Liberty National Seeks Dividends in Gun Runner Stakes

Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots races Dec. 20, with Christmas approaching, but for participating connections, their hopes are not for presents under the tree but for success from their horses in Kentucky months later on the first Friday and Saturday in May.

Two of the four $100,000 stakes the New Orleans track stages Saturday—the Untapable Stakes and Gun Runner Stakes—serve as respective points races for the May 1 Kentucky Oaks (G1) and the May 2 Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs, awarding points on a 10-5-3-2-1 basis to their top five finishers. 

Although ungraded and modest in purse, this year's Gun Runner shapes up as a legitimate Derby prep for December 2-year-olds. It lured eight entrants, four of whom achieved maiden-breaking victories in routes in their last starts at Churchill Downs.

That quartet includes Brookdale Racing and Fern Circle Stables' Liberty National , who wheels back on three weeks of rest after a head-turning second-out victory in a 1 1/16-mile maiden race at the Louisville, Ky., track Nov. 29 for trainer Kenny McPeek. 

Brian Hernandez Jr., who teamed with McPeek to win the 2024 Derby with Mystik Dan  , returns in the irons aboard the son of Maxfield  .

"I think Liberty National is sitting on a big race," McPeek said. "It will be his third start. I think the timing's ideal. We're just kind of firing away with him. He's rocket ship fast."

READ: Liberty National Has Bright Future

Colby Hernandez, Brian's younger brother, picks up the ride on McPeek's other starter, Dream Big Racing's Very Connected , who ran third in the Oct. 26 Street Sense Stakes (G3) and fourth in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) in two starts since breaking his maiden at Churchill.

"Very Connected is a nice horse in his own right," McPeek said. "He'll benefit from the longer stretch at Fair Grounds."

The field also includes Paradise Farms, David Staudacher, and Hooties Racing's Crown the Buckeye , a dominant winner of two Ohio-bred stakes races for trainer Mike Maker.

They will likely have to run down the Steve Asmussen-trained Chip Honcho , who adds blinkers and looms the controlling speed in the 1 1/16-mile dirt race from post 2 under Paco Lopez.

Juvenile Fillies Vie in Untapable, Older Horses in Two Stakes

The eight-filly Untapable Stakes, run over a shorter two-turn distance at a mile and 70 yards, is led by Have Faith  and Hit Parade , both last-out starter allowance winners at Churchill Downs during its fall meet. Dallas Stewart trains Holy Cow Stable's Have Faith, while Brad Cox conditions Gary and Mary West's Hit Parade. Both are former maiden claimers.

Two stakes for older horses precede the juvenile stakes.

Qatar Racing and Marc Detampel's Just a Touch —twice grade 1-placed, including when second in the 2024 Blue Grass Stakes (G1) at Keeneland—will be heavily favored to score his first black-type victory in the Tenacious Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on dirt. Cox has been working the Justify   colt at Payson Park Training Center in South Florida in preparation for his return from a runner-up finish at 1-20 odds in the July 19 Monmouth Cup Stakes (G3) in New Jersey.

Contention runs deeper in the Buddy Diliberto Memorial Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on turf. There, Flying P Stable's Kupuna  seeks to follow up a high-level allowance optional claiming win last month at Churchill Downs with another win on the grass for trainer Norm Casse.