Way to Be Marie Leads Baker’s Dozen in Wide Open Tom Benson

By Kein Kilroy —-

Way to Be Marie Leads Baker’s Dozen in Wide Open Tom Benson

12/30/2023 – Jockey Ben Curtis aboard Tufani pulls away from the field to win the 40th running of the $100,000 Pago Hop Stakes at Fair Grounds. Hodges Photography / Amanda Hodges Weir
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New Orleans, La (March 17, 2025) – Knocking on the door with four stakes placings from five tries, Way to Be Marie leads the morning line in Saturday’s wide-open and well-attended $150,000 Tom Benson Memorial on Saturday at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. Thirteen older fillies and mares signed on for the 1 1/16 miles turf contest which will lift the lid on an All Stakes Late Pick 5 that concludes with the $1 million TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby (G1).

One of eight stakes on the 12-race Louisiana Derby Day program, the Benson will go as race 8. The card averages 11 runners per field (not including also-eligibles). First post on Saturday is noon CT.

Owned by Robert LaPenta and Madaket Stables, Way to Be Marie’s most impressive run to date was in the Edgewood (G2) at Churchill Downs on the Kentucky Oaks undercard. Tending to a hot pace and grabbing the lead down the stretch, she got nailed at the wire by a rail rally from Dynamic pricing, one of two graded stakes placings on her resume. Trained by Rob Atras, the Not This Time 4-year-old ran a solid third to Nanda Dea last out in the Albert Stall. Regular rider Florent Geroux will break the tepid 4-1 morning line favorite from post 3.

Chief among her competition is the Irish-bred Fun With Flags who will be making her second North American start but her first for trainer Chad Brown. After winning her first three starts and placing in the Prix Cleopatre (G3), Fun With Flags was sold and brought to the states for the Belmont Oaks Invitational (G1) where she ran last of nine. Owned by Madaket Stables, Michael Kisber, Gainesway Stable and Erika Gilliar, he daughter of Zoffany’s worktab suggests she is plenty fit for her 4-year-old bow. Flavien Prat takes the call on Fun With Flags who drew the rail and was tabbed at 9-2.

Logical contenders in the Benson include Susan Naylor’s Tufani, who ran a better than looks fourth in the Stall for trainer Mike Stidham, and Paradise Farms Corp. and David Staudacher’s Stir Crazy, who took the Blushing K.D. and Marie Krantz for Mike Maker but exits a disappointing tenth in the Stall.

After the Benson, four graded stakes are included in the Late Pick 5, beginning with the $500,000 New Orleans Classic presented by Relyne GI By Hagyard (G2) and the $300,000 Muniz Memorial presented by Horse Racing Nation (G2). The $400,000 Fasig-Tipton Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) and the Louisiana Derby, the first preps on the Road to the Kentucky Derby and Oaks to offer 200 qualifying points, will conclude the sequence.

Closing day at Fair Grounds is Sunday, March 23. The last day of the 153rd Thoroughbred meet will showcase top statebred talent with three stakes on the 12-race card.

Here is the complete field for the $150,000 Tom Benson Memorial from the rail out (with jockey, trainer, and morning line):

1. Fun With Flags (IRE) (Flavien Prat, Chad Brown, 9-2)

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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.