This Side Up: Back to the Future on Lecomte Day

Fastest two minutes in sport? You'll excuse us a bitter laugh here. By the time Mandaloun (Into Mischief) leaves the gate Saturday for the GIII Louisiana S., he'll be 382,968 minutes into a GI Kentucky Derby without end. And, with no sign of anyone putting their attorneys back in the holster, it's plainly going to be a while yet before we know whether Mandaloun will finally be anointed the 147th winner of a race that drives so many millions of dollars of investment in our industry.

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As things stand, we're potentially looking at one of the luckiest animals in Turf history: a dual Grade I winner who has yet to pass the post first in a Grade I race. He was last seen, of course, in that dramatic Haskell S., which fell into his lap after Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) was disqualified for his tangle with Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow). The latter, conversely, has accumulated a dispiriting sequence of near-misses since his last visit to the winner's circle, on this card last year, in the GIII Lecomte S.

Given our ongoing travails, and the resulting perceptions among the wider public, our community owes a great debt to Midnight Bourbon for his balletic recovery from the brink of catastrophe at Monmouth Park. As a potential lifeline for the precarious Man o' War line, moreover, he should in due course offer another valuable service in the replication, at stud, of that extraordinary athleticism.

We're not going to run out of sons of Into Mischief any time soon, after all. One way or another, then, a lot of neutrals will be heading to Midnight Bourbon's corner as the two rivals each attempt a personal reset in what will, on the anniversary of their first, be their sixth showdown.

But you have to feel sympathy for Mandaloun, too. At the best of times, finishing second in the Derby is a bittersweet distinction. It's one that has been shared by some great names, for instance Native Dancer and Nashua within a couple of years of each other, as well as by many that can only make you scratch your head. And nobody, regardless, would want to satisfy a lifetime quest in quite this way, as connections of Country House (Lookin At Lucky) will doubtless attest.

On the day, their horse proved better equipped for the defining challenge of the American Thoroughbred than all bar one of 20,000-odd other foals in his crop. Country House was desperately unlucky to be denied any further opportunity of wresting attention from that ever-distracting horse, Maximum Security (New Year's Day). Set for a relaunch at four, only to be derailed by laminitis in February, he duly finds himself standing on most generous terms (despite being inbred to the matriarch No Class) at Darby Dan. If there's any justice, someday one of his sons will secure him overdue respect in the Derby.

Midnight Bourbon's last visit to the winner's circle was in the 2021 Lecomte | Hodges Photography

If that happens, it won't be through a superior preparation. Country House was a Bill Mott masterpiece. It was only in this equivalent week that he broke his maiden; he then contested the second and third legs of the New Orleans trial series, catching the eye of many a wiseguy handicapper with the promise of better yet in the extreme test awaiting at Churchill.

In the process he contributed to the striking vigor of the Fair Grounds sophomores, in recent times. Last year the GII Louisiana Derby produced four of the first six on the first Saturday in May. True, these included a Californian shipper, but the overall strength of the Crescent City cohort certainly heightens interest in the return of Proxy (Tapit), who went missing after being sandwiched between Midnight Bourbon and Mandaloun in both the Lecomte and the GII Risen Star. Some really heartening breezes this winter allow us to hope that Proxy might yet live up to his name, and plug a gap for the Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper) barn.

But no graduate of the Fair Grounds Classic rehearsals has lately made a greater impact than Gun Runner–for whom the Lecomte, through Pappacap and Cyberknife, now represents the first big test of the theory that his stud debut was especially spectacular because his stock will emulate the way he thrived with maturity himself.

Pappacap prior to his second in the 2021 Breeders' Cup Juvenile | Horsephotos

As his second-ever winner, Pappacap was among the most precocious of the surprisingly precocious gang that secured Gun Runner the freshman title; but the Rustlewood Farm homebred can be expected to consolidate on both sides of his pedigree. His mother achieved her only graded stakes placing at the end of her third campaign; his second and third dams, unusually enough, are both by sons of that doughty influence Roberto; while his fourth is by another in Pleasant Colony. In other words, this is a horse bred to stick around. (He also has the honor of starting out No. 1 on colleague T.D. Thornton's TDN Derby Top 12.)

