Golden Tempo with the rail skimming ride in the Lecomte, Fair Grounds Photo
Fair Grounds Press
NEW ORLEANS – Riding momentum from a last-to-first victory in the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes, Golden Tempo headlines a field of eight 3-year-olds in Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Fasig-Tipton Risen Star Stakes on Louisiana Derby Preview Day at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.
One of six stakes races on the card, totaling $1.425 million in purses, the 1 1/8-mile Risen Star is the third of four local prep races for the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) and is the first Derby prep of the season to award 50-25-15-10-5 qualifying points to the top five finishers.
First post for Louisiana Derby Preview Day on Saturday, Feb. 14, is noon CT, with the Risen Star scheduled as the 12-race card’s finale.
Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable’s homebred Golden Tempo enters the Risen Star off a dramatic last-to-first rally in the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes, where the Cherie DeVaux-trained colt surged from the rear to score by rallying along the rail, finishing ahead of his stablemate Mesquite. Perfect in two starts, Golden Tempo earned 20 Derby qualifying points with the Lecomte victory, placing him near the top of the active Derby leaderboard. Drawn in post 2, Golden Tempo will be reunited with meet-leading jockey Jose Ortiz.
His top challenger is Paladin, owned by Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Peter Brant, Brook Smith and Summer Wind Equine. Trained by Chad Brown, Paladin is unbeaten in two starts and earned 10 Derby qualifying points with his victory in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct in December. After teaming up to win the 2024 edition of this race with Sierra Leone, jockey Tyler Gaffalione takes the call from Brown and will guide Paladin from post 4.
Courting ships in for trainer Todd Pletcher looking to turn the tables on Paladin. Owned by Whisper Hill Farm, Stonestreet Stables and Windancer Farm, the Curlin colt exits the Remsen, where he finished a troubled fourth. Courting drew post 7 and will have Hall of Famer John Velazquez in the irons.
Making his first start on the local Derby trail, Universe enters the Risen Star for trainer Kenny McPeek. Having racked up 13 qualifying points with in-the-money finishes in the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2), Street Sense (G3) and Champagne (G1), Universe exits a disappointing seventh-place finish in the Smarty Jones. Christopher Elliott has been named to ride.
Other logical contenders include the Gun Runner winner Chip Honcho, who finished fourth in the Lecomte for trainer Steve Asmussen, and Carson Street, who dug in gamely to be third in the Lecomte for trainer Brendan Walsh.
Here is the complete field for the Fasig-Tipton Risen Star (G2) from the rail out with jockey and trainer:
Universe (Elliott, McPeek)
Golden Tempo (Ortiz, DeVaux)
Carson Street (Ben Curtis, Walsh)
Paladin (Gaffalione, Brown)
Chip Honcho (Luis Saez, Asmussen)
Colt Forty Seven (James Graham, Keith Desormeaux)
Courting (Velazquez, Pletcher)
Quality Mischief (Florent Geroux, Brad Cox)
