@GKJ
The LeComte is out.
FAIR GROUNDS (New Orleans, LA) -- Saturday, January 21, 2023
Brad Cox is starting to seem like the Bob Baffert of the Midwest. Baffert for years, and in 2022-23 especially, has a barn brimming with young stakes-class dirt horses, and right now, Cox’s strings also are bulging with 3-year-old prospects.
www.drf.com
Brad Cox is starting to seem like the Bob Baffert of the Midwest. Baffert for years, and in 2022-23 especially, has a barn brimming with young stakes-class dirt horses, and right now, Cox’s strings also are bulging with 3-year-old prospects.
Over the last couple months, Cox has sent out at least seven different 2-year-olds of 2022 and 3-year-olds of 2023 who either won or placed in a stakes race or are headed for one. Victory Formation and Angel of Empire ran one-two in the Smarty Jones on Jan. 1 at Oaklawn. On Dec. 26 at Fair Grounds, Cox won the Sugar Bowl, a sprint, with route-bound Corona Bolt and the two-turn Gun Runner with Jace’s Road. Hit Show became a two-time winner with a route allowance victory Dec. 17 at Oaklawn, and Verifying got a 97 Beyer, same as Corona Bolt, wining a two-turn Jan. 14 allowance at Oaklawn. Giant Mischief finished a hard-luck second Dec. 17 in the Springboard Mile but hasn’t yet worked back.
Even with his best 2-year-old from last year, Loggins, still out of action, Cox heads into the heart of the Derby prep season looking for spots to start all these horses, and he has two, including likely favorite Instant Coffee, for the Grade 3, $250,000 Lecomte on Saturday at Fair Grounds. Instant Coffee on Nov. 26 won the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes and is one of eight, along with the Cox-trained Fair Grounds maiden winner Tapit’s Conquest, entered in the 1 1/16-mile Lecomte.
The Lecomte is the first of three two-turn dirt stakes at Fair Grounds over the next two-plus months, followed by the Risen Star at 1 1/8 miles in February and the $1 million Louisiana Derby over 1 3/16 miles in March, and is the first race other than the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Churchill Downs’s Road to the Kentucky Derby awarding more than 20 qualifying points. The first five Lecomte finishers get 20-8-6-4-2 points, respectively, through the system used to determine the Derby field.
- Steve Asmussen is debuting a $1.1 million Uncle Mo filly in Race 2. Tyler Gaffalione has the mount.
- Race 12 is a Kentucky Oaks prep worth 20 points to the winner.
- Race 14 is a Kentucky Derby prep worth 20 points to the winner.
[TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TH]
Race #[/TH]
[TH]
Purse[/TH]
[TH]
Race Type[/TH]
[TH]
Distance[/TH]
[TH]
Surface[/TH]
[TH]
Starters[/TH]
[TH]
Est. Post[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Race 1[/TD]
[TD]$65,000[/TD]
[TD]Maiden Special Weight[/TD]
[TD]6 Furlongs[/TD]
[TD]Dirt[/TD]
[TD]9[/TD]
[TD]12:00 PM CT[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Race 2[/TD]
[TD]$65,000[/TD]
[TD]Maiden Special Weight[/TD]
[TD]6 Furlongs[/TD]
[TD]Dirt[/TD]
[TD]9[/TD]
[TD]12:30 PM CT[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Race 3[/TD]
[TD]$65,000[/TD]
[TD]Maiden Special Weight[/TD]
[TD]1 1/16 Miles[/TD]
[TD]Dirt[/TD]
[TD]9[/TD]
[TD]1:00 PM CT[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Race 4[/TD]
[TD]$65,000[/TD]
[TD]Maiden Special Weight[/TD]
[TD]6 Furlongs[/TD]
[TD]Dirt[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]1:30 PM CT[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Race 5[/TD]
[TD]$100,000[/TD]
[TD]Marie G. Krantz Memorial S.[/TD]
[TD]About 1 1/16 Miles[/TD]
[TD]Turf[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]2:00 PM CT[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Race 6[/TD]
[TD]$65,000[/TD]
[TD]Maiden Special Weight[/TD]
[TD]1 1/16 Miles[/TD]
[TD]Dirt[/TD]
[TD]9[/TD]
[TD]2:30 PM CT[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Race 7[/TD]
[TD]$65,000[/TD]
[TD]Maiden Special Weight[/TD]
[TD]6 Furlongs[/TD]
[TD]Dirt[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]3:00 PM CT[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Race 8[/TD]
[TD]$100,000[/TD]
[TD]Colonel E. R. Bradley S.[/TD]
[TD]About 1 1/16 Miles[/TD]
[TD]Turf[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]3:30 PM CT[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Race 9[/TD]
[TD]$65,000[/TD]
[TD]Allowance Optional Claiming[/TD]
[TD]1 1/16 Miles[/TD]
[TD]Dirt[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]4:00 PM CT[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Race 10[/TD]
[TD]$65,000[/TD]
[TD]Maiden Special Weight[/TD]
[TD]1 1/16 Miles[/TD]
[TD]Dirt[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]4:30 PM CT[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Race 11[/TD]
[TD]$100,000[/TD]
[TD]Duncan F. Kenner S.[/TD]
[TD]About 5 1/2 Furlongs[/TD]
[TD]Turf[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]5:00 PM CT[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Race 12[/TD]
[TD]$150,000[/TD]
[TD]Silverbulletday S. presented by Fasig-Tipton[/TD]
[TD]1 Mile 70 Yards[/TD]
[TD]Dirt[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]5:30 PM CT[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Race 13[/TD]
[TD]$150,000[/TD]
[TD]
Louisiana S. Presented by Relyne GI By Hagyard[/TD]
[TD]1 1/16 Miles[/TD]
[TD]Dirt[/TD]
[TD]9[/TD]
[TD]6:00 PM CT[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
Race 14[/TD]
[TD]$200,000[/TD]
[TD]
Lecomte S.[/TD]
[TD]1 1/16 Miles[/TD]
[TD]Dirt[/TD]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]6:30 PM CT[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]