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Lecomte field coming together El Padrino, a son of Pulpit from the barn of multiple Eclipse Award-winning trainer Todd Pletcher, is expected to be among those arriving in New Orleans to contest the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds on January 21, according to Fair Grounds stakes coordinator Scott Jones. The Lecomte, for three-year-olds of Triple Crown potential, is the headline event of six stakes worth $650,000 to be contested on Fair Grounds' Road to the Derby Kickoff Day. El Padrino has not run since concluding his juvenile campaign with a fast-closing third-place finish in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes on November 26 at Aqueduct. However, the chestnut colt worked a bullet five furlongs in 1:00 2/5 at South Florida's Palm Meadows Training Center Monday morning. Eclipse Award-winning jockey John Velazquez is expected to journey to New Orleans to ride El Padrino in the Lecomte, first leg of Fair Grounds' three-race sophomore series that concludes with the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby, to be run April 1 on the current session's closing day. Prior to his third-place finish in the Remsen, where he was beaten three-quarters of a length for the win, El Padrino broke his maiden by 12 3/4 lengths over the sloppy going at Belmont Park on October 29. Among those El Padrino is likely to face in the Lecomte is Steve Martin's Ted's Folly, winner of Remington Park's Springboard Mile Stakes on December 10. The Wild Tale colt arrived at Fair Grounds late last month and will try to emulate Ron the Greek, who captured the 2010 Lecomte after running in the Springboard Mile. Ted's Folly, an Oklahoma-bred conditioned by Wilson Brown who has now won six straight, captured the restricted Oklahoma Stallion Stakes by 5 1/4 lengths on November 18 prior to his Springboard Mile score and won the state-bred Oklahoma Classics Juvenile before that on October 28. According to Jones, others considered likely for the Lecomte on include Shared Property, winner of the Grade 3 Arlington-Washington Futurity; Seven Lively Sins, second by three-quarters of a length in the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes and most recently fourth in the Grade 3 Delta Downs Jackpot; Laurie's Rocket, second by a nose in the Sugar Bowl Stakes; and Hammers Terror, a winner of his last two including a 2 3/4-length tally going a mile and 70 yards at Fair Grounds. Local maiden winners Tetradrachm, Z Dager and Gowhereyougaze complete the list of the early likely Lecomte participants, while Sugar Bowl winner Exfactor is considered a possibility at this time. The 25th renewal of the Grade 3 Col. E. R. Bradley Handicap for older horses over the Stall-Wilson turf course, the 20th anniversary edition of the Silverbulletday Stakes for three-year-old fillies on the main track and the 66th running of the Louisiana Handicap for older horses over the main track are also to be contested as part of the gala Road to the Derby Kickoff Day, with the F. W. Gaudin Memorial Stakes at six furlongs and the grassy Pan Zareta Stakes at about 5 1/2 furlongs over the Stall-Wilson turf course complete that day's stakes sextet. The Silverbulletday Stakes is the first leg of Fair Grounds' sophomore filly series that continues with the Grade 3 Rachel Alexandra Stakes on Louisiana Derby Preview Day on February 25 and concludes with the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks on March 31, penultimate day of the New Orleans' Thoroughbred season. The Bradley is followed by the Grade 3 Fair Grounds Handicap on February 25 and concludes with the Grade 2 Mervin H. Muniz Jr. Memorial Handicap on April 1, while the Louisiana Handicap is followed by the Grade 3 Mineshaft Handicap on February 25 and ends with the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap on Louisiana Derby Day April 1, closing day of the season.
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