Yockey’s Warrior headed to Keeneland

Yockey’s Warrior, the 5-yearold sprinter whose three-race win streak includes the Thanksgiving Handicap at Fair Grounds, will make his next start in the seven-furlong, $250,000 Commonwealth Stakes on April 8 at Keeneland, trainer Al Stall said.

Yockey’s Warrior most recently shipped to Oaklawn Park to win a high-level allowance race, and he had been considered for the six-furlong Count Fleet Sprint Handicap there next month, but Stall wants to focus on longer sprints with Yockey’s Warrior, who won at Keeneland last fall.

“We’re focusing on seveneighths races,” Stall said. “The Commonwealth could set us up for the Churchill Downs [Stakes], too. He’ll do all his works here at Fair Grounds and ship straight to Keeneland to run.”

On Monday, Stall sent out Tom’s d’Etat to a successful 4-year-old debut, and the colt, running for the first time since winning a 1 1/8-mile maiden race last summer at Saratoga, continued to look like a stakes horse in the making.

Tom’s d’Etat and jockey David Flores pressed a fast half-mile pace of 46.19 seconds, took the lead at the top of the homestretch, and steadily drew clear to win by 3 3/4 lengths. Tom’s d’Etat ran the mile and 70 yards in 1:41.51 and got a career-best 91 Beyer Speed Figure.

“Tom looks good this morning,” Stall said by e-mail Tuesday. “We’re hoping for an allowance Derby week at Churchill. I’m impressed by his quickness and agility for a massive horse. He made the lead and pulled himself up, too, which makes you think there’s more there. The farther the better for him.”

Casse might send filly for Oaks

Trainer Mark Casse already has penciled in Noble Bird for the New Orleans Handicap at Fair Grounds on April 1, and he said he is considering sending a filly, too, for the Fair Grounds Oaks that day.

“You could see Pretty City Dancer or possibly Salty or Corporate Queen run there,” Casse said. “All of them are fillies we think are really good, and we just need to separate them.”

Noble Bird, a Grade 1 winner, finished sixth last out in the $12 million Pegasus World Cup. Laying in wait for him at Fair Grounds is Hawaakom, who ran into Gun Runner while second in the Razorback Handicap last out at Oaklawn Park.

Casse’s Fair Grounds barn sent out two promising, lightly raced horses in allowance races in the last week, but neither excelled. The 4-year-old Tour de Force was second in a secondlevel allowance race March 17 but was turned away by Valiant City, who was racing for a $40,000 claiming price.

On Monday, the 3-year-old Souper Tapit, who scored a noteworthy debut win in a two-turn maiden race, raced from last and never really picked up much, finishing fifth in Tom’s d’Etat’s first-level allowance win, albeit while facing older horses.

◗ The feature on Friday’s 10-race card? Well, there really isn’t one. The only allowance race on the card is race 8, a sixfurlong sprint for 3-year-old Louisiana-breds open to nonwinners of two races or $30,000 claimers.