It's a big day, then, for the Winchell family, who stand Gun Runner with Three Chimneys and will be hoping to see Midnight Bourbon elaborate his own stud credentials. Because they also present the most obvious danger to Gun Runner's Lecomte pair in Epicenter (Not This Time), whose apt emergence in the Gun Runner S. over Christmas showed him to be very comfortable with pouring the speed coals into this hot surface.

Throw into the mix Trafalgar (Lord Nelson), a promising flagship for his classy hometown barn, and this looks another instructive edition of the Lecomte S. I love the cyclical nature of the Classic trail, with all its familiar staging points, coast to coast; and the return to the same card of two of the 2021 protagonists marks another ring through the trunk of the great old Triple Crown tree.

Because it's never really just about those two breathless minutes in Louisville. Those are the tiny apex of a huge pyramid that spreads out through the patient dreams of so many different people, past and present.

With everything that's going on–condensed by the tragedy of the horse that held off Mandaloun in the Derby–we must always conduct ourselves with due respect for the generations of predecessors who made our sport what it is. This race, remember, is named for the only horse ever to beat Lexington. And if we don't prove worthy of our heritage, in the perennial quest for a Derby colt, someday we will suddenly find that it's two minutes to midnight.

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Road To The Kentucky Derby: Pappacap, Epicenter Go Head-To-Head In Saturday’s Lecomte

Rustlewood Farm's Pappacap, the current points leader on the Road to the Kentucky Derby with 12, headlines a field of nine 3-year-olds for the $200,000 Lecomte Stakes (G3), one of 14 races to be run on Saturday's “Road to the Derby” Day at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. Run over 1 1/16 miles, the Lecomte offers ten Kentucky Derby points to the winner, with the rest of the top four earning 4-2-1.

Six stakes have been carded by racing secretary Scott Jones and his crew for Saturday, including the Lecomte's sister race, the $150,000 Silverbulletday. The top four in that 3-year-old filly event will earn Kentucky Oaks qualifying points (10-4-2-1).

A sprint winner on debut on May 14 at Gulfstream, the Florida-bred Pappacap has raced in four graded stakes in California since, winning the Best Pal (G2) at Del Mar and most recently finishing as the runner-up behind Corniche in both the American Pharoah (G2) and Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1).

“I never questioned where I wanted to go after the Breeders' Cup,” trainer Mark Casse said of his upcoming run in the Lecomte. “I feel really comfortable at Fair Grounds. We had a lot of success over that track with (Lecomte and Risen Star winner) War of Will and (Kentucky Oaks runner-up) Wonder Gadot. I think it's a great atmosphere and I have a lot of confidence in David Carroll (assistant on the grounds). I think the track there suits him. He's a horse that wants to settle a little bit and not have to hustle a whole lot. He gets over the ground really well there.”

Joe Bravo, who has ridden the son of Gun Runner in all four of his graded stakes starts, will be back aboard on Saturday. Pappacap will leave from post three as Mike Diliberto's 8-5 morning line favorite.

“I'm a loyal kind of guy,” Casse said. “I think Joe has ridden him well and he knows the horse. He helped us out a lot early in the horse's development. In a conversation with the Russells (owners) after the Breeders' Cup we decided that we were going to stick with Joe moving forward.”

Casse has won two of the last three editions of the Lecomte – with War of Will in 2019 and Enforceable in 2020. Like both of those runners, the plan is to run Pappacap through the Fair Grounds' series of upcoming Kentucky Derby points races.

“He's doing well,” Casse said. “I'd rather run him and get him into a race pattern. If you do have a setback this time of year and you miss a little time, you're not behind the eight-ball. As long as he's happy and healthy, our plan is to have him run through the series of 3-year-old races at Fair Grounds and get him as much experience as we can. I think that's a plus.”

The close second choice at 9-5, Winchell Thoroughbreds' Epicenter eyes his third consecutive win for trainer Steve Asmussen. After breaking his maiden on the lead, the son of Not This Time dominated the Gun Runner last time out, sitting just off the pace before taking over off the turn and drawing away by 6 ½ lengths.

“He's exciting,” Asmussen said. “The (one-turn) mile from the outside draw when he broke his maiden (at Churchill Downs), the racetrack played for how he ran that day. The Gun Runner and two turns, restrained a little bit early, the way he ran through the wire and galloped out was everything we were hoping for.”

