by Brisnet.com
George and Lori Hall’s Pants on Fire, hero of last season’s Grade 2 Louisiana
Derby at Fair Grounds, is being pointed toward a return to the Crescent City to
contest the Grade 3 Mineshaft Handicap on February 25.
The $125,000 Mineshaft, for older horses at 1 1/16-miles over the main track,
is one of six stakes worth a total of $885,000 that will be contested on a day
that is billed as Louisiana Derby Preview Day.
The upcoming Grade 2, $300,000 Risen Star, as the billing suggests, is the
final designed local prep race for this year’s $1 million Louisiana Derby on
April 1, while the Mineshaft serves in the same capacity for the Grade 2 New
Orleans Handicap on that same closing day program of Fair Grounds’ 2011-2012
session.
All of which circulates back to the subject of Pants on Fire, who could
become the third horse in the last five years to parlay a win in the Louisiana
Derby to one in the New Orleans Handicap. Trainer Todd Pletcher completed that
Fair Grounds double last year when Mission Impazible won the New Orleans
Handicap, and three years prior when Circular Quay accomplished the same feat.
Trainer Kelly Breen, who saddled Pants on Fire to win the Louisiana Derby
last year, would appear to be ideally placed to repeat the local double if the
four-year-old son of Jump Start were to run well in next weekend’s Mineshaft.
“He’s ready to run now,” Breen said last week of Pants on Fire, who would be
ridden by Fair Grounds’ defending rider champion and current leading rider Rosie
Napravnik in the Mineshaft. “We’re going to take it race by race right now.”
Pants on Fire has been away from competition since a fifth-place finish in
the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational on the Jersey Shore at Monmouth Park last July
31. In addition to his Louisiana Derby win, the dark bay also captured the Grade
3 Pegasus Stakes and was a head second early in his sophomore season in the
Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes.
Pants on Fire worked five furlongs in 1:00 4/5 at Palm Meadows Training
Center on Sunday.
In addition to Pants on Fire, another horse being given serious consideration
for the Mineshaft Handicap at this time is Mister Marti Gras, winner of
Arlington Park’s Grade 3 Washington Park Handicap last September. Following that
score, the Belong to Me five-year-old finished a close fourth in the Grade 2
Hawthorne Gold Cup, returned to the winner’s circle in Churchill’s Grade 3 Ack
Ack Handicap and then ran fourth in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap under the Twin
Spires on November 25.
Other older horses under consideration for the Mineshaft Handicap at this
time include the second, third and fourth place finishers in Fair Grounds’
$100,000 Louisiana Handicap, contested at 1 1/16 miles on January 21.
Beaten a length that day when finishing second after being bumped entering
the first turn was Fast Alex, who is conditioned by Greg Geier. The son of
Afleet Alex had previously won the Tenacious Handicap and finished fourth in
last year’s New Orleans Handicap over the local oval.
Third under the wire in the Louisiana Handicap was Alma d’Oro, a Todd
Pletcher-trained son of Medaglia d’Oro who had finished second behind Mister
Marti Gras in the Ack Ack and run seventh in the Clark.
Also being pointed for the Mineshaft by trainer Mike Stidham is the City Zip
five-year-old Gleam of Hope, who was fourth in the Louisiana Handicap after
being bumped after the start and second by a nose in the Tenacious.
In other Louisiana Derby Preview Day news, Smart Bid could use the Grade 3
Fair Grounds Handicap as a steppingstone to a repeat victory in the Grade 2
Mervin Muniz Memorial Handicap on closing day over the local turf.
Veteran reinsman Edgar Prado has been engaged to ride the son of Smart Strike
in the $125,000 Fair Grounds ‘Cap, which serves as the designed local prep for
the $400,000 Mervin Muniz Memorial.
Others considered likely for the Fair Grounds Handicap at this time include
the respective top-three finishes from the Grade 3 Col. E. R. Bradley Handicap
— Mr. Vegas, Dubious Miss and Strike Impact — as well as Papaw Bodie, who
captured the Grade 3 John B. Connally Stakes at Sam Houston last out on January
28.