Walsh Believes Fair Grounds Suits Plus Que Parfait

Trainer Brendan Walsh doesn't place just any horse right across from his Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots office in Stall 26; he wants to keep a close eye on one that is held in high regard. 

So the fact Lecomte Stakes (G3) contender Plus Que Parfait is placed there should speak volumes about how much Walsh thinks of the horse. 

Grade 2-placed Plus Que Parfait, by Point of Entry , occupies the area that was once home to the likes of three-time graded stakes winner Scuba and two-time Fair Grounds winner Redesdale , and Walsh acknowledges he has some big shoes to fill.

"It's a high-pressure stall," Walsh said. "Any year I've been down here, I always had nice horses in that stall. It's nice to be able to look up from my desk at him. I definitely would want a good horse of mine to be in there."

Walsh believes Imperial Racing's Plus Que Parfait is just that, and he has already proved he is going down the right path with a close runner-up finish behind Signalman in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) in November where he acquired four points on Churchill Downs' Road To The Kentucky Derby. 

The Jan. 19 Lecomte is run at a distance of a mile and 70 yards, and Plus Que Parfait possesses plenty of experience going two turns, having done so in three of his four starts. He broke his maiden third time out over future winners Harvey Wallbanger and Cutting Humor at Keeneland going 1 1/16 miles.

"It's always been an advantage," Walsh said of the two-turn experience. "It looks like he's good enough. He seems to like this track. He's worked well on it, and I believe the long stretch will suit him. Just like any of them this time of year, he still has a lot of questions to answer, but I think he's a pretty nice horse. There's plenty of stamina in his pedigree."

Plus Que Parfait is out of the Awesome Again  broodmare Belvedera, whose dam is the graded stakes-winning mare Forever Land. Oracle Bloodstock purchased him for $135,000 from the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where he was consigned by Vinery Stables. 

"He's doing well, and it looks like he's very healthy," Walsh said. "I saw a photo of him the other day from last September, and, physically, he looks twice the horse now that he was then."

Jockey Julien Leparoux will ship to Fair Grounds to ride Plus Que Parfait in the Lecomte Stakes. 

"He rode him in the Kentucky Jockey Club and said he was keen to stay on him," Walsh said.