Native New Orleanian Tom Amoss has saddled three horses to capture past
renewals of Saturday’s Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds, but to date he’s
never won his hometown oval’s signature event — the $1 million Louisiana Derby,
which will be contested this year on April 1.
Nevertheless, that dream remains active, and Amoss has been aiming high with
Shared Property since last season, when he brought the altered son of Scat Daddy
to Chicago to win the Grade 3 Arlington-Washington Futurity.
“I’ve always liked (Shared Property),” Amoss said, even before the colt won
Chicago’s classic for two-year-olds last fall. “I had enough confidence in him
last summer that I told (jockey) Leandro Goncalves to take him back at the start
even before he broke his maiden at Ellis Park, and I never give instructions
like that to a jockey.
“However, he’s training really well now,” Amoss updated at his barn Sunday
following Shared Property’s six-furlong Saturday move in 1:15 4/5. “He still has
not won going two turns and that’s one of the things we’re anxiously looking for
at this time. The Lecomte should be a good starting point for us, but the screws
may not be completely tight just yet on this horse. I expect him to run very
well, but we’re also thinking about the rest of the year.”
The $175,000 Lecomte Stakes, first leg of a three-race series for
three-year-olds of Triple Crown potential, is the headline event of six stakes
worth a total of $650,000 to be run on Saturday’s Road to the Derby Kickoff Day.
The Lecomte leads to the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes on February 25 and the
sophomore series concludes with the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby, run on closing day
of Fair Grounds’ 2011-2012 meeting.
While Amoss has one shell loaded with Shared Property and the Lecomte as the
target, he’s aiming his second barrel at Saturday’s $125,000 Silverbulletday
Stakes for three-year-old fillies, and he’s lined up Always Here Too for a shot
in that race for members of the distaff set.
Saturday’s Silverbulletday Stakes is the initial event of Fair Grounds’
feminine sophomore series, continued by the Grade 3 Rachel Alexandra Stakes on
February 25 and concludes with the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks on March 31,
penultimate day of the local Thoroughbred season.
“Always Here Too ran a great prep race for the Silverbulletday a couple of
weeks ago,” said Amoss, speaking of the daughter of Include’s one-length win in
an optional claiming event on December 28. “This is a filly we threw too much at
too soon last year, so we gave her some time and now she’s giving us every
indication she’s looking forward to trying it all again.”
Always Here Too finished fifth in last year’s Grade 3 Arlington-Washington
Lassie as the post time favorite, and was then third in the $75,000 Blue Hen at
Delaware Park before being given a brief vacation. Since her winning effort
locally last month, the Kentucky homebred breezed 1:01 4/5 Friday morning at
Fair Grounds.
While Amoss holds a nice hand in taking down the three-year-old stakes at
Fair Grounds on Saturday, he’ll have to overcome an historic connection to get
the job done.
Alexander the Great succeeded his father Philip II as a Greek king of
Macedon, but the son went on to conquer the entire Persian Empire. Lecomte
candidate Alexander Thegreat is a three-year-old colt owned by Robert
Cartwright, who named him in honor of his own son Alexander.
The sophomore homebred son of Cat Thief is trained by Bobby Barnett, leading
conditioner at Oaklawn for a number of seasons when he trained horses for the
late legendary Louisiana owner and breeder John Franks.
The colt broke his maiden by 1 3/4 lengths going a mile and 70 yards at Fair
Grounds on December 26, and now he going to be asked to expand his own horizons
in the Lecomte as an initial stepping stone on the road to the Louisiana Derby.
“We’re going to go in there,” Barnett said during training hours Sunday
morning when asked if this weekend’s Lecomte was in the game plan for Alexander
Thegreat. “We may be biting off more than we can chew, but I discussed this with
the owner and we’re going to take a shot in that race. We’ll blow him out
tomorrow (Monday), but the colt is doing really well right now, so the plan is
to lead him over there on Saturday to try and win this thing.”
A trio of Lecomte probables took to the track at Fair Grounds on Sunday to
ready for the race, headed by the undefeated Capetown Devil, who clocked five
furlongs on the fast main track in 1:02 4/5. The David Carroll-trained son of
Cape Town broke his maiden at Keeneland in October, added an allowance win to
his resume under the Twin Spires and was most recently seen taking an optional
claimer on December 31 at Fair Grounds.
Also going five-eighths was Hammers Terror, a dark bay colt by Artie Schiller
who was caught in 1:01 2/5. The Michael Stidham charge is also exiting a win at
Fair Grounds against optional claiming rivals.
Z Dager, a bay son of Mizzen Mast, went a half-mile on Sunday in :50 4/5 for
conditioner Steve Asmussen and will enter the Lecomte off a maiden score at Fair
Grounds on December 15.