With Joel Rosario aboard, Epicenter will break from post five. Asmussen has won the Lecomte three times, including last year's edition with Midnight Bourbon, who will run in the Louisiana Stakes (G3) earlier in the card.

Columbine Stable's Trafalgar enters the Lecomte off a narrow Fair Grounds allowance victory in his two-turn debut on Dec. 2. After building a comfortable margin in the deep stretch, the son of Lord Nelson had to dig deep to score his second consecutive win for trainer Al Stall, Jr.

“He clearly waited on horses from the 3/16ths to the 1/6ths,” Stall said. “Here comes a Brad Cox horse (Naval Aviator) with a full head of steam, and I'm thinking, well there's goes a 3-5 shot down the drain, but he just reengaged when he saw him and had to run hard the last part. I like the fact that he went from lollygagging around straight to fighting.”

Trafalgar's sire is a multiple graded stakes winning sprinter, so despite the allowance win, the distance question has yet to be emphatically answered.

“He's by Lord Nelson, but if you come to the barn and look at him, you wouldn't think that he's going to be a sprinter,” Stall said. “He looks like A. P. Indy and Pulpit. That's the main reason I bought him in Florida ($310,000 April Ocala 2-year-old in training). He looks like that family. We always felt that he would be a horse that could stretch.”

With Fair Grounds' leading rider Colby Hernandez back aboard, Trafalgar will break from post four at 5-1 in the morning line. Stall has been very happy with the colt's progression so far.

“In the first race at Saratoga, he was drawn on the inside, missed the break and hooked a bear (Classic Causeway),” Stall said. “Second time out (at Churchill), he was in the middle of the racetrack the whole time. He didn't learn a whole lot, it set up for him and he rolled on home. It wouldn't hurt my feelings if he tucked in and kind of let the race unfold in front of him on Saturday. It will be better for him if he has a target. He had a really good five-eighths work with some dirt in his face and a target and a three-quarters in 12 and change gallop out (on Jan. 9), and he came out of this weekend's work great.”

Disqualified after crossing the line first in his career debut at Churchill, the greenness of Gold Square's Cyberknife got him beat in Louisville six weeks later, this time on the square. Stretched out around two turns for the first time on Dec. 26 at Fair Grounds, he took a clear advantage in the stretch, but nearly coughed it up late.

“He's obviously raced erratically in all three starts down the lane,” trainer Brad Cox said. “I thought he was very impressive here last time up until the last little bit. It's all mental with him. It's nothing we can really fix with him in the mornings. He's a colt that has always been a little tough to handle. He's not straightforward. He's the kind of horse who requires a good hand. He's very immature. I think the talent is there, but he's got to take a step forward mentally, and I think he will. He just needs to race and get some miles underneath him in the afternoons. I think he's going to be a player in the 3-year-old division.”

With blinkers back on for the first time since the debut, the son of Gun Runner will be reunited with jockey Florent Geroux. He breaks from post six at 6-1 in the morning line.

Undefeated from three starts, including consecutive restricted stakes wins, Valene Farms' Unified Report will face his toughest task to date on Saturday. He will break from post two with Corey Lanerie aboard (15-1 ML).

“He has trained very well and he deserves the opportunity,” trainer Dallas Stewart said. “Obviously he's been running against Louisiana-breds, but I think he's a nice horse and we are going to find out how nice he is.”

The remainder of the field with post position, jockey/trainer and morning line odds is as follows: Mark and Nancy Stanley's Surfer Dude (post one, Reylu Gutierrez/Dallas Stewart, 15-1 ML), third last out in the Gun Runner; Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Blue Kentucky (post seven, Jareth Loveberry/Wayne Catalano, 20-1 ML), who will test two turns for the first time in career start number seven off a runner-up effort in the Sugar Bowl at Fair Grounds; Peter Cantrell's Call Me Midnight (post eight, James Graham/Keith Desormeaux, 20-1 ML), seventh last out in the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) at Churchill Downs; and Courtlandt Farms' Presidential (post nine, Brian Hernandez, Jr./Steve Asmussen, 20-1 ML), the runaway winner of a maiden special weight route in his second career start last out at Indiana Grand.

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