shipped this son of Uncle Mo to Tampa Bay and the colt responded with a 12-length maiden victory but just with a 58 Beyer.
Hollywood Handsome has been pretty much and ugly duckling so far. It took him five starts to win and he needed a muddy strip to get there. He ran well for Dallas Stewart in his next race but fell short when third.
Senior Investment is maturing at a fast rate. He has nearly repaid his $95,000 purchase price winning two of his six starts. The sophomore has won at Fair Grounds and he has a nice turn of late foot.
Guest Suite proved he belongs with his win in the LeComte Stakes. He has tactical speed on his best day but was left with way too much work to do in his last race. In that effort, he was thirteen back early and had to settle for fourth.
If Sorry Erik wins the Louisiana Derby, it will be a feather in the cap of claimers. This runner was claimed from Doug O’Neill by Keith Asmussen in January and won his next race. He figures to be an outsider here after running seventh in the Risen Star at 60-1.
Conditioner Joe Sharp saddles two horses in the Louisiana Derby. He has Hotfoot, another reformed claimer, and the likely favorite Girvin.
Here is the way the race should unfold. Local Hero will go to the front. That is his style and he is very comfortable on the lead. Hotfoot doesn’t have a ton of class but he has speed. Monaco has positional zip and figures to be in the first flight. Patch and Guest Suite may be able to secure a stalking position.
This is a classically styled hidden entry. Hotfoot will be the rabbit in the Louisiana Derby. A rabbit in racing terms means a horse that is entered mainly to ensure a hot and legitimate pace. Hotfoot fits the bill as he has :46 and change speed and has made the lead in seven of his nine races.
Girvin is a true horse for the course. He broke his maiden at Fair Grounds showing extreme grit last December. Rested until February, the colt tried turf but had to settle for second. He entered the Risen Star Stakes as an 8-1 shot but relaxed in fifth early on before cruising home with a 93 Beyer. Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. is back in the saddle and Girvin should be able to reel all of his Louisiana Derby rivals in once again.
Sharp is a very solid young trainer but he doesn’t have a ton of experience in Graded stakes. He has won with two of his 37 Graded stakes runners but six others ran in the money. Those runners fired at odds between three and thirty-seven to one.
Louisiana Derby Highlighted at Fair Grounds
