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Contact: Graham Ross, Staff Writer, 504.948.1255, graham.ross@fgno.com
delaunay MAKES MEET DEBUT IN FG’S thanksgiving handicap
By Graham Ross, Staff Writer
NEW ORLEANS (Saturday, November 23, 2013) – Maggi Moss’s Delaunay, who is the defending champion in the tradition-rich $100,000 Thanksgiving Handicap at Fair Grounds Racecourse & Slots and is also Fair Grounds’ reigning Horse of the Meeting, has been installed as the 6-5 favorite for Thanksgiving Day’s 89th running of the six-furlong sprint at the New Orleans oval on November 28.
Conditioned by defending trainer champion Tom Amoss, who recorded his 10th training title at his hometown race course last spring, Delaunay will be ridden by Rosie Napravnik, who registered her third straight local leading rider title last March. The 6-year-old gelding’s owner Moss won her second successive Fair Grounds leading owner crown during the 2012-2013 session.
Following his 2 ½-length tally in the 2012 Thanksgiving Handicap, Delaunay went on to win the $72,000 F. W. Gaudin Memorial by 4 ¼-lengths in January and completed his local sprint stakes sweep by taking down the $145,000 Duncan F. Kenner by 4 ½ lengths.
The altered son of Smoke Glacken followed his perfect Fair Grounds season with a four-length win in the Grade II Churchill Downs Stakes on Kentucky Derby Day at the Twin Spires oval but has been idle since a fourth-place finish in Saratoga’s Grade I Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap last August.
Delaunay has recorded three half-mile breezes during the fall, most recently going four furlongs in 48.40 in a local move Nov. 16.
Capable of providing strong competition for Delaunay in the Thanksgiving ‘Cap is Brittlyn Stable’s Gantry, who captured this historic Turkey Day fixture two years ago but finished second to Delaunay in last season’s renewal. Trained by Ron Faucheux, Gantry also finished second to Delaunay in last season’s Gaudin and Duncan Kenner but won both of those events two seasons ago for his own local sprint stakes sweep.
Most recently, Gantry won the $50,000 Temperance Hill at Louisiana Downs Sept. 7 and will be ridden once again in the Thanksgiving ‘Cap by regular rider Richard Eramia. Gantry is the 5-2 second choice in the line.
Not to be discounted in the Thanksgiving ‘Cap is Kirk and Robison’s Mico Margarita, conditioned by last season’s co-leading trainer Steve Asmussen, who was registering his 13th local championship last spring.
Mico Margarita, who missed by three-quarters of a length when second in his last start in Saratoga’s Grade II Amsterdam Stakes July 28, had won Calder’s Grade III Carry Back by 4 ½-lengths in his previous effort July 6. California-based nationally-recognized veteran reins master David Flores, hanging his tack at Fair Grounds on a regular basis for the first time this season, will handle the reins on Mico Margarita, 3-1 in the morning line.
Completing the field for the Nov. 28 Thanksgiving Handicap is Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence’s Central Banker with Florent Geroux up (8-1); Ron Faucheux and Thomas Arnaud’s Foreign Production, Eddie Martin Jr. (15-1); and Riceland Racing Stables’ Strong and Tough, James Graham (30-1).
About Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots
Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, the nation’s third-oldest racetrack, has been in operation since 1872. Located in New Orleans, Fair Grounds is owned by Churchill Downs Incorporated (NASDAQ Global Select Market: CHDN); it also operates a slot-machine gaming facility and 11 off-track betting parlors throughout southeast Louisiana. The 142nd Thoroughbred Racing Season – highlighted by the 101st running of the $1 million Louisiana Derby - will run from November 2013 through March 2014. More information can be found online at www.FairGroundsRaceCourse.com.
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