Saturday marks “Road to the Derby Kickoff Day” at Fair Grounds Race Course where they have a 12-race card on tap headlined by the $100,000 Gun Runner Stakes. The Gun Runner offers up 10 points to the winner on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard and is the first of four qualifiers run in New Orleans this winter. I do not love a horse in the Derby prep, but spoke about it at length on “Horse Cents” with Bailey Armour and the 1/ST Call Podcast with Jeremy Plonk. Here are a few horses I do like quite a bit though on the slate in the Big Easy on Saturday afternoon.
Race 3:
Trainer Brad Cox has debuted a lot of talented colts in New Orleans in the winter and perhaps he has another one making his first start here in #4 Coronado. The $550,000 Keeneland September 2024 purchase’s only older sibling won on debut and this colt should be fit coming in from Florida off a number of solid drills at Payson Park. It does not appear to be the deepest 2YO MSW field we will see on these big days at Fair Grounds during the winter and this son of Nyquist not only appears to have some early speed, but attracts the aggressive Luis Saez. With a clean break, he should be a very tough customer in his first lifetime start for Wathnan Racing.
Play: #4 Coronado (3-1 ML)
Race 6:
I will take a bigger swing in this MSW for 2YOs at 6-furlongs over the main track where some big-name barns are debuting potentially talented young colts. However, I will hope experience matters with second-time starter #5 Sockdolager. The son of Gun Runner took some public support on debut at Churchill Downs in mid-November going off at 10-1 in a full field 2YO event, but was out of the gate just ok. From there, he settled towards the back of the pack before making a bit of a middle move up the inside on the turn. Unfortunately, when he angled out at the top of the lane, he was empty, but hopefully he got a lot out of the race. Since arriving in New Orleans, he has put in three local drills and trainer Joe Sharp is off to a hot start to the meet after just an okay fall in Kentucky. Sharp legs up veteran Paco Lopez, who can hopefully get him out of the gate a bit better this time. If so, I expect a much-improved effort at a solid price.
Play: #5 Sockdolager (10-1 ML)
Race 7:
My top play of the day comes in this MSW event for 2YOs at one-mile over the Fair Grounds sod where I like the chances quite a bit of #3 Prepped. The More Than Ready colt was hammered down to 2-1-favoritism on debut at Churchill Downs back in late October for trainer Cherie DeVaux. Unfortunately, things did not go his way since he was out of the gate slow in a race dominated by those who were prominent in the early stages. I like the way the Keeneland September 2024 purchase finished that day despite not making up significant ground on the leaders. It should set him up for a much-improved effort with Brian Hernandez Jr. taking over riding duties for the first time. Expect Hernandez to relax him along the inside early and come with a strong late run hopefully good enough to earn the money!
Play: #3 Prepped (9-2 ML)
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