Anneau d'Or Adds Blinkers and 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 will add blinkers next out and that Joel Rosario will 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 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 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 (12) is ranked third on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard, 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.

The move to blinkers is to get the colt to close 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."

Anneau d'Or last breezed Jan. 25, working a bullet six furlongs in 1:13 2/5 on the Tapeta surface at Golden Gate Fields. His next breeze will be Feb. 1, Wright said.

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

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

Wright said Anneau d'Or will 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."