GUEST SUITE LUXURIOUS IN LECOMTE; FARRELL FIRES IN SILVERBULLETDAY

By Brian Spencer
Michael Adolphson —-

NEW ORLEANS (January 21, 2017) – William S. Farish and Lora Jean Kilroy’s Neil Howard-trained Guest Suite showed professionalism and class with a 1¼-length victory in Saturday’s showcase event at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots on Road to the Derby Kickoff Day presented by Hotel Monteleone. The 73rd running of the Grade III $200,000 Lecomte Stakes, for 3-year-olds over a mile and 70 yards on the main track, is the first of three New Orleans stepping stones to the Grade I $2,000,000 Kentucky Derby presented by Yum! Brands at Churchill Downs on May 6.

After breaking from post eight of 11, the gelded bay son of Quality Road sat comfortably in mid-pack in sixth, while longshot Phat Man and 4-1 second choice Running Mate carved out quick fractions of 23.42 for the quarter and 46.47 for the half over the sealed, muddy going. Launching a bid at the top of the stretch under Robby Albarado – who was recording his 4,999th career victory – Guest Suite swept past those two, as well as John C. Oxley’s Mark Casse-trained eventual third-place finisher Takeoff, to hit the front with more than an eighth of a mile remaining. Stopping the clock in 1:43.20, the Kentucky homebred held off Michael Langford’s Steve Asmussen-trained Untrapped, who rallied well for the place, a half-length ahead of Takeoff. Guest Suite earned 10 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard for his win.

“I had a great trip,” Albarado said. “He’s a nice horse and Neil has done an exceptional job with him. He’s growing up. He’s a smart horse and that makes it easy. He’s been training forwardly. I just show up for the races – they do all the work, the Howard stable.”

“Everyone has the same goals looking ahead after getting started in a race like this,” Howard added. “Obviously it was nothing short of great to see that kind of performance. Providing everything went well, we had (focused on this race) after Churchill. It’s hard because you try to give them a little bit of a break. I certainly think that everything is in front of him, but it’s too hard to tell. There are some really good ones out there, not the least of which is Ian’s horse (McCracken) who is very talented, but I thought this was a good gauge for him because it was a nice bunch of 3-year-olds. He has [turned a corner]. He has had a great schedule and hasn’t missed a beat training and has trained wonderfully down here.”

“Running first time long, I’m happy with him,” jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr., said of Untrapped. “He ran big and we tried to teach him something. He finished really good.”

“I love how he fought on late, for his first two turn race,” Asmussen added.
“It went well,” jockey Florent Geroux said of Takeoff. “It was a hot pace. From where we were (in the gate), there weren’t many options. It was either take back or go forward and when he broke sharply, I just followed Running Mate. I knew we were going quick, but I knew I couldn’t take back at that point.”

“He did everything right,” Casse’s assistant David Carroll added. “That’s what you want to see.”

Donegal Racing’s Brad Cox-trained Arklow under Brian Hernandez, Jr., and Klaravich Stables and William H. Lawrence’s Tom Amoss-trained Shareholder Value under Shaun Bridgmohan rallied well to finish a head and half-length back in fourth and fifth, with a large gap back to the remainder of the field.

“He ran well and had a perfect trip,” Hernandez said of Arklow. “We were behind the winner and I knew he was the horse to beat. We ended up with a good fourth with a horse who was giving up a lot of experience. He has a long run to him, which will be nice later on in the year and will improve as these races stretch out.”

“He settled well and made a very nice run, which you always like to see,” Amoss said of Shareholder Value. “He ran well and was very professional. Hopefully he will move forward from here.”

It was another 8½ lengths back to Phat Man, who led Tip Tap Tapizar, Marco Mischief, Running Mate, Totality and Pat On the Back to complete the running order.

Guest Suite won for the third time in five career starts and annexed his first stakes event. Overall, he has yet to finish off the board and was previously stakes-placed two back when third in the Street Sense Stakes behind highly regarded McCracken. He earned $120,000 to increase his career bankroll to $203,840.

Guest Suite returned $7.60, $5 and $3.60 as the 5-2 favorite. Untrapped returned $6.40 and $4.80. Takeoff returned $5 to show.

