Risen Star Draws Smile Happy, Other Leading 3-Year-Olds

Five members of the BloodHorse's Derby Dozen—Smile Happy , Zandon , Epicenter , Slow Down Andy , and Pappacap —throw down against five other foes in the $400,000 Risen Star Stakes Presented by Lamarque Ford (G2) Feb. 19 at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.

The 1 1/8-mile dirt race offers 85 qualifying points toward the May 7 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) at Churchill Downs, distributed on a 50-20-10-5 scale to its top four finishers. The Risen Star is the first 85-point qualifier as part of the 2021-22 Road to the Kentucky Derby series after earlier preps offered either 17 or 34 points.

"One reason we chose this spot is because there's more points in this race," said trainer Kenny McPeek, who will ship in 7-2 morning line favorite Smile Happy from his Gulfstream Park winter base.  

In addition to strength from out-of-town invaders, the Risen Star drew some talented locally-based runners, including the 2-3-4 finishers from Fair Grounds' 3-year-old Derby prep last month, the Lecomte Stakes (G3). Call Me Midnight , who is skipping the Risen Star, upset that race at 28-1 odds, nipping Epicenter by a head in the 1 1/16-mile race, with an inside-bidding Pappacap in third and Trafalgar  fourth.

Pappacap and Epicenter are among the top-ranked 3-year-olds on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 14 points apiece, though Pappacap is officially ahead of Epicenter via a tiebreaker, having higher non-restricted stakes earnings.

Pappacap was a graded winner at age 2 and twice ran second behind champion Corniche  in grade 1s last year. The Mark Casse trainee made his first start as a 3-year-old in the Lecomte.

Tyler Gaffalione, who picks up the mount on rail-drawn Pappacap, will be tasked with working out a trip. Pappacap has raced inside in many of his recent starts, including in the Lecomte when he flattened out a bit in the final furlong.

Winchell Thoroughbreds' Epicenter, trained by Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, led for all but the final strides in the Lecomte after setting demanding fractions.

Now comes an even higher-quality test in the Risen Star.

"But we like who we have, and we like his chances," Asmussen said.

A number of the entrants breezed Saturday in preparation for the Risen Star, among them Lucky Seven Stable's Smile Happy, who went five furlongs in 1:01.62 at Gulfstream Park. Rustlewood Farm's Pappacap breezed a half-mile in :48 2/5 at Fair Grounds for Hall of Famer Casse.

“I think this is a good first step for Smile Happy,” said McPeek, who hopes to get two quality preps into him before the first Saturday in May. “He’s doing super. He’s done everything right. He’s a very low-maintenance horse who makes our job easy. He eats good. He loves to train."

Also heading to New Orleans from Florida is Remsen Stakes (G2) runner-up Zandon.

"We just felt like that surface and the longer stretch would suit his style better than the short stretch at Gulfstream that is usually speed favoring," Brown said. "He's got to get over the shipping, but the horse couldn't be training any better. This guy has only run twice, so a little different situation than some of the others I had on the (Kentucky Derby) trail that had more races under their belt. He's a very exciting prospect and I don't see any reason why he won't get up to a mile and quarter."

Traveling farthest to the race is California invader Reddan Racing's Slow Down Andy, who won the Los Alamitos Futurity over Messier in his last start.

"He really hasn't missed a beat out of his last race," trainer Doug O'Neill said. "We're coming into this race really optimistic he is going to run a big race. With a clean break, he'll show good tactical speed and he's got tremendous stamina. For $400,000 at Fair Grounds, you expect it to be a tough spot. We knew entering that we were jumping into some deep water, but we think Slow Down Andy can swim with them."

The Fair Grounds-stabled Epicenter had an easy breeze Feb. 14 after covering five furlongs in 1:00 2/5 a week earlier Feb. 7.

"His (Feb. 7) work was very impressive. I think that he is a solid 3-year-old that is improving," Asmussen said.

The Risen Star is one of six stakes at Fair Grounds Feb. 19, four of them graded. The other three graded races include the $250,000 Mineshaft Stakes (G3), the $150,000 Fair Grounds Stakes (G3T), and the $300,000 Rachel Alexandra Stakes Presented by Fasig-Tipton (G2), the latter an 85-point qualifier on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks.

The Risen Star card offers the second-best day of racing in New Orleans each year, trumped only by Louisiana Derby Day March 26.

Out-of-town jockeys riding at Fair Grounds on Risen Star Day include Joel Rosario, Jose Ortiz, Luis Saez, Gaffalione, and Mario Gutierrez. 

Entries: Risen Star S. presented by Lamarque Ford (G2)

Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, Saturday, February 19, 2022, Race 13

• Grade II
• 1 1/8m
• Dirt
• $400,000
• 3 yo
• 5:58 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	Pappacap (FL)	Tyler Gaffalione	122	Mark E. Casse	-
2	Russian Tank (KY)	Jose L. Vega	122	Gennadi Dorochenko	-
3	Trafalgar (KY)	Colby J. Hernandez	122	Albert M. Stall, Jr.	-
4	Tawny Port (KY)	Florent Geroux	122	Brad H. Cox	-
5	Epicenter (KY)	Joel Rosario	122	Steven M. Asmussen	-
6	Pioneer of Medina (KY)	Luis Saez	122	Todd A. Pletcher	-
7	Zandon (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	122	Chad C. Brown	-
8	Smile Happy (KY)	Corey J. Lanerie	122	Kenneth G. McPeek	-
9	Bodock (KY)	Marcelino Pedroza, Jr.	122	Brad H. Cox	-
10	Slow Down Andy (CA)	Mario Gutierrez	122	Doug F. O'Neill	-