FAIR GROUNDS NOTES: INSTILLED REGARD LEADS LIST OF PROBABLES FOR GRADE II RISEN STAR

By Ryan Martin —-

Instilled Regard Leads List Of Probables For Grade II Risen Star
• Finley’sluckycharm Makes Seasonal Bow In Mardi Gras
• Walsh Considers Fair Grounds Oaks For Maiden Winner Lesley May

INSTILLED REGARD LEADS LIST OF PROBABLES FOR GRADE II RISEN STAR

The Grade II $400,000 Risen Star Stakes Presented by LaMarque Ford headlines an action packed program on Louisiana Derby Preview Day, which is next Saturday, Feb. 17. The mile-and-a-sixteenth event on the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots main track is a part of Churchill Downs’ Road to The Kentucky Derby and awards the Top 4 finishers points on a 50-20-10-5 scale. Heading a list of probables for the event include OXO Equine LLC’s Instilled Regard, who shipped to the New Orleans oval from Southern California to take the Gr. III Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 13. Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer conditions the 3-year-old son of Arch, who sits at No. 8 on the Leaderboard with 14 points having acquired 10 from his Lecomte triumph and 4 from a runner-up effort in the Gr. I Los Alamitos Futurity. In the Lecomte, Instilled Regard defeated a pair of Steve Asmussen trainees in Principe Guilherme and Snapper Sinclair who ran a respective second and third and also are probable for the Risen Star.

Other probables for the event include Bravazo, Ebben, Givemeaminit, High North, Noble Indy and Supreme Aura.

Five other stakes events will take place on Louisiana Derby Day including the Gr. II $200,000 Rachel Alexandra Stakes (50-20-10-5), the second of three local preps for the Gr. I Longines Kentucky Oaks. Probable entrants for this event include Actress On Board, Heavenly Love, Monomoy Girl, Patrona Margarita, Testing One Two and Wonder Gadot.

Other probable entrants for the remaining four stakes races are as follows:

Gr. III $150,000 Mineshaft Handicap: Cedartown, First Premio, No Distortion, Rich Daddy, Team Colors and Thirstforlife.

Gr. III $150,000 Fair Grounds Handicap: Catcho En Die (Arg.), Great Wide Open (Ire.), Mr. Misunderstood, One Mean Man, Synchrony and Zulu Alpha.

The $75,000 Albert Stall Memorial Stakes: Giada Vegas, Hallie Belle, Inveniam Viam, Mom’s On Strike and She’s A True Beauty.

The $50,000 Colonel Power Overnight Stakes: Balandeen, Commend, Flashaway, Holding Gold and Will Call.

FINLEY’SLUCKYCHARM MAKES SEASONAL BOW IN MARDI GRAS

Carl R. Moore Management LLC’s Finley’sluckycharm will make her 5-year-old debut in the $75,000 Mardi Gras Stakes, the featured event on Fat Tuesday which is run at the five-and-a-half furlong distance for fillies and mares three years old and upward on the Stall-Wilson Turf Course.

The daughter of Twirling Candy scored a trio of graded stakes wins last year, which took place in Churchill Downs’ Winning Colors Stakes and Chicago Handicap – both Grade III events – and the Gr. II Honorable Miss at Keeneland in October. Her last start was a well-beaten ninth in the Gr. I Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 4. The Mardi Gras Stakes will be her first start on grass.

“It gives us good spacing between this spot and the next,” trainer Bret Calhoun said. “She’s ready. There was ($50,000 Nelson J. Menard Memorial Stakes) the second weekend of March, but this race came up at the right time. I had this race in mind for a while, but I wanted to give her a couple of works before I decided and she worked great.”

The Mardi Gras forecast in the New Orleans area calls for an 80% chance of rain, according to the National Weather Service. Calhoun stated that the mare will start should the race get taken off the turf.

Regular rider Brian Hernandez, Jr. will have the mount when she breaks from the seven hole.

WALSH CONSIDERS FAIR GROUNDS OAKS FOR MAIDEN WINNER LESLEY MAY

Stonestreet Stables LLC’s Lesley May didn’t get over the sloppy main track easily on Saturday, but she was good enough to out finish a stubborn Actress On Board down the Fair Grounds stretch to break her maiden at third asking under jockey Florent Geroux.

The 3-year-old daughter of leading North American sire Tapit is out of the Arch mare Captivating, who is a half-sister to millionaire and 2012 Canadian Horse of the Year Uncaptured. In her career debut at Churchill Downs in November, she was third beaten 7 ¼ lengths behind Cicatrix who, next out won the Glitter Woman Stakes at Gulfstream Park. Lesley May finished third once more beaten a neck in December at the Fair Grounds.

“I don’t think she’s in love with the slop, she struggled a little (Saturday),” trainer Brendan Walsh said. “I think that a dry track should suit her much better. She overcame that though. She’s a nice filly and I think that we’re going to have a nice year with her.”

Walsh did not rule out a start in the Gr. II $400,000 Fair Grounds Oaks at the end of the Winter Meet, which is the last of three local preps on Churchill Downs’ Road To The Kentucky Oaks.

“We’ll take a look at it and see how she comes out of it,” Walsh said.

Photos Courtesy of Hodges Photography