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Contact: Jim Mulvihill, Communications and Pari-Mutuel Marketing Manager, 504.948.1233, james.mulvihill@fgno.com
Contact: Graham Ross, Staff Writer, 504.948.1255, graham.ross@fgno.com
Road to the derby
Race 11-Grade III, $175,000 Lecomte Stakes
3-year-olds, One mile and 70 yards, 68th running
Jockey Robby Albarado (Mr. Bowling, winner): “I had a great trip, unbelievable trip. I just wanted to give him a chance turning for home. I worked him in the morning. I saw a lot of fight in him. So I figured if I can get him clear turning for home, give him a chance to run home, he would. When that horse ran to him late, he gives him some second effort.
“This is one of the toughest Lecomte’s I’ve seen in a while so I look forward to him the rest of the year. Hopefully I can stay on him.”
Trainer Larry Jones (Mr. Bowling, winner): “To be honest, we thought the colt was just starting to get good. He’s maturing at the right time. He really showed an affinity for this track when we got down here. I can tell he liked it better than anywhere we’ve been to this point. He pretty well got himself ready. Having Believe You Can, they’ve been work mates, they got each other ready and it paid off.
“Jose Caraballo was on him as a two-year-old. That’s the first thing he said after his first work. ‘He can run as long as you can get the races to go. This one will run all day.’ I think he’s right.”
Will we see him in the next Fair Grounds prep race? “Definitely. Hopefully they will take my entry for the Risen Star over here and let me back in the next one.”
Jockey Shane Sellers (Z Dager, second): “I had to use him just a little into the turn to hold my position and once I did he maintained and turned on for me down the stretch. I thought maybe I had that horse but when he saw daylight he kind of was a little bit green down the lane. He was little green and it kept him from spurting on with me so he’ll learn from it. I had him running down the lane and when I got through that hole I thought, well, I’m home free now, and then he saw daylight and being just a little green might have cost him just a little bit. But he’s a young horse and hopefully the next time he’ll have learned from it.”
Trainer Steve Asmussen (Z Dager, second): “He’s a little bit ‘on again, off again,’ but that’s just who he is. I think the winner ran about a head better than we did. I think the other horse just stayed on, watching the replay, because the outside horse closed with him and they kind of separated with him. I think when he got to the other horses that other horse just kicked away from him a little bit.
“I think it was huge for his third race, coming out of a maiden race, to run as well as he did.”
Jockey Leandro Goncalves (Shared Property, third): “We drew the outside post and that wasn’t to our advantage. I tried to get him to the inside a little more but I couldn’t really get that done. He didn’t have a very good trip. Then in the stretch he kept drifting to the outside and that hurt us a little. Also, he hadn’t run in a long time.”
Jockey John Velezquez (Dan and Sheila, fourth): “I didn’t want to be so far back and going into the first turn there it was getting tight and I kind of cut back out of there. Being green though, he doesn’t know very much, so when he saw the whole group, he kind of ducked out of there, not being very sure. Then I hit him and he kept backing up, backing up, backing up, was jumping up and down, and finally when I got him running, the three-horse (Ted’s Folly) drops back into the inside and he started rolling. Too late, but I think he got a good experience out of it.”
Race 10-$75,000 Pan Zareta Stakes
Fillies & mares, 4-year-olds and up, About 5 ½ furlongs on turf, 25th running
Jockey John Velazquez (Inspired, winner): “Going five and a half I knew she was really fast. I rode her last time out and maybe made a little mistake – she went for the lead and I grabbed a hold of her and she was throwing her head up and didn’t like that at all. Today we planned on coming out of there and letting her run with her head loose, so she’s comfortable.
“I knew she was going to be on the lead today. Especially the way I was going to get her out of there, she was going to be on the lead. She broke out of there and I wanted to keep her off the rail anyway so it worked out great.”
Trainer Allen Iwinski (Inspired, winner): “The last time she ran, Johnny came back and said, ‘Man, she doesn’t like it, we were trying to rate her off the leads’ and in that race there was a lot of speed and she just sort of flattened out down the stretch. He had said to just let her run free and not take a hold of her and it turns out that was the right thing to do.”
Race 9-$100,000
4-year-olds and up, 1 1/16 miles, 66th running
Jockey Shane Sellers (Thiskyhasnolimit, winner): “He told me to play him off the break, but knowing, looking on paper that he was going to be fresh. He said, all things considered, he probably would be there. And, you know, take what they give you. And if you don’t break well, ride him from there, and he’s a good horse, ride him accordingly.”
“He is a very good looking animal. You can tell, he made $700,000, so he was cut out to be a good horse. Steve told me that yesterday, he said, ‘You’re going to like this horse; we thought a lot of him,’ and that means a lot.”
