Fair Grounds: Play With Fire Dares Six in Saturday’s Allen “Black Cat” LaCombe

By Kevin Kilroy —-

Play With Fire Dares Six in Saturday’s Allen “Black Cat” LaCombe

New Orleans, La (March 5, 2025) – Based on her eye-catching debut win, Fergus Galvin’s Play With Fire earned 3-1 morning line favoritism for Saturday’s $100,000 Allen “Black Cat” LaCombe Memorial at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. A field of seven 3-year-old fillies entered the “Black Cat” LaCombe which will be run at 1 1/16 miles on the Stall-Wilson turf course with the portable rail set at 21 feet.

Wiener Dog Racing returns to Fair Grounds on Saturday, March 8. Interspersed between the 9-race program, the speedy dachshunds will race in five heats with the winners facing off in the finals between race 7 and 8–right before the LaCombe which is slated as race 8. First post on Saturday is 12:45 p.m. CT.

Play With Fire made her juvenile debut on the local turf course, beating a field of ten and earning an 83 Brisnet Speed figure. The Brendan Walsh trainee tracked down Aterradora (IRE), who will also line up in the Lacombe starting gates. In Play With Fire’s one other start, the Oscar Performance fly bred in Minnesota by Lothenbach Stables ran an even fourth to Anonima in a main track allowance on the Lecomte undercard. On Saturday Play with Fire will return to the turf and be reunited with Declan Cannon.

Chief among her competition is George Messina and Michael Lee’s Fionn, the lone two-time winning filly in the lightly-raced bunch. Trained by Brad Cox, the Twirling Candy filly has shown off her late kick in both her maiden and allowance wins going the LaCombe distance on the Stall-Wilson. Marcelino Pedroza Jr. gets the call.

Logical contenders in the “Black Cat” include Godolphin’s Merry and Bright who will begin her 3-year-old campaign in the LaCombe for Mike Stidham and Richard Emmett’s Lady Orient, the most seasoned of the field with six starts, who will be stretching out for the first time as a sophomore for trainer Tom Amoss.

Both Stidham and Amoss hold the record with three “Black Cat” titles each. Amoss has won the last three editions with Ba Dee Yah, Girl Named Charlie, and Kneesnhips.

Here’s the complete field for the $100,000 Allen “Black Cat” LaCombe Memorial from the rail out (with jockey, trainer, and morning line odds):

Love and Poetry (Axel Concepcion, Cherie DeVaux, 4-1)
Play With Fire (Declan Cannon, Brendan Walsh, 3-1)
Lady Orient (Edgar Morales, Tom Amoss, 8-1)
Aterradora (Jareth Loveberry, Mike Maker, 7-2)
Merry and Bright (Ben Curtis, Mike Stidham, 8-1)
Fionn (Marcelino Pedroza Jr., Brad Cox, 7-2)
Exclusive Star (Mitchell Murrill, Eddie Kenneally, 5-1)

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About Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots

Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, one of the nation’s oldest racetracks, has been in operation since 1872. Located in New Orleans, La, Fair Grounds, which is owned by Churchill Downs Incorporated (NASDAQ Global Select Market: CHDN), also operates a slot-machine gaming facility and 15 off-track betting parlors throughout Southeast Louisiana. The 153rd Thoroughbred Racing Season–highlighted by the 112th running of the Louisiana Derby–will run from Nov. 22, 2024 through March 23, 2025. More information is available online at www.fgno.com.