Minit to Stardom Adds Flash to Louisiana Champions Day

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Photo: Coglianese Photos/Chelsea Durand
Minit to Stardom posts an upset victory in the Honorable Miss Handicap at Saratoga Race Course

Grade 2 winner Minit to Stardom will look to close a strong 4-year-old season when she faces an expected seven other Louisiana-bred fillies and mares in the $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Sprint Stakes Dec. 14 at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.

A homebred for Evelyn Benoit's Brittlyn Stable, Minit to Stardom delivered a front-end upset victory in this year's Honorable Miss Handicap (G2) at Saratoga Race Course, the highlight of a season during which the daughter of five-time Louisiana Champions Day winner Star Guitar  has won four of seven starts—finishing second in her other three races—and earned $278,140. 

The Ladies Sprint is one of seven stakes for Louisiana-bred Thoroughbreds on the Fair Grounds card, topped by the $150,000 Louisiana Champions Day Classic Stakes. The seven races will award $750,000.

Minit to Stardom's 20-1 upset win in the Honorable Miss is etched in Benoit's memory. 

"Going to Saratoga and winning that race was a lifelong dream," Benoit said. "I could not have asked for more. To show up with a homebred from here in Louisiana and face that competition and walk away with a win, it was the biggest dream come true.

"It was me and my husband's (the late Maurice) dream," she continued. "The greatest high you could ever have. As a breeder in Louisiana for so many years, and having owned the stallion Star Guitar and praying that he could prove that he was a world-class stallion, and getting his opportunity to prove it with Minit to Stardom, and having her win that race on what happened to be my birthday, you couldn't have written it up any better."

Minit to Stardom is the 8-5 favorite in the six-furlong test, but she'll have to defeat Ours to Run, who posted a five-length win over Minit to Stardom in last year's race. That was part of a six-race winning streak—all stakes—for Colonel Thoroughbreds' Ours to Run, a 5-year-old daughter of Half Ours  who has earned $504,488. Ours to Run also finished a close third in this year's Honorable Miss, a head behind Chalon.

In Saturday's other stakes races:

  • Off a 6 1/2-length debut win over state-bred fillies, Corinne and Bill Heiligbrodt's Vacherie Girl is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the Louisiana Champions Day Lassie Stakes for juvenile fillies. The daughter of Tapiture  is trained by Steve Asmussen.
  • Class-wise, Three Diamonds Farm's Chimney Rock stands tall over his eight foes for trainer Mike Maker in the Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile Stakes. The 2-year-old son of Artie Schiller exits a near-miss second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2T) Nov. 1 at Santa Anita Park.
  • Magic Vow, who won last year's Louisiana Champions Day Turf Stakes when wet weather forced a move to the main track, is back for this year's about 1 1/16-mile turf test. The favorite is Kendel Standlee homebred In the Navy, a 5-year-old Midshipman  gelding who in his past five starts—all stakes—has a win and two runner-up finishes.
  • Mallory Greiner's Underpressure, will look to defend his 2018 title when the 5-year-old Birdstone  gelding starts from the rail in the Louisiana Champions Day Classic Stakes. Besides his 3 1/2-length victory in the 1 1/8-mile test for 3-year-olds and older last year, Underpressure boasts four other stakes wins against Louisiana-breds.
  • With a pair of allowance-level wins against other state-breds at Fair Grounds, Baronne Farms' Is Too is the 3-1 morning-line favorite in the Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Turf Stakes. A 4-year-old daughter of Midshipman, Is Too will look to secure her third stakes win of the season.
  • Former claimer Monte Man will try to improve on his third-place finish in last year's Louisiana Champions Day Sprint Stakes when he starts in this year's six-furlong race for 3-year-olds and older. A 6-year-old Custom for Carlos  gelding, Monte Man has earned $500,911.

Champions Day is marked on the calendar of every Louisiana breeder.

"I try my best to promote our Louisiana breeding program," Benoit said. "Champions Day at Fair Grounds is our day as Louisiana breeders to showcase our horses. I remember the first Champions Day, I had a horse I had bought for $500, and I got beaten a nose. It was so thrilling that day, and I can honestly say it's still just as thrilling now. It doesn't matter what type of horse, whether $500 or a $500,000 purchase, it's just as hard to win a horse race, and that's what makes it so exciting."


