Top Barns Take Aim at Chip Honcho in Grade 3 $250,000 Lecomte

By Kevin Kilroy —-

Top Barns Take Aim at Chip Honcho in Grade 3 $250,000 Lecomte

NEW ORLEANS (Jan. 11, 2025) – Leland Ackerley Racing’s Gun Runner Stakes winner Chip Honcho anchors the field for Saturday’s Grade 3 $250,000 Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. The Steve Asmussen-trained colt meets 10 Derby hopefuls, including multiple runners from Brad Cox, Brendan Walsh, and Cherie DeVaux.

Written for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles, the 83rd running of the Lecomte will award 20-10-6-4-2 qualifying points on the 2026 Road to the Kentucky Derby. The race caps the Road to the Derby Day program, a 13-race card featuring six stakes worth $875,000. First post is noon CT.

Chip Honcho announced himself as an early Derby contender with a Gun Runner victory on Dec. 20 at Fair Grounds, earning 10 qualifying points. The Connect colt proved eager out of the gates before settling for jockey Paco Lopez, stalking Crown the Buckeye, and rallying gamely to prevail over Liberty National. Lopez faces a new challenge Saturday, as Chip Honcho draws post 11 after breaking from the rail in the Gun Runner.

A victory would give Asmussen a record fifth Lecomte win, surpassing Tom Amoss for the most since the race was restricted to 3-year-olds in 1962.

Tabbed as the lukewarm 4-1 morning line favorite, Paradise Farms Corp., David Staudacher, and Hooties Racing’s Crown the Buckeye returns after leading throughout but tiring late to finish third in the Gun Runner. Trained by Mike Maker, the two-time stakes winner tops the list of Ohio-bred Thoroughbreds by purchase price, selling for $250,000. Ricardo Santana Jr. will be in town to ride the Yaupon colt.

The primary threats to Chip Honcho, however, appear to be new faces making their first Derby prep starts.

Cox sends out three, led by Twin Creeks’ homebred White Tiger. The Constitution colt earned an 83 Beyer Speed Figure when second to Englishman in his debut at Churchill Downs, then wired the field at 1 1/16 miles in October, holding off Instant Impact. Irad Ortiz Jr. reunites with White Tiger, who draws post 8.

Cox will also saddle Calumet Farm’s homebred Thunder Buck who broke his maiden on the Gun Runner undercard, overcoming early trouble to edge out Lecomte rival Ocelli In his first attempt at two-turns, and West Paces Racing and Donegal Racing’s Quality Mischief, who finished fourth, only one length behind Chip Honcho in the Gun Runner.

Walsh enters two, headed by Trade Winds Farm’s Stop the Car. Perfect in two starts, the Maximum Security colt scored by open lengths going one mile on the Stars of Tomorrow II card at Churchill Downs. Ben Curtis rides. Ike and Dawn Thrash’s Carson Street, a last-out local maiden winner, has finished in the money in all four starts.

DeVaux will walk over both Phipps Stable’s Golden Tempo and LBD Stable’s Mesquite. A closing debut winner at six furlongs on the Gun Runner undercard, Golden Tempo retains Jose Ortiz, the meet’s leading rider. Mesquite, scratched from the Gun Runner after showing signs of a minor illness, will make his stakes debut with Flavien Prat aboard.

Here is the complete field for the Lecomte Stakes (G3) from the rail out with jockey, trainer, and morning line odds:

Quality Mischief (Marcelino Pedroza Jr., Brad Cox, 10-1)
Carson Street (Axel Concepcion, Walsh, 8-1)
Crown the Buckeye (Santana Jr., Maker, 4-1)
Exosome (Jareth Loveberry, Kelsey Danner, 20-1)
Golden Tempo (Ortiz, DeVaux, 8-1)
Thunder Buck (Luis Saez, Cox, 6-1)
Mesquite (Prat, DeVaux, 8-1)
White Tiger (Ortiz Jr., Cox, 8-1)
Ocelli (Joseph Ramos , Whit Beckman, 12-1)
Stop the Car (Curtis, Walsh, 8-1)
Chip Honcho (Lopez, Asmussen, 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 13 off-track betting parlors throughout Southeast Louisiana. The 154th Thoroughbred Racing Season–highlighted by the 113th running of the Louisiana Derby–will run from Nov. 20, 2025 through March 22, 2026. More information is available online at www.fgno.com.