The Todd Pletcher-trained trio of horses who arrived
Wednesday in New Orleans for three different
graded races on Saturday’s Louisiana Derby Preview Day at Fair Grounds
all got the feel of the local atmosphere Thursday morning with leisurely
gallops around the Crescent
City course.
“Discreetly Mine had a relaxed gallop of a
mile-and-a-quarter and Devil May Care and Blues Street both
jogged a mile,” said longtime Pletcher assistant Ginny DePasquale, who
will saddle all three horses Saturday. “When they got here yesterday, they all
settled in right away without any problem.”
Discreetly Mine, owned by Paul Robsham, is the 5-1 third
choice in the morning line for Saturday’s Grade II Risen Star Stakes,
the final local prep for the $750,000 Louisiana
Derby
March 27. The son of Mineshaft had his last work with a handy four-furlong
move in 48.80 at Palm Meadows last Sunday. The colt concluded his juvenile
season with runner-up finishes in Belmont’s Grade II Futurity and Grade I
Champagne last fall, and then finished fourth in Gulfstream’s $100,000
Spectacular Bid Stakes Jan. 9 following a troubled trip.
Glencrest Farm’s Devil May Care is the 3-1 morning line
favorite for Saturday’s Grade III Silverbulletday Stakes for
3-year-old fillies as the designed prep for the Grade II Fair Grounds Oaks
March 26. Four of the last five Fair Grounds Oaks winners have gone on win
the Grade I Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. Devil May Care, a daughter of
Malibu Moon, worked five furlongs handily in 1:00.60 at Palm Meadows Sunday.
She has been away from competition since a troubled trip in the Grade I
Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies last Nov. 6, but had won Belmont’s Grade I
Frizette before that on Oct. 10.
Antsu Stable’s Blues Street, a 6-year-old altered son of
Street Cry, is the 6-1 co-third choice in the morning line for Saturday’s Grade
III Fair Grounds Handicap, to be run over the Stall-Wilson turf course in
preparation for the Grade II Mervin Muniz Memorial Handicap March 27.
A winner of his last two starts, Blues
Street breezed four
furlongs in 50.40 at Palm Meadows last Monday while the “dogs” were well out
from the rail.
Risen Star Runners Drosselmeyer, Tempted to Tapit Get
Gallops
WinStar Farm’s highly regarded Drosselmeyer,
conditioned by Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and the 4-1 second choice
in the $300,000 Risen Star morning line, trained before the break by galloping
a mile-and-a-half around the track, according to Mott’s Fair Grounds-based
assistant Mike Kaetzel.
Drosselmeyer, who broke his maiden last Nov. 18 at
Churchill Downs and then was visually impressive breaking out of first-level
allowance company Jan. 31 at Gulfstream, completed his serious Risen Star
training by breezing a half-mile in 50 last Sunday at Payson Park.
Gainesway Stable’s Tempted to Tapit, who arrived in New
Orleans on the same Wednesday
flight with Drosselmeyer and Discreetly Mine, galloped Thursday morning shortly
after the break. Trainer Steve Klesaris expressed satisfaction with the
local exercise accomplished shortly after the break.
In his last start, Tempted to Tapit broke his maiden at
Aqueduct by 11 1/ 2-lengths on Jan. 18, and has posted three works at
Gulfstream since then. The most recent came Monday, when he breezed four
furlongs in 48.80.
Updated Post Times at Fair Grounds for Saturday’s Louisiana Derby
Preview Day
With 13 races including six stakes – four of which are
graded – Fair Grounds will have an early first post of 12:10 p.m.
CST Saturday, and the second half of the Daily Double will go to the post at
12:42 p.m.
The third, fourth and fifth races will go off at 1:14 p.m.,
1:45 p.m. and 2:15 p.m. respectively, and the 44th running of the $60,000 Pan
Zareta Stakes as the sixth race will leave the gate at 2:45 p.m. The 23
rd running of the $60,000 Colonel Power Stakes as the seventh race
and the first leg of an All-Stakes Pick 4 that offers a guaranteed pool
of $125,000 with a minimum wager of 50 cents, will go postward at 3:15
p.m.
Saturday’s eighth race, the Grade III Silverbulletday
Stakes, will have a post time of 3:45 p.m., and the ninth, the Grade III
Fair Grounds Handicap, will leave the gate at 4:16 p.m.
The Grade II Risen Star Stakes, showcase race of
Saturday afternoon as the 10th race and also the final designed local prep for
the Grade II Louisiana Derby
March 27, has a post time of 4:48 p.m.
Completing the stakes portion of Saturday’s program will be
the Grade III Mineshaft Handicap as the 11th race of the day at 5:18
p.m. The Mineshaft Handicap also serves as a preview of the upcoming Grade
II New Orleans
Handicap March 27.
Saturday’s 12th race goes to the post at 5:47 p.m. and the
13th event as the finale of the expanded gala afternoon will leave the gate at
6:15 p.m.
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