Trainer Steve Asmussen (Thiskyhasnolimit, winner): “It’s a very good spot for him to get started back. He needed a freshening and he’s come back really well. He’s put in some tremendous work and just thought this was a good spot for him. Shane gave him a great trip. I think he was pretty fortunate that the deal didn’t have much pace in it and it went his way, but it’s a great spot for him to come back in.
“I was concerned with how he’d handle the long stretch. You know, the mile and a sixteenth coming off the layoff, but the way it’s playing today it worked out perfectly. “
Race 7-Grade III, $100,000 Colonel E.R. Bradley Handicap
4-year-olds and up, About 1 1/16 miles on turf, 26th running
Jockey Miguel Mena (Mr. Vegas, winner): “This horse kind of gets out a little bit. You can see it on the television, running sideways, getting out. I just did my best to keep him straight and I didn’t think I bothered the other horse. He kind of stopped riding a little bit but I was clear, like a length in front, and he was beat anyway.”
Did you expect to end up on the lead? “Yeah, I did. He’s a very hard horse to ride. He’s a runner, you know? I was just glad he came back to me and made it easy.”
Trainer Richie Scherer (Mr. Vegas, winner): “I saw it again and he did come out a touch, so I wasn’t sure if it was enough to change the outcome. He did come out a little bit. I’m glad the stewards saw it my way.”
Did you all plan on going to the lead? “Actually, no. He was supposed to sit off the pace. He made the lead and relaxed real well and Miguel did a good job.”
Jockey Corey Lanerie (Dubious Miss, second): “I had to stand up and steady a little bit. He came out. It definitely made my horse kind of check and I think it affected the outcome. I thought I was catching him a little bit with every stride and I think it would’ve been close.”
Race 6-$125,000 Silverbulletday Stakes
3-year-old fillies, One mile and 70 yards, 20th running
Jockey Rosie Napravnik (Believe You Can, winner): “With the key scratch out of here it set up the race a little bit differently, but I’ve been working this filly a few times and she’s really impressed me. I’m not going to lie, I was a little worried about the fractions, if we’d gone a little too fast, but she sure kicked in when we headed for the lane. She is a very, very talented filly and I’m just thankful for Jones and all of the connections for having me on today.
“Larry was telling me if she’s anything like Proud Spell (the Fair Grounds Oaks- and Kentucky Oaks-winning filly also by Proud Citizen and also trained by Jones) she’d be a fighter and she absolutely was. She wasn’t giving in an inch.”
Trainer Larry Jones (Believe You Can, winner): “Well, we were very confident that she’d go far, the Proud Citizens. I’ve probably had more than any of them. If they are good sprinting, they are better going long. She came out of a nice female family that could stretch out so we didn’t have a lot of problem about that.
“After I saw the scratch this morning, we instantly had to go to ‘Plan B.’ I told Rosie in the paddock that we’d have a good shot if we could be lone speed, that if they were going to let her have it, I was fine with that. Let’s go and if she is anything like Proud Spell she wouldn’t let them go by. So, it worked out good. It’s nice when a plan comes together.
“Needless to say, we are going to keep her right here and go through the series here and we hope the major thing for the spring will be the Kentucky Oaks. We brought Proud Spell through this [series]. It worked well for her and we are back.”
Jockey Robby Albarado (Summer Applause, second): “After the break I didn’t want to go balls to the wall with that horse for the first half of the race. I rode my filly like I did last time – I let her break and get away from there easy. I thought she ran a big race, big enough to go on to the next one.”
Race 4-$75,000 F.W. Gaudin Memorial Stakes
4-year-olds and up, Six furlongs, 27th running
Jockey Richard Eramia (Gantry, winner): “I thought I had a lot of horse (turning for home). In the last quarter-mile I put it together but the other horse was coming back. But this horse has got a big heart and he tried very hard.”
Trainer Ron Fauxheux (Gantry, winner): “We just prepared him the same way as the last race. I think this race might have been closer than the last one. Just a touch. Just a hair. It’s great to have a horse like this in our barn at this time. It really is. Really exciting for us all.”
Owner Evelyn Benoit, Brittlyn Stable (Gantry, winner): “I’m very proud of him (Faucheux). I don’t think the horse could look any better than he did today. I was shocked. He just improved off of the last race and Ron, give it all to him, he brought this horse from
What do you think of the trainer? “I think he’s going to be a class act. He is just a really good trainer with a lot of great knowledge at his age. I think it is amazing.”
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James J. Mulvihill
Communications & Pari-Mutuel Marketing Manager
Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots
A Churchill Downs Incorporated Company
1751 Gentilly Boulevard,
504.948.1233 [office]
504.481.8770 [cell]
504.944.7853 [fax]
140th Thoroughbred Racing Season, Nov. 24-April 1
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