Anneau d'Or Adds Blinkers, Rosario for Risen Star

After falling just short in photo finishes in the Nov. 1 TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) and Dec. 7 Los Alamitos Futurity (G2), Anneau d'Or will kick off his 3-year-old campaign in the Feb. 15 Risen Star Stakes Presented by Lamarque Ford-Lincoln (G2) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots with some changes.

Trainer Blaine Wright said Jan. 31 the 3-year-old Medaglia d'Oro  colt would add blinkers and that Joel Rosario would replace Juan Hernandez as his jockey.

The Risen Star, a $400,000 race extended in distance this year to 1 1/8 miles, is the first 85-point qualifier this year on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, providing points on a 50-20-10-5 basis to its top four finishers. Only the Feb. 29 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) at Gulfstream Park offers the same points of series races in January or February, with others falling on a 10-4-2-1 scale.

Churchill Downs uses qualifying points as a preference system when the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) draws more than its capacity field size of 20 horses. Anneau d'Or currently is ranked third in points, having 12, trailing champion and Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Storm the Court (22) and Lecomte Stakes (G3) winner Enforceable (13).

The latter is expected to meet Anneau d'Or in the Risen Star, along with a number of other top finishers from the Lecomte.

As for the equipment change planned for the Risen Star, it is a move aimed to get the colt to close out his races. In both the Juvenile and Los Alamitos Futurity, he moved up from a stalking position to pull neck and neck with the midstretch leader but did not inch past. The Peter Redekop-owned runner lost the Juvenile by a head to Storm the Court and the Los Alamitos Futurity by a neck to Thousand Words.

Video: Los Alamitos Futurity (G2)

"We added a little bit of a blinker to him, been breezing him (with the equipment)," Wright said. "Everything looks pretty decent to this point. Hopefully he will put himself in a position to come at 'em at the top of the lane, and I suppose we'll answer that (finishing) question should he run his race."

He last breezed Jan. 25, working a bullet six furlongs in 1:13 2/5 over the Tapeta surface at Golden Gate Fields. His next breeze is Feb. 1, Wright said.

The Risen Star will mark the first time Rosario has ridden the colt. Northern California-based jockey Juan Hernandez was aboard for the two stakes near misses and a first-out maiden victory at Golden Gate Sept. 29 on turf.

Rosario won the 2013 Kentucky Derby on Orb  for trainer Shug McGaughey.

Wright said Anneau d'Or would travel from Northern California to Fair Grounds in New Orleans three or four days before the Risen Star.

"He will head to Santa Anita on the 11th, and then fly early more on the 12th to the Fair Grounds," he said. "Hopefully everything will go according to plan, maybe get a couple turns over the track, and go from there."