Entries: Louisiana Champions Day Lassie S.

Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, Saturday, December 14, 2019, Race 5

  • STK
  • 6f
  • Dirt
  • $100,000
  • 2 yo Fillies
  • 1:56 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Distractor Factor (LA) Shaun Bridgmohan 122 Lee Thomas 8/1
2 2Sincerity (LA) Kent J. Desormeaux 122 Danny Pish 10/1
3 3Schiff's Corner (LA) Colby J. Hernandez 122 Ricky Courville 6/1
4 4Sebs Princess (LA) James Graham 122 Steven Duke 7/2
5 5Royal Priority (LA) Corey J. Lanerie 122 Lee Thomas 4/1
6 6Vacherie Girl (LA) Florent Geroux 122 Steven M. Asmussen 5/2
7 7Our Lost Love (LA) Mitchell Murrill 122 Joseph M. Foster 6/1
8 8Jet Sweep (LA) Kevin J. Smith 122 Ralph J. Dore 12/1




Entries: Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Sprint S.

Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, Saturday, December 14, 2019, Race 7

  • STK
  • 6f
  • Dirt
  • $100,000
  • 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
  • 2:54 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Play Unified (LA)Keeneland Sales Graduate Florent Geroux 118 Ron Faucheux 10/1
2 2Midnight Fantasy (LA) Adam Beschizza 116 Joe Sharp 7/2
3 3Minit to Stardom (LA) Alex Cintron 124 Jose M. Camejo 8/5
4 4Ours to Run (LA) Gabriel Saez 122 J. Larry Jones 2/1
5 5Diamond Crazy (LA) Miguel Mena 116 Dallas Stewart 12/1
6 6Diamond Cutter (LA) Robby Albarado 118 Dwight J. Viator 20/1
7 7Tenpins Tempo (LA) Colby J. Hernandez 118 Lee Thomas 15/1
8 8Tiz the Faith (LA) Diego Saenz 118 Anthony Arey 20/1




Entries: Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile S.

Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, Saturday, December 14, 2019, Race 8

  • STK
  • 6f
  • Dirt
  • $100,000
  • 2 yo
  • 3:23 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1The Minit I See U (LA) Alex Cintron 122 Jose M. Camejo 20/1
2 2Binding Agreement (LA) Colby J. Hernandez 122 Albert M. Stall, Jr. 4/1
3 3Harper's Deelite (LA) Marcelino Pedroza 117 Joseph M. Foster 20/1
4 4Richard Ronald (LA) Mitchell Murrill 122 Gary M. Scherer 8/1
5 5Pickens (LA) Shaun Bridgmohan 122 Steven M. Asmussen 5/1
6 6Outofmybind (LA) James Graham 122 James E. Hodges 6/1
7 7Chimney Rock (LA) Florent Geroux 122 Michael J. Maker 8/5
8 8Flash Me Back (LA) Corey J. Lanerie 122 Allen Landry 8/1
9 9Palvera (LA) Adam Beschizza 117 Joe Sharp 12/1




Entries: Louisiana Champions Day Turf S.

Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, Saturday, December 14, 2019, Race 9

  • STK
  • About 1 1/16m
  • Turf
  • $100,000
  • 3 yo's & up
  • 3:52 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1In the Navy (LA) Adam Beschizza 122 Scott Gelner 7/2
2 2Ninety One Assault (LA) Shaun Bridgmohan 118 Thomas Morley 4/1
3 3Make Me Smile (LA) Miguel Mena 115 Keith G. Bourgeois 12/1
4 4Afleet Ascent (LA) James Graham 118 Patrick Devereux, Jr. 12/1
5 5Magic Vow (LA) Marcelino Pedroza 118 Justin Jeansonne 12/1
6 6Lucky Andy (LA) Chantal Sutherland 118 Corale A. Richards 15/1
7 7Theoryintopractice (LA) Florent Geroux 122 Steven M. Asmussen 9/2
8 8Im a Cowboy Too (LA) Mitchell Murrill 118 Gary M. Scherer 12/1
9 9Budro Talking (LA) Colby J. Hernandez 118 Karl Broberg 6/1
10 10Remembermis (LA) Corey J. Lanerie 118 Thomas M. Amoss 10/1
11 11Star Fitzstall (LA) Alex Cintron 115 Jose M. Camejo 12/1




Entries: Louisiana Champions Day Classic S.

Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, Saturday, December 14, 2019, Race 10

  • STK
  • 1 1/8m
  • Dirt
  • $150,000
  • 3 yo's & up
  • 4:21 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Underpressure (LA) Corey J. Lanerie 122 Chris Richard 5/2
2 2Make Me Smile (LA) Colby J. Hernandez 115 Keith G. Bourgeois 12/1
3 3Mageez (LA) Gabriel Saez 118 Delmar R. Caldwell 4/1
4 4Trevilion (LA) Diego Saenz 121 Victor Arceneaux 7/2
5 5Grande Basin (LA) Miguel Mena 118 Edward J. Johnston 6/1
6 6Pound for Pound (LA) Aubrie Green 118 Andrea Ancil Ali 10/1
7 7Star Fitzstall (LA) Alex Cintron 115 Jose M. Camejo 6/1
8 8Bistraya (LA)Keeneland Sales Graduate Adam Beschizza 118 Keith G. Bourgeois 10/1




Entries: Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Turf S.

Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, Saturday, December 14, 2019, Race 11

  • STK
  • About 1 1/16m
  • Turf
  • $100,000
  • 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
  • 4:50 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Miss Billie K (LA) Aubrie Green 118 Eric D. Nelson, Jr. 20/1
2 2Room to Finish (LA) Shaun Bridgmohan 120 Wayne M. Catalano 5/1
3 3Savvy Shipman (LA) Corey J. Lanerie 118 Michael J. Maker 10/1
4 4Tenpins Tempo (LA) Gerard Melancon 118 Lee Thomas 12/1
5 5Marywood (LA) Robby Albarado 115 Lee Thomas 20/1
6 6Eskenformore (LA) James Graham 124 James E. Hodges 5/1
7 7Emily Jo (LA) Adam Beschizza 118 Albert M. Stall, Jr. 12/1
8 8Mariah's Galaxy (LA) Kevin J. Smith 118 Victor Arceneaux 6/1
9 9Is Too (LA) Colby J. Hernandez 122 Edward J. Johnston 3/1
10 10Mr. Al's Gal (LA) Alex Cintron 118 Jose M. Camejo 9/2
11 11Net a Bear (LA) Florent Geroux 121 Allen Landry 15/1
12 12Fugitive Lady (LA) Jack Gilligan 115 Joe P. McKellar 8/1
13 13Special Blessing (LA) Miguel Mena 118 W. Bret Calhoun 8/1
14 14Yonna She Goes (LA) Chris R. Rosier 118 Lee Thomas 12/1




Entries: Louisiana Champions Day Sprint S.

Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, Saturday, December 14, 2019, Race 12

  • STK
  • 6f
  • Dirt
  • $100,000
  • 3 yo's & up
  • 5:19 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Hunker Down (LA) James Graham 118 Ron Faucheux 10/1
2 2Double Barrel Man (LA) Jack Gilligan 118 Karl Broberg 8/1
3 3Laughingsaintssong (LA) Colby J. Hernandez 120 Allen Landry 9/2
4 4Win Lion Win (LA) Gerard Melancon 118 Allison Ramsay-Banks 6/1
5 5Treys Midnite Moon (LA) Mitchell Murrill 118 Corale A. Richards 15/1
6 6Classy John (LA) Corey J. Lanerie 116 Dallas Stewart 12/1
7 7Monte Man (LA) Adam Beschizza 118 Ron Faucheux 3/1
8 8Flashy Brew (LA) Florent Geroux 120 Ron Faucheux 6/1
9 9Takes Two to Tango (LA) Diego Saenz 116 J. Luis Garcia 20/1
10 10Stand Him Up (LA) Gabriel Saez 118 Howard Alonzo 20/1
11 11My Friend Flavin (LA) Marcelino Pedroza 118 Leo G. Gabriel, Jr. 12/1
12 12Inspector Eddie (LA) Miguel Mena 116 Edward J. Johnston 10/1