Girvin Heads Louisiana Derby Field
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Photo: Hodges Photography / Amanda Hodges Weir
Girvin's win in the Risen Star set the colt on the Kentucky Derby trail
In a Triple Crown prep season that has been full of chaos, Brad Grady's Girvin will hope to supply a bit of stability April 1 in the $1 million Louisiana Derby (G2) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.
The Tale of Ekati colt has played his part in the chaos. Last time out the Joe Sharp trainee upset the Risen Star Stakes (G2) at odds of 8-1, but will have to play the favorite in Fair Grounds' final prep for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1).
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Girvin tipped his hand a bit in his previous start—albeit on grass—with a second-place run in the Keith Gee Memorial Overnight Stakes at Fair Grounds Feb. 4 after breaking his maiden sprinting on the New Orleans main track by a head in December.
The only other graded winner from the eight remaining 3-year-olds in the field is W. S. Farish and Lorea Jean Kilroy's Guest Suite, who won the Jan. 21 LeComte Stakes (G3) at Fair Grounds but never seriously threatened in a fourth-place Risen Star run. Also returning from the Risen Star is e Five Racing Thoroughbreds' Local Hero, who opened up a six-length lead last time out and held to finish fourth.
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Beyond those three is a group that doesn't exude class, but could bring upside.
The most visually impressive last-out winner is Monaco, an Uncle Mo colt who crushed a Tampa Bay Downs maiden special weight field by 12 lengths Feb. 12 for trainer Todd Pletcher. Pletcher also has another last-out maiden winner entered in Patch, a Union Rags colt who broke his maiden in his second start by 1 3/4 lengths going a mile at Gulfstream Park.
Senior Investment has made a habit of finding the wire first since his maiden win in December at Fair Grounds. The Discreetly Mine colt trained by Ken McPeek came back to finish first in a Fair Grounds allowance, but was disqualified to seventh, then won an Oaklawn Park allowance in his next start Feb. 18 by three lengths.
Rounding out the field is Fair Grounds maiden winner Hollywood Handsome, West Coast shipper and former claimer Sorry Erik, and Sharp's second entry, Fair Grounds allowance winner Hotfoot.