Grandview Equine, Cheyenne Stable and LNJ Foxwoods' classy 4-year-old colt Olympiad is set to return to Fair Grounds from his South Florida base as the 8-5 favorite in Saturday's 97th running of the $500,000 New Orleans Classic (G2).
Run at 1 1/8 miles, the New Orleans Classic was carded as Race 9 of 12 with a post time of 4:08 p.m. (all times Central). First post Saturday is noon.
Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott and ridden by Junior Alvarado, Olympiad cruised to a 2 ¼-length score in the $250,000 Mineshaft (G3) last month at Fair Grounds, stopping the timer in 1:42.01 for 1 1/16th miles and shaving .01 off the previous track record set by Pie In Your Eye way back in 1994.
The bay son of Speightstown has only finished worse than second once in his seven-race career – a troubled fourth-place finish in last year's $750,000 Cigar Mile (G1). Olympiad and Alvarado will break from post two.
“That's the kind of horse that makes your work very easy,” Alvarado said following the Mineshaft. “He leaves the gate, you nudge him a little bit, and he takes you for a nice ride the whole way. The longer stretch (at Fair Grounds) helped him today. He's a horse that needs more than a 1/16th mile stretch run to pick it up and he proved that today.”
The Godolphin homebred Proxy hopes to build off an impressive comeback win in his 4-year-old debut on February 25 for Mike Stidham. Second in both the Lecomte (G3) and Risen Star (G2) last year, the son of Tapit fell a bit flat in the Louisiana Derby (G2) and the Lexington (G3) at Keeneland, finishing fourth in both. Apparently, the time off to mature did him some good.
“In the mornings he's a bigger, stronger, better horse now with a little more maturity,” Stidham said. “Last year he'd go out there in the mornings and he wasn't really interested in working well, but you can see from his tab leading up to this, he is doing things a little different now. He ran with blinkers in his last two starts (last year), but watching those races, we didn't see where they helped him so we didn't think twice about taking them off.”
The 5-2 second choice with Brian Hernandez, Jr. back aboard, Proxy will break from post 5.
“I couldn't be happier,” Stidham said. “He's had three really good works since his last race. He ran against top quality horses last year as a 3-year-old. It's just a matter of seeing if he's good enough to compete with the top horses this year, but he's given me every indication that he can. Given the way he ran in his last race, nine furlongs should absolutely be better than 1 1/16 miles for him. He was very relaxed and came home finishing nicely. I'm very much looking forward to the added distance with him.”
With the champion Echo Zulu and Epicenter favored in the Twinspires.com Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) and Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (G2), respectively, and Midnight Bourbon set to compete in the Dubai World Cup at Meydan, Saturday could be a monstrous day for trainer Steve Asmussen, who also sends forth Erv Woolsey and brother Keith Asmussen's Super Stock in the New Orleans Classic. Joel Rosario will ride from post three.
“He's never raced here but he has worked well here,” Asmussen said. “It's a good opportunity for him. I didn't like the trip he got last time (Razorback at Oaklawn). We think he is better than that and we think the change of scenery may just wake him up a little bit. It's a good race and we are hoping he goes out there and proves us right.”
Trained by Dallas Stewart, Estate of James Coleman's 2021 New Orleans Classic hero Chess Chief narrowly defeated Owendale to win his first graded stakes. The now 6-year-old horse finished his 5-year-old campaign with a victory in the $100,000 Tenacious Stakes at Fair Grounds prior to a sixth-place effort in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) at Gulfstream Park. All five of his career wins have come at Fair Grounds. Reylu Gutierrez will have the call from post six.
The field for the $500,000 New Orleans Classic (race 9 at 5:44 pm CT) with post position, jockey/trainer and morning line odds:
- Woodford Thoroughbreds and WinStar Farms' Promise Keeper (Tyler Gaffalione/Todd Pletcher, 3-1 ML), winner of the Peter Pan (G3) last year as a 3-year-old
- Grandview Equine and Cheyenne Stables' Olympiad (Junior Alvarado/Bill Mott, 8-5 ML);
- Erv Woolsey and Keith Asmussen's Super Stock (Joel Rosario/Steve Asmussen, 8-1 ML);
- Lothenbach Stables' Happy American (James Graham/Neil Pessin, 8-1 ML);
- Godolphin's Proxy (Brian Hernandez Jr./Mike Stidham, 5-2 ML);
- Estate of James Coleman's Chess Chief (Reylu Gutierrez/Dallas Stewart, 8-1 ML).
The New Orleans Classic is part of a tremendous program Saturday at Fair Grounds and is one of eight stakes on the card. The penultimate day of the Fair Grounds season is topped by the $1 million TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby (G2), which will go as the finale and the $400,000 TwinSpires.com Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) (Race 11). The other stakes on the card are the $75,000 Crescent City Oaks (Race 3); $75,000 Crescent City Derby (Race 5); $75,000 Costa Rising (Race 6); $100,000 Tom Benson Memorial (Race 8); and $300,000 Muniz Memorial Classic presented by Horse Racing Nation (G2) (Race 10).
Past performances for all of Fair Grounds races are available on www.Brisnet.com and fans can wager on www.TwinSpires.com, the official wagering provider of Churchill Downs Inc.
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