Richard, Bertram and Elaine Klein’s Stay
Put joined the list of Steve Margolis-trained sophomores who have
passed their latest tests on the road to the Grade II, $750,000 Louisiana
Derby by coming from last place to win Sunday’s $45,000 allowance
optional claiming feature by one length in impressive fashion while going a
mile and 40 yards.
Earlier in the day, Mark Stanley’s
3-year-old filly Quiet Temper made similar strides toward the Grade II Fair
Grounds Oaks with a dominant front-running performance in a race with
similar conditions but restricted to members of the distaff set.
Margolis, who already has Sugar Bowl
Stakes hero Cool Bullet as a possible Grade III Lecomte starter
Jan. 23, could also run Stay Put in that event based on the way he ran Sunday.
“He’s a true distance horse that will
settle and make that one run,” said Margolis. “This horse will run all day.”
Stay Put, confidently ridden by Jamie
Theriot, leading rider at Fair Grounds two seasons ago, paid $16, $7 and
$4.40, toured the distance in 1:40.67 and increased his earnings to $59,600
with his second career win in four lifetime starts.
Jay Em Ess Stable’s Worldly finished
second to Stay Put as the choice of the fans while two lengths to the good of Letsgetitonmon.
Worldly paid $3.60 and $2.60, while Letsgetitonmon returned $7 to show.
Depaul made the pace with splits
of 24.23 and 48.56 before tiring to finish seventh.
Quiet Temper, trained by Dale Romans
and ridden by Fair Grounds defending jockey champion Robby Albarado, paid
$2.80, $2.10 and $2.10 and accomplished the distance in 1:40.90 after setting
early fractions of 24.36 and 48.26. She increased her career earnings to
$355,800 with her second win in five lifetime starts.
“The racing’s going to get tougher for
her but she was well within herself today,” said Albarado. “I didn’t ask
anything of her. Her speed will be her biggest asset.
“I’ve never won the Fair Grounds Oaks,”
Albarado added. “I’ve won every one of the big ones here but that one.”
Bella Medaglia finished second, a
length and a quarter behind Quiet Temper, returning $3.60 and $2.20 while
finishing third 4 3/4-lengths farther back was Best Reward, who paid
$4.40.
The Kleins and Margolis also scored in
the eighth race, a six-furlong maiden special weight for 3-year-olds, with the
first-time starter What’s New. The Dixie Union colt broke sharply from
the rail under Corey Lanerie and led all the way, drawing clear by two lengths
over Nelson Bunker Hunt’s Berberis, making his debut for trainer Steve
Asmussen, and Sam Winstead’s Delong Road, another first-time starter, by
Storm Cat out of millionaire Tates Creek and trained by D. Wayne Lukas.
What’s New finished the race in 1:11.09
and paid $6.40 to win.
“We’ll let him come back in a ‘N1X,’”
Margolis said, referring to an entry-level allowance race. “We don’t need to
push him to come back in 20 days for a two-turn stakes (the Lecomte), and I’ve
already got Stay Put and Cool Bullet.”
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