Fair Grounds Barn Notes: Girvin and Farrell Exit Big Wins Well

By Michael Adolphson —-

• I’m a Chatterbox Gets Grass Shot
• Work Tab

GIRVIN AND FARRELL EXIT BIG WINS WELL

Both Brad Grady’s Girvin and Coffeepot Stables’ Farrell exited their Saturday Grade II victories well, according to their respective connections.

Joe Sharp-trained Girvin, who won the $400,000 Risen Star Stakes in a style beyond his seasoning, appeared no worse for the wear and jogged on Sunday morning. He earned a 102 Equibase Speed Figure while piloted by Brian Hernandez, Jr., and will now be pointed to the Grade II $1,000,000 Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby at nine furlongs on Apr. 1. A half-brother to Grade III winner Cocked and Loaded, who won a Laurel Park allowance race within an hour of the Risen Star, the son of Tale of Ekati was a $130,000 purchase at Fasig-Tipton’s Kentucky Fall 2015 Yearling Sale.

Coffeepot Stables’ homebred Farrell, a Wayne Catalano trainee, was in top shape Sunday morning after her victory in the Grade II $200,000 Rachel Alexandra Stakes, but her connections have yet to decide if she will have one more race before the Grade I $1,000,000 Kentucky Oaks on May 5. The daughter of Malibu Moon outclassed six rivals, including Breeders’ Cup-placed Valadorna in the process of her impressive gate-to-wire victory. The two races that are most likely to be under consideration are the Grade II $400,000 Fair Grounds Oaks on Apr. 1 and Grade I $500,000 Ashland Stakes exactly one week later.

Farrell, who earned a 98 Equibase Speed Figure, is another serious offspring from top broodmare Rebridled Dreams, who was fourth in the 2003 Fair Grounds Oaks and third in the Grade II Silverbulletday Stakes when it was contested in the same calendar position as the Rachel Alexandra. Her half-siblings include Grade I winner Carpe Diem, Grade I winner J. B.’s Thunder and Grade II-placed Semper Fortis.

Trainer Steve Asmussen also reported that his two colts from the Risen Star, Untrapped and Local Hero, exited their efforts in ‘excellent’ shape. Michael Langford’s Untrapped finished second in his second consecutive graded stakes in said event. Last month the son of Trappe Shot was a game runner-up in the Grade III Lecomte Stakes. Local Hero, a $500,000 Fasig-Tipton March graduate son of Hard Spun, set the pace in the Risen Star for owner e Five Racing Thoroughbreds and held on for third. Both horses were making just their fourth career starts.

I’M A CHATTERBOX GETS GRASS SHOT

While Farrell may be the new princess of the Fair Grounds, the queen still reigns from her stall in the Larry Jones barn, as Fletcher and Carolyn Gray’s I’m a Chatterbox is back in the entry box at the New Orleans oval.

The multiple Grade I winner exits a second in the Grade III Houston Ladies after a less than ideal trip and will finally get a chance to try to the turf on Mar. 4 – a surface her conditioner has long wanted to attempt with the daughter of Munnings out of a mare by turf Lost Soldier, a Grade III winner on the grass.

The chestnut earner of more than $2.3 million will break from post four and faces six fillies and mares, including minor stakes winners Freudie Anne and Inconclusive. Regular rider and leading local jockey Florent Geroux will be aboard in the one-mile event over the Stall-Wilson turf course.

WORK TAB

Recent stakes winner Union Jackson, who is also graded placed for Steve Asmussen and Stonestreet Stables, worked five furlongs in 1:01.60.

Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey’s Sir Dudley Digges, a Canadian classic winner, worked five furlongs in 1:01.80 for trainer Mike Maker.

Listed stakes winner Diadura, trained by Mike Stidham for Empyrean Stables and Two Princesses, worked an easy half-mile in 51.40 in what was only her second move since returning to the tab. She was last seen finishing off the board in the Grade I Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland in October.

Multiple minor stakes winner Inconclusive, who takes on I’m a Chatterbox in allowance company on Mar. 4, worked three furlongs in 38.20 for trainer Richie Scherer and owners Carolyn Friedberg and Jeff T. Larson.

Cover Photo: Girvin; Hodges Photography/Amanda Hodges Weir