Asmussen, Blasi are high on their top Fair Grounds 3-year-olds

New Orleans 

Epicenter and La Crête have more in common than being stablemates in the Hall of Fame barn of Steve Asmussen.

Both have Joel Rosario as their regular rider. Both show early speed. They have two wins apiece. Each already has a stakes victory on the main track at Fair Grounds. And come Saturday, wins in the Risen Star (G2) and Rachel Alexandra (G2) would qualify them for the Kentucky Derby and Oaks.

“When you get to that level, the horses have just got to continue to improve and progress,” Scott Blasi said Thursday. “They’re maturing. They’re older. As the races get longer, hopefully they continue to get faster.”

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As Asmussen’s top assistant, Blasi, 48, has been coming to this track for 26 years. Together they have won the Risen Star twice, with Pyro in 2008 and future champion Gun Runner in 2016. They also have looked after a record six Rachel Alexandra winners, including the last two with Finite in 2020 and eventual Grade 1 winner Clairière last winter.

La Crête, who won last month’s Silverbulletday Stakes covering 40 fewer yards on the same track, is a full sister to Clairière. As if that does not provide enough déjà vu, this latest Stonestreet Stables homebred by Medaglia d’Oro out of the three-time Grade 1 winner Cavorting is as lightly raced as Clairière was before last year’s Rachel Alexandra. Unlike her sister, La Crête is undefeated at 2-for-2 coming into Saturday’s race, albeit as an 8-1 underdog on the morning line.

“The way Clairière matured as the year went on last year, I would expect this filly to do the same thing,” Blasi said in a barn interview for the Ron Flatter Racing Pod. “It’s hard to compare them to each other, other than physically. You would expect them to mature, especially out of (Cavorting).”

Where La Crête drew the inside post for Saturday’s 1 1/16-mile race, the 3-1 morning-line favorite Hidden Connection will start outside in post 11. With plenty of early pace in the race, Rosario will have to find some breathing room along the rail as the first turn arrives quickly.

“At this point these horses have to learn to overcome some adversity,” Blasi said. “I don’t worry about it too much. These horses have a way of getting you where you want to be.”

Epicenter comes into the Risen Star off a narrow, second-place finish in last month’s Lecomte (G2), losing the lead to the deep closer Call Me Midnight only in the final strides. In December the Not This Time colt out of the Candy Ride mare Silent Candy ran away to a 6 1/2-length score in the inaugural running of the Gun Runner Stakes.

Bought for $260,000 by Ron Winchell, Epicenter has been on or near the early lead in all four of his starts. Not that he has to be, according to Blasi.

“I don’t think he’s a one-dimensional horse at all,” Blasi said. “I think he has good tactical speed, which puts him in a position to not get in a lot of trouble, which I like.”

Being up front has worked for the last five winners of the Risen Star, including Bravazo in 2018, War of Will in 2019, Modernist and Mr. Monomoy in the two divisions in 2020 and Mandaloun last year. That reversed a