FARRELL FIRES IN SILVERBULLETDAY;
KITTEN’S ROAR GETS REVENGE IN KRANTZ
Farrell; Hodges Photography/Amanda Hodges Weir

Coffeepot Stables’ homebred filly Farrell was bet down to 4-5 odds and responded with a solid showing in the Listed $150,000 Silverbulletday Stakes, the first of three New Orleans stepping stones to the Grade I $1,000,000 Longines Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 5. After breaking well from post three of six sophomore fillies, the Wayne Catalano trainee raced comfortably in second off Naveed Chowhan’s Bernie Flint-trained Gris Gris through splits of 23.80, 47.67 and 1:13.31. Launching a bid on the turn, she was followed and challenged by another high-profile filly in Winchell Thoroughbreds Steve Asmussen-trained Untapped, a full-sister to Oaks-winning champion Untapable, but repelled that charge at the top of the stretch and shook free to win by 2¾ lengths over Lee Mauberret’s rallying Brendan Walsh trainee, Wicked Lick. Farrell completed the mile and 70 yards in 1:44.01.

Farrell won her second consecutive stakes following the Grade II Golden Rod Stakes on Nov. 26 at the site of the Oaks, Churchill Downs. The half-sister to Grade I winners J B’s Thunder and Carpe Diem won for the third time in five career attempts and earned $90,000 to increase her career bankroll to $241,357. She returned $3.60, $2.80 and $2.10 to her wagering faithful, while Wicked Lick, under Brian Hernandez, Jr., returned $5.60 and $3.80 and Gris Gris held on for third, returning $4.20 under James Graham.

“This is a very classy filly,” Hill said. “She’s bred to be a good horse and the whole barn has done a good job getting her to this level. She shut off really nicely for me, took a few deep breaths down the backside and then punched home when [Untapped] came outside of me.”

“It went accordingly,” Catalano said. “Channing thought (Gris Gris) would have some speed, so I told him we would just go to the front and sit right off her. That’s what we did. We had a nervous moment (at the top of the stretch), but not a whole bunch. You want to wait until mid-stretch here before you really worry. At that point, she was looking nice and Channing was sitting pretty good.

“We had a great trip,” Hernandez said. “I knew I had horse and at the top of the stretch I thought I could maybe out-grind them. She finished off really good and is getting better and better as we go along. Every race is an improvement.”

“I’m really happy with her performance,” Walsh added. “She keeps getting better.”

James Graham was very pleased with 16-1 longshot Gris Gris’ performance. “The winner was always outside us, so I broke and said ‘let’s go’,” he said. “My filly never stopped running. She wasn’t even handling the track that well, but she ran as well as she did, so I hope she moves forward.”

“I was a little wider than I thought I would be, but overall it was a clean trip,” jockey Florent Geroux said of Untapped, the morning-line favorite and 6-5 second choice at post time. “I tried to follow Farrell around and we got out-kicked down the stretch. Last time we easily beat the runner-up, so sometimes you never know. We’ll get her another day.”

Summertime Sky, Untapped and Seeking Bull completed the order of finish.

One race later, older fillies and mares took to the Stall-Wilson turf course for the $75,000 Marie G. Krantz Memorial over 1 1/16 miles. Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey’s Kitten’s Roar turned the tables on Richard and Bertram Klein’s Cash Control when posting a nose score. Trained by Mike Maker, Kitten’s Roar avenged a head loss in last month’s Blushing K. D. with a perfect, pace-pressing trip under jockey Miguel Mena. Settled just outside of longshot leader Dynazar through splits of 24.14, 49.71 and 1:14.82, the 5-year-old daughter of Kitten’s Joy assumed command in the stretch after a mile in 1:38.88 and completed the trip in 1:44.92.

Darrell and Sadie Brommer’s Richie Scherer-trained Prado’s Sweet Ride nearly overcame a troubled trip under jockey Francisco Torres, but her furious rally fell just inches short at the wire. Winter Quarter Farm’s Tom Proctor trainee Cambodia was another 1¼ lengths back in third under Robby Albarado.

“She’s very nice,” Mena said after posting his third stakes win on the card. “They asked me to see how it goes from the gate, and we broke on top, and we had it our way today laying second. It worked out great; she was the best horse.”

A consistent type, Kitten’s Roar won for the fifth time in 12 lifetime starts, earned $45,000 to boost her lifetime bankroll to $316,958 and returned $5.80, $3.40 and $2.40. Prado’s Sweet Ride paid $7.40 and $3.40 while Cambodia returned $2.60.

Race favorite Cash Control and Dynazar completed the running order. Factory of Faith, Freudie Anne, Gianna’s Dream, I’m a Chatterbox, Include Betty, Steel Cut and Whiskey Eyes were scratched.

Cover Photo: Guest Suite; Hodges Photography, Lou Hodges, Jr