Track Phantom, a decisive winner of last month's Gun Runner Stakes, will look to retain his crown as King of the New Orleans 3-year-olds in the Jan. 20 $200,000 Lecomte Stakes (G3) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. The Steve Asmussen trainee will need to once again defeat rising star Nash from the Brad Cox barn as well as grade 2 winner Can Group, a top performer on the turf who takes his talents to the dirt in the chance to join the Kentucky Derby (G1) fray.
The Lecomte, contested over 1 1/16 miles, offers 20 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby to its winner and serves as a prep for Fair Ground's Risen Star Stakes (G2), a 50-point gem, Feb. 17.
A $500,000 yearling out of the grade 2-winning mare Miss Sunset, Track Phantom took three tries to find the winner's circle but did so with aplomb during the Churchill Downs fall meet. The rangy son of Quality Road has thrived since competing in two-turn races, a sentiment Asmussen remarked on following the colt's 1 1/4-length victory Dec. 23 Gun Runner.
"It's impressive that both of his two-turn races have been victories, and it was a good field (in the Gun Runner)," Asmussen said. "I actually thought they went too fast in the middle, you know, :46 4/5 here in a two-turn race, you don't see horses see it out very often. He’s obviously a very good horse who has some room to physically develop, and we have him right where we want to be at this stage of his career."
The forwardly-placed Track Phantom pressed a torrid early pace in the Gun Runner before drawing clear from his rivals at the three-furlong marker. He then staved off a late run from the Brendan Walsh-trained Snead, who is absent from Saturday's eight-horse field.
Although jockey Cristian Torres flew down from Oaklawn to ride Track Phantom in the Gun Runner, Asmussen has secured the services of Joel Rosario for the Lecomte.
Godolphin's homebred Nash, the beaten favorite in the Gun Runner returns to turn the tables on Track Phantom.
The Medaglia d'Oro colt was all the buzz ahead of the Gun Runner after posting one of the highest 2-year-old maiden speed figures of the year in his 10 1/4-length romp at Churchill Downs in November. He was a solid third in his stakes debut, and enters Saturday off a sharp 1:00 4/5 five-furlong breeze at Fair Grounds Jan. 13.
Cox will also saddle impressive Fair Grounds maiden winner Ethan Energy, a Stonestreet Stables homebred son of Uncle Mo, for his first stakes outing.
A potential dark horse in the Lecomte is D. J. Stable and Cash is King's Can Group. The Good Samaritan colt proved an astute performer on the grass for trainer Mark Casse last fall, landing the Bourbon Stakes (G2T) at Keeneland in a gritty come-from-behind performance before finishing a fast-closing fourth, beaten only two lengths, in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T).
Can Group will try the dirt for the first time since July, where he was third in a highly competitive seven-furlong maiden special weight at Ellis Park that was won by eventual grade 1 winner Timberlake . He will try to emulate his sire, who was a graded stakes winner on both surfaces.
Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, Saturday, January 20, 2024, Race 13Entries: Lecomte S. (G3)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Next Level (KY) David Cohen 122 J. Keith Desormeaux 30/1 2 2Nash (KY) Florent Geroux 122 Brad H. Cox 5/2 3 3Tizzy Indy (KY) James Graham 122 J. Keith Desormeaux 30/1 4 4Can Group (KY) Jareth Loveberry 122 Mark E. Casse 6/1 5 5Ethan Energy (KY) Luis Saez 122 Brad H. Cox 4/1 6 6Lat Long (KY) Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr. 122 Kenneth G. McPeek 8/1 7 7Track Phantom (KY) Joel Rosario 122 Steven M. Asmussen 9/5 8 8Awesome Road (KY) Axel Concepcion 122 Brad H. Cox 8/1
