LOUISIANA MILLIONAIRE MOBILE BAY HEADS FIELD OF EIGHT IN SATURDAY’S STAR GUITAR STAKES

By Ryan Martin —-

NEW ORLEANS (March 28, 2018) – In the final stakes event of the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots’ Winter Meet, Tigertail Ranch’s Mobile Bay will put a four-race win streak on the line in the $75,000 Star Guitar Stakes, a mile-and-a-sixteenth event on the main track for Louisiana-breds 4-years-old and upward.

Slated as the 8-5 morning line favorite by Fair Grounds clocker and odds maker Mike Diliberto, the 6-year-old son of Lone Star Special enters Saturday’s event off of victories in two stakes events which he won for the second consecutive year – the Delta Downs Premier Night Championship Stakes on February 10 and the Louisiana Champions Day Classic on December 9. He overcame a ten month layoff when taking the latter of the two races, his first start since his victory in last year’s Delta Downs Premier Night Championship. Breaking from the outside under jockey Diego Saenz, Mobile Bay possesses a major class advantage over the field, as he is the only horse in the field with multiple stakes wins against open company As a 3-year-old, he won the Grade II Super Derby at Louisiana Downs and the Zia Park Derby at its namesake track. The following year he triumphed in Sam Houston’s Maxxam Gold Cup and the Sunland Park Handicap later that spring. Trained by Victor Arceneaux, he boasts a record of 8-3-2-1 over the Fair Grounds main track and $1,198,440 in lifetime earnings.

If Mobile Bay wishes to add another stakes victory to his already loaded resume, he will have to face some familiar foes that will be out for revenge. Breaking from post five under Florent Geroux at 6-1 odds is Grande Basin who was just a nose behind Mobile Bay in the Louisiana Champions Day Classic in December. The 6-year-old son of Good And Tough was also last year’s winner of the Star Guitar Stakes and has gone winless in nine starts since then. He is owned by William J. Deckwa Jr. in partnership with John Carbo and is trained by Eddie Johnston.

Mallory Greiner’s Underpressure (post seven, Colby Hernandez, 5-2) was third behind Mobile Bay in the Louisiana Champions Day Classic three starts back and was only a nose behind in the Delta Downs Premier Night Championship Stakes. Last out he finished fourth in the Owner Appreciation Cup Stakes at Delta Downs on March 10.

Rounding out the field are Mageez (post one, Shaun Bridgmohan, 6-1), Paddy O’Lionel (post two, James Graham, 8-1), Theoryintopractice (post three, Marcelino Pedroza, 20-1), Morning Mischief (post four, Mitchell Murrill, 8-1) and Nubin Ridge (post six, Jansen Melancon, 12-1).

The Star Guitar Stakes is named in honor of the all-time richest Louisiana-bred who also was a four-time Louisiana Horse of the Year. He earned $1,749,862 in career earnings while finding the winner’s circle 24 times in 30 career starts. Such wins included multiple victories in the state of Louisiana’s premier races for homebreds, including the Louisiana Champions Day Classic, Delta Downs, Premier Night Championship Stakes, Evangeline Mile Handicap. He currently stands at Clear Creek Farm in Folsom, La. for $6,500 and has produced stakes winners Testing One Two, Minit To Stardom and Grade I placed Givemeaminit.

Cover Photo: Mobile Bay; Hodges Photography

About Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots
Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, the nation’s third-oldest racetrack, has been in operation since 1872. Located in New Orleans, LA, Fair Grounds is owned by Churchill Downs Incorporated (NASDAQ Global Select Market: CHDN); it also operates a slot-machine gaming facility and 11 off-track betting parlors throughout southeast Louisiana. The 146th Thoroughbred Racing Season – highlighted by the 105thrunning of the Louisiana Derby – will run from November 18, 2017 through March 31, 2018. More information can be found online at www.FairGroundsRaceCourse.com.