Kentucky Derby 2020 Radar: Risen Star may split divisions
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It turns out Fair Grounds may host two major 2020 Kentucky Derby preps on its Feb. 15 card.
Track officials are mulling a split of the Grade 2, $400,000
Risen Star Stakes into two divisions with as many as 21 horses under consideration for the race as of Thursday.
Grant LaGrange, Fair Grounds' media relations coordinator, relayed a wide-open list of prospects to Horse Racing Nation, with the local Lecomte Stakes (G3) hero
Enforceable the lone graded stakes winner on it. Other main contenders appear to be the Breeders' Cup Juvenile runner-up
Anneau d'Or along with the second through fifth-place Lecomte finishers.
Liam's Lucky Charm, who won the Pasco Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, is among a group of possible Florida shippers, while Blackberry Wine, Lynn's Map and Digital are each prominent from the local allowance ranks.
The Risen Star is the first prep this season that allots Derby qualifying points on a 50-20-10-5 scale to its top four finishers, with 50 enough to guarantee a starting spot for a healthy horse.
We need only to go back to last year to see how Churchill Downs handles split divisions of a prep. When a number of California-based horses traveled to Oaklawn Park to split the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2), separate $750,000 purses were offered -- and thus both divisions also offered 75% of their original point totals.
According to the Daily Racing Form's Marcus Hersh, first the report a potential Risen Star split, Fair Grounds owner Churchill Downs Inc. could approve a pair of $400,000 flights, meaning both runnings would keep the race's original points value.
Fair Grounds' publicity staff confirmed that Thursday afternoon, with racing secretary Scott Jones saying he needs "at least 20 solid candidates" to split the race, adding that, “I’m not going to split just for the sake of it.”
Here's a look at the possible runners:
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