Guest Suite splashes to victory in the Lecomte
Guest Suite had a perfect closing trip on a very wet Fair Grounds Racecourse to win the Lecomte (G3) and ten Kentucky Derby 2017 qualifying points. The racing strip, which was officially labeled as GOOD, was sealed and showing a lot water on the surface. The victory also gave veteran jockey Robby Albarado his 4,999th career win.
A field of 11 entered the starting gate, after the likely favorite, Saint’s Fan, scratched when he drew the number 12 position. Out of the gate, longshot Phat Man was hustled from post-position one to the lead along the rail and Running Mate was eager to chase. Those two would engage in a head to head battle on the lead for the first half-mile and they did it in quick fractions of 23.42 and 46.47. Albarado and the eventual winner were content to sit in sixth place a bit off the rail almost seven lengths from the leaders. Takeoff was also happy to wait out the frontrunners while sitting in third.
Heading to the six furlong point of this mile and 70 yard contest, Guest Suite was asked to start his closing move and he began to reduce the gap while swinging out wide to get a clear path down the middle of the stretch. Takeoff was closer to the front and inherited the lead when the pacesetters began to fade after the 1:12.19 split.
However, it was Guest Suite that was moving best of all and he easily passed Takeoff and drew off to win by a final margin of 1 ¼ lengths in 1:43.20. Nearing the wire, Untrapped was able to pass Takeoff, who then held off Arklow by a head for the show spot.
“I had a great trip. He’s a nice horse and Neil has done an exceptional job with him,” said Albarado. “He’s growing up. He’s a smart horse and it makes it easy. He’s been training forwardly. I just show up for the races, they do all the work, the Howard stable.”
Albarado is now on the verge of becoming the 33rd jockey in North America to pass the elite 5,000 win barrier. In a career that began in 1990, the Louisiana native has had over 30,000 mounts and has earnings of over $205,000,000. He recorded his first official victory at Evangeline Downs in his home state in 1990, although he was riding at the bush tracks since the age of 12.
The Lecomte is the first stop on the Fair Grounds Road to the Kentucky Derby and is followed by the Risen Star (G2) on Feb. 25 and the Louisiana Derby (G2) on April 1.
Over the years the Lecomte winners have had a high profile on the Kentucky Derby Trail and even later on in their careers with runners like Mo Tom, International Star, Oxbow, Ron the Greek, Friesan Fire, and Hard Spun. Hard Spun finished second in the 2007 Derby between Street Sense and Curlin and ended his career with a second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Friesan Fire finished 18th as the favorite in Mine That Bird’s 2009 Run for the Roses. Oxbow followed his sixth place Derby finish with a Preakness victory and second in the Belmont Stakes. Ron the Greek won close to $3 million including his signature triumph in the 2013 Jockey Club Gold Cup.
Guest Suite, who is a son of Quality Road, brought home $120,000 for his owners and breeders WS Farish and Lora Jean Kilroy. His career record now stands at 5: 3-0-2 with earnings of $230,840. At the windows the winner paid $7.60, 5.00, and 3.60 across the board. Untrapped completed a $47.20 two-dollar exacta and Takeoff rounded out the $1 trifecta that returned $149.90.
After the race trainer Neil Howard said, “It’s great. Obviously it was nothing short of great to see that kind of performance. Providing everything went well, we had (focused on this race) after Churchill. It’s hard because you try to give them a little bit of a break. I certainly think that everything is in front of him, but it’s too hard to tell. There are some really good ones out there, not the least of which is Ian’s horse (McCracken) who is very talented, but I thought this was a good gauge for him because it was a nice bunch of 3-year-olds. He has [turned a corner]. He has had a great schedule and hasn’t missed a beat training and has trained wonderfully down here.”