Retirement Fund throws hat into the ring for Asmussen

Steve Asmussen-trained 3-year-olds Principe Guilherme, Snapper Sinclair, and Zing Zang finished second, third, and fourth in the Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 13 at Fair Grounds, and two days later, the Asmussen-trained pair of Combatant and Tap Daddy finished second and third in the Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn.

That’s a lot of firepower already, and Asmussen’s 3-year-old arsenal expanded Saturday when Retirement Fund won a Fair Grounds first-level allowance race over one mile and 70 yards by two lengths. Retirement Fund now has two wins from two starts, having captured a Fair Grounds maiden race at the same distance by more than seven lengths Dec. 22. Retirement Fund was timed Saturday in 1:43.02 on a fairly fast-playing surface and got an 80 Beyer Speed Figure following the 81 from his first start.

“He’s got to be in the mix now,” Asmussen said Sunday. “I’m very pleased with both his races. It’s hard to know who he beat, but at least they’re not beating him.”

By “in the mix,” Asmussen means stakes competition. Three-year-olds this time of year with two wins outside claiming races have two options – run in a stakes or stay in the barn.

“If they’re writing two-other-thans for 3-year-olds right now it’s happening in a country where I don’t have a trainer’s license,” Asmussen said. “We’ll consider the Risen Star. Timing-wise, it might be a little tight. We’ll see.”

The Risen Star will be run Feb. 17 at Fair Grounds.

Retirement Fund is a dark bay colt with decent size by Eskendereya out of the Street Cry mare Northern Station; L and N Racing paid $100,000 for him as a yearling. He’s a halfbrother to Barbados, a stakeswinning sprinter, but more generally has heaps of stamina in his female family and struck his trainer as a route horse to the extent Asmussen started him off going two turns. Retirement Fund led on a soft pace first time out, winning at odds of almost 13-1, but went at a quicker tempo – albeit on a faster surface – on Saturday.

“He’s just a horse with a docile attitude that has impressed,” Asmussen said. “When you go back over it, everybody liked how he went, even if he never visually impressed you. He obviously stays. I thought the fractions were solid and his final time was.”

As for Asmussen’s trio of Lecomte runners, Principe Guilherme is pointed to the Risen Star, but plans remain uncertain for Snapper Sinclair and Zing Zang, in part because of a recent spell of freezing weather in New Orleans that has compromised training. Under normal circumstances, all three horses would have had their first post-Lecomte work Monday, but now they won’t breeze until at least Sunday, Asmussen said.

Classy Act: Speed and stamina

When trainer Bret Calhoun saw the half-mile fraction, 46.35 seconds, in the second race last Friday at Fair Grounds pop up, he figured his pacesetting trainee Classy Act would run out of gas. Instead, Classy Act probably ran her way into the Rachel Alexandra Stakes on Feb. 17 at Fair Grounds.

Classy Act, a 3-year-old filly, was part of a first-level allowance race being contested at one mile and 70 yards, and at Fair Grounds, a half-mile split under 47 seconds typically spells certain doom.

“When I saw how fast she was going, I figured she was cooked,” Calhoun said.

But the Fair Grounds main track was very tight and fast this past Friday night, and Classy Act put away her pace rival, Go Google Yourself, and pulled away to win by 2 1/2 lengths. Her raw time of 1:42.08 was extremely sharp, and the performance produced a 79 Beyer Speed Figure. That’s more good than great, but it’s worth keeping in mind that Stronger Than Ever’s winning Beyer from the Silverbulletday Stakes on Jan. 13 was a 76.

Classy Act, who is owned by Carl Moore, is by Into Mischief and out of the Distorted Humor mare Acting Class. She was second by a nose, then a neck, to start her career last year before running poorly third time out in a Churchill Downs one-turn mile. Calhoun fitted Classy Act with blinkers, and the filly won a two-turn Fair Grounds grass maiden race. She more than transferred that form to dirt last week.

“Blinkers were a positive move,” Calhoun said. “I was reluctant to put them on at first, and I held back. Working, she’s an average horse by herself, but put her behind horses with a target and she looks like a good horse. Her mind tends to drift, and she can be a little spooky, a little intimidated at times. With blinkers, she’s been much more focused and much braver.”

Forever Unbridled on hold

Forever Unbridled is likely to be feted this week with an Eclipse Award as champion older female of 2017, but even as that takes place the course of her career is uncertain.

Forever Unbridled worked Dec. 11 at Fair Grounds while she was still under consideration for the Pegasus World Cup Invitational, but once the plug was pulled on those plans, trainer Dallas Stewart took the mare off a work pattern, though she is still galloping and “looks great,” Stewart said.

Forever Unbridled is a 6-year-old now, and ownerbreeder Charles Fipke and Stewart have to decide whether to campaign her in 2018 or send Forever Unbridled off to become a broodmare. Fipke and Stewart run Seeking the Soul in the Pegasus this weekend, after which there could be more clarity on the mare’s future.

“We’ll all be in Florida this weekend and sit down and talk things over,” Stewart said.

◗ Fair Grounds has struggled to put together appealing cards lately, but Thursday’s ninerace program is a good one. The feature is race 2, a secondlevel turf-sprint allowance also open to $40,000 claimers, and there are three maiden special weight races, two for 3-year-olds and one for older horses, on the back end of the card.

◗ On the weekend work tab: Valadorna (next start Houston Ladies Classic) went a halfmile Sunday in 48 seconds, the fastest of 81 such works. Also on Sunday, Monomoy Girl (Rachel Alexandra Stakes) went a half in 48.40, and Arklow (undecided) a half in 48.80. On Saturday, Finley’s lucky charm (undecided) zipped a half in 48.40, and Mr. Misunderstood (Fair Grounds Handicap) went a half in 50.