Calumet Farm’s 1941 Triple Crown winner Whirlaway was installed as the 3-1
morning-line favorite in a field of 12 racing immortals for Saturday’s
one-time-only Fair Grounds Legends Purse on the first Saturday of the 140th
Thoroughbred racing season at Fair Grounds.
“That was the easy part, making the Triple Crown winner the favorite,”
oddsmaker Mike Diliberto said. “Then it got tough.”
The real Whirlaway won’t be racing, of course, but the three-year-old
Louisiana-bred Gold Soul will play the part. Each of the entrants in Saturday’s
sixth race will bear the historically accurate “throwback” colors of Fair
Grounds Hall of Fame members. Track announcer John G. Dooley will call the names
of the corresponding Legends as if competing in a fantasy race. The Fair Grounds
Legends Purse will be a standard pari-mutuel contest, with the only deviations
from normal procedure being the silks and the race call.
The morning line odds were determined for the contemporary horses per normal
procedure. The Legends were assigned to entrants in order of Diliberto’s
preference. As it happens, Gold Soul is a chestnut, as was Whirlaway.
The full field for the Fair Grounds Legends Purse, for three-, four- and
five-year-old Louisiana-bred maidens at one mile and 70 yards, from the rail out
(with contemporary horse name and morning line odds): Whirlaway (Gold Soul,
3-1); Cabildo (C. McHale, 10-1); Lecomte (Big Bartz, 20-1); Tiffany Lass
(Vermilion King, 20-1); Grindstone (Bigbandit, 8-1); Master Derby (Kasos Pride,
6-1); Tenacious (Brandonsbabyblayre, 8-1); Black Gold (Redredred, 5-1);
Lexington (Roge’s Chemo, 20-1); Blushing K.D. (Great Planet, 20-1); Risen Star (Deelightful
Angel, 4-1) and Pan Zareta (T Sita, 20-1).
Saturday’s on-track program will include a collectible insert depicting the
silks of the Legends, along with their biographies and photos.