Track Phantom, Sierra Leone Lead 12-Horse Risen Star

The first race with 105 qualifying points on the 2024 Road to the Kentucky Derby takes place Feb. 17 with the $400,000 Risen Star Stakes (G2) at Fair Grounds Race Course and Slots and with a field worthy of the added points up for grabs.

Four horses currently ranked in BloodHorse's Derby Dozen—Track Phantom  (fourth), Sierra Leone  (fifth), Honor Marie  (ninth) and Catching Freedom  (11th)—are in the 12-horse lineup, which further includes the promising maiden graduate Hall of Fame .

Front-running Track Phantom, one of two entries for trainer Steve Asmussen along with Hall of Fame, will attempt to win his third stakes race in Louisiana this winter at the New Orleans track. The Quality Road   colt previously won the Dec. 23 Gun Runner Stakes and the Jan. 20 Lecomte Stakes (G3), beating the talented Nash , among other runners.

Those victories followed a maiden triumph at Churchill Downs Nov. 25 in his third career start for owners L and N Racing, Clark Brewster, Jerry Caroom, and Breeze Easy.

His jockey in two of his three prior wins, Joel Rosario, stays aboard him, and Ricardo Santana Jr. picks up the ride on stablemate Hall of Fame.

Track Phantom is more accomplished than Hall of Fame, though the latter is talented and held in high regard by Asmussen, the winningest trainer in North American history. After a debut second at Churchill Downs in the fall, the Gun Runner   colt won a Jan. 20 maiden race at Fair Grounds by 10 1/4 lengths. His time for 1 1/16 miles was 1:44.27, faster than Track Phantom's clocking of 1:44.73 against better opposition a couple of hours later in the Lecomte.

Two Seven-Figure Buys

• Hall of Fame was a $1.4 million yearling purchase by M. V. Magnier in 2022 at The Saratoga Sale at Fasig-Tipton. He races for Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg, Gandharvi and Brooke Smith.
• His auction price made him one of the most expensive purchases of the 346 early nominees to the Triple Crown, though not the richest. That distinction belongs to Sierra Leone, a $2.3 million buy at the same sale for M. V. Magnier and White Birch Farm.

Hall of Fame's owners are also associated with Sierra Leone, as is Peter Brant, who heads White Birch Farm.

A debut winner going a mile at Aqueduct Racetrack Nov. 4, Sierra Leone later finished second, beaten a nose by Dornoch , in the Dec. 2 Remsen Stakes (G2) there. His experience in the Remsen, where he rallied from last to take command in midstretch before being out-gamed by a gritty Dornoch, gave him a prior try at the 1 1/8-mile distance of the Risen Star.

Tyler Gaffalione rides the Chad Brown trainee, who races with blinkers added, an equipment change designed to keep him focused.

Brown's former assistant, Whit Beckman, who began his domestic training career in 2021, also participates in the race with come-backing Honor Marie, winner of the Nov. 25  Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs in the final start of his 2-year-old season.

Also with a last-out stakes victory around two turns is Catching Freedom, winner of the Jan. 1 Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park for trainer Brad Cox.

The Risen Star is the second-richest race for 3-year-old males of the racing season at Fair Grounds, surpassed only by the $1 million Louisiana Derby (G2) on March 23. The 1 3/16-mile Louisiana Derby offers 200 qualifying points toward the May 4 Kentucky Derby (G1).

The Risen Star's Derby Impact

Three Risen Star participants have won the Kentucky Derby: War Emblem, sixth in the 2002 Risen Star; Country House  , second in the 2019 race; and Mandaloun  , first in 2021. Both Country House and Mandaloun won the Kentucky Derby via the disqualification of other rivals.

Many of its top performers have contended in the first leg of the Triple Crown in recent years. Last year's Risen Star winner, Angel of Empire , ran third in the Derby, while the show finisher from the Risen Star, Two Phil's  , was second to victorious Mage  . Two years ago, Epicenter   and Zandon  — 1-3 in the Risen Star—were 2-3 in the Run for the Roses behind 80-1 upsetter Rich Strike .

Kentucky Derby qualifying points are distributed on a 50-25-15-10-5 basis to Saturday's top five finishers.