Owendale likely for Risen Star

NEW ORLEANS – Cornacchia got more attention in the betting but his Brad Cox-trained stablemate Owendale got the money in featured race 5 Thursday at Fair Grounds. Owendale won the mile and 70-yard allowance race for 3-year-olds by 1 1/2 lengths, probably earning a start in the Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 16, Cox said.

Owendale, an improved horse this winter after getting two months off following an Oct. 28 race, had finished second Dec. 22 in a race at this first-level allowance class and distance to Tackett, who was to run here Saturday in the Lecomte Stakes. Owendale ran fast, too, clocking 1:42.54 for one mile and 70 yards over a “good” track that was left sealed during the card’s early portion even after light rain had ended and no more appeared to be on the way.

Two other Thursday dirt races at the distance – one for older Louisiana-bred first-level allowance horses, the other an open older-female first-level allowance – yielded times at least two seconds slower than Owendale’s.

“He’s a big horse that’s just really improved,” Cox said. “He needed a little time.”

Owendale is by Into Mischief and out of Aspen Light, an unraced Bernardini mare who is a sister to Grade 2 winner Great Hunter. He needed three starts to clear the maiden ranks, doing so in an Indiana Grand one-mile dirt race that might have helped boost the colt’s confidence, according to Cox’s assistant Ricky Giannini, who oversees the Indiana and Fair Grounds strings.

Owendale, who races in blinkers, relaxed nicely Thursday, made the front in upper stretch and comfortably held clear of a run from second-place Frolic More. He paid $8.20 to win.

Cornacchia, second choice at 3-2 after overcoming trouble to win his debut over six furlongs here last month, broke slowly, bid for the lead around the far turn, and tired late to finish a distant fourth. Cox said he’d consider cutting Cornacchia back to a shorter race in his next start.

A tiring third was the 6-5 favorite Gun It, a $2.6 million yearling purchase who had scored a second-start maiden win here last out. Gun It overraced Thursday, tugging jockey Ricardo Santana to the lead with a swift 23.21-second quarter-mile that led to a taxing 47.05 half-mile split. He battled on to hold third, but remains a work in progress for trainer Steve Asmussen.

Desert Ride impresses in debut

The $1 million Queen’s Plate is more than five months away, on June 28 at Woodbine, but for 3-year-old filly Desert Ride’s connections it might not be too early to start thinking about that race.

Ontario-bred Desert Ride had her first trip to the post in the eighth race Thursday at Fair Grounds and, despite making some mistakes (starting with a poor break), she came away with a 1 1/4-length win. Desert Ride rallied from last under Shaun Bridgmohan and really exploded the final 1 1/2 furlongs to take a going-away victory.

“Shaun’s been working her for me, and the one thing he said was regardless of whether we ran her on turf or dirt, not to sprint her, to run her long first time,” trainer Neil Howard said.

Indeed, Desert Ride needed the better part of six furlongs just to sort herself out, but she finished like a filly with a future. Bred and owned by Sam-Son Farms, Desert Ride is the first foal to race produced by the Distorted Humor mare Fun in the Desert. Fun in the Desert is a sister to three stakes winners, including Eye of the Leopard, who won the 2009 Queen’s Plate for Sam-Son.

Howard said he’d find a firstlevel turf allowance race for Desert Ride’s next start.

Tom’s d’Etat in Pegasus work

Intended Pegasus World Cup runner Tom’s d’Etat will have his final work before the race Sunday at Fair Grounds.

It’s a big day for the horse’s connections: Gayle Benson’s GMB Racing owns Tom’s d’Etat, and the Benson family also owns the New Orleans Saints, who play for a chance at the Super Bowl Sunday afternoon.

Six-year-old Tom’s d’Etat has shown talent from early in his career, but has had difficulty staying sound enough to get into an extended racing pattern. He won the Tenacious Stakes here last out and will be making his third start following a yearplus layoff in the Pegasus.

Tom’s d’Etat will ship to Florida along with a second Pegasus runner, Seeking the Soul. Trainer Dallas Stewart, as of Thursday, hadn’t fully decided when Seeking the Soul would work, saying his breeze day depended on the weather. Thunderstorms were forecast here Saturday morning while Sunday is supposed to be cold but dry.

◗ The Sunday feature at Fair Grounds comes early. Race 1 is a second-level turf-sprint allowance race with a $40,000 claiming option, the highest-class fare on a program limited to eight races because of the New Orleans Saints playoff game that starts at 2:05 p.m.

The 3-1 morning-line favorite is Speight Swiftly, a 6-year-old who might be too fast for his own good. Speight Swiftly has managed only six starts, and was third at roughly this class level Dec. 8 at Woodbine. He has gotten onto a steady work pattern since joining trainer Mark Casse’s Fair Grounds string. Speight Swiftly might well take his chances on dirt should Sunday’s races be rained off turf after a wet Saturday.