The Dec. 20 Gun Runner Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots proved closely matched, with just one length separating the victorious Chip Honcho from fourth-place Quality Mischief, plus runner-up Liberty Nation and third-place Crown the Buckeye were sandwiched between those two.
Now on Jan. 17, the next leg of the stakes series for current 3-year-olds at Fair Grounds, $250,000 Lecomte Stakes (G3), appears equally competitive.
Chip Honcho, Crown the Buckeye, and Quality Mischief return, and eight others are entered in the 1 1/16-mile dirt race, which distributes qualifying points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby on a 20-10-6-4-2 basis to its top-five finishers. Of the stakes newcomers, Golden Tempo, Mesquite, White Tiger, and Stop the Car loom as contenders.
Chip Honcho, who wore down fatigued front-runner Crown the Buckeye to capture the Gun Runner, is drawn on the far outside under Paco Lopez. His natural speed, however, should allow the Connect colt to quickly establish position.
His connections had expected he would lead in the Gun Runner, but when quick Ohio-bred stakes winner Crown the Buckeye busted out and established hot fractions of 23.62, :46.66, and 1:10.98, that left Chip Honcho in a chasing position.
Crown the Buckeye initially turned aside his pace-pressing rival, opening up a length advantage in midstretch. But Crown the Buckeye was running on fumes. That created an opportunity for Chip Honcho to take command and outlast a rallying Liberty National. The latter was not entered in Saturday's race.
Video: Gun Runner S. (BT)
Leland Ackerley Racing's Chip Honcho earned 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points for that victory.
Ricardo Santana Jr. replaces Jareth Loveberry in the irons aboard Crown the Buckeye, a son of Yaupon who Mike Maker trains for Paradise Farms, David Staudacher, and Hooties Racing.
In town to ride Saturday is Flavien Prat, who picks up the mount on LBD Stable's Mesquite, a second-out winner in Kentucky for trainer Cherie DeVaux when racing 1 1/16 miles at Churchill Downs Nov. 7.
Jose Ortiz, who rode Mesquite in each of his two starts last year as a juvenile, instead rides DeVaux's other entrant, Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable's Golden Tempo, a rallying winner over six furlongs at Fair Grounds Dec. 20.
Irad Ortiz Jr., Jose's brother, also travels to ride Saturday at Fair Grounds. He retains the mount aboard Twin Creeks Racing Stable's White Tiger, whom he piloted to a half-length victory at Churchill Downs in his second career outing Oct. 26 for Cox.
Besides Cox and DeVaux, also running multiple horses in the Lecomte, the 13th and final race on the card, is trainer Brendan Walsh, who starts Ike and Dawn Thrash's fourth-out maiden winner Carson Street and Trade Winds Farms' Stop the Car, who is unbeaten in two starts.
An hour and a half before the Lecomte in the 10th race, six sophomore fillies contest the $150,000 Silverbulletday Stakes at a mile and 70 yards. It offers qualifying points for the Kentucky Oaks (G1) rather than the Derby, also on a 20-10-6-4-2 scale.
Atropa, runner-up in the Golden Rod Stakes (G2) in her first try in stakes company for DeVaux, is favored under Jose Ortiz.
Three other entrants—Taken by the Wind, Luv Your Neighbor, and Pashmina—also have existing black-type. They are joined by the promising debut winner, White Smoke, and the maiden Dancin in Old Town.
Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, Saturday, January 17, 2026, Race 13Entries: Lecomte S. (G3)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Quality Mischief (KY) Marcelino Pedroza, Jr. 122 Brad H. Cox 10/1 2 2Carson Street (KY) Axel Concepcion 122 Brendan P. Walsh 8/1 3 3Crown the Buckeye (OH) Ricardo Santana, Jr. 122 Michael J. Maker 4/1 4 4Exosome (KY) Jareth Loveberry 122 Kelsey Danner 20/1 5 5Golden Tempo (KY) Jose L. Ortiz 122 Cherie DeVaux 8/1 6 6Thunder Buck (KY) Luis Saez 122 Brad H. Cox 6/1 7 7Mesquite (KY) Flavien Prat 122 Cherie DeVaux 8/1 8 8White Tiger (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 122 Brad H. Cox 8/1 9 9Ocelli (KY) Joseph D. Ramos 122 D. Whitworth Beckman 12/1 10 10Stop the Car (KY) Ben Curtis 122 Brendan P. Walsh 8/1 11 11Chip Honcho (KY) Paco Lopez 122 Steven M. Asmussen 9/2
Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, Saturday, January 17, 2026, Race 10Entries: Fasig-Tipton Silverbulletday S.
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Atropa (KY) Jose L. Ortiz 122 Cherie DeVaux 2/1 2 2Dancin in Old Town (KY) James Graham 122 J. Keith Desormeaux 10/1 3 3White Smoke (KY) Flavien Prat 122 Cherie DeVaux 9/2 4 4Taken by the Wind (FL) Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr. 122 Kenneth G. McPeek 5/2 5 5Luv Your Neighbor (ON) Axel Concepcion 122 Michael Stidham 4/1 6 6Pashmina (KY) Ben Curtis 122 Rob Atras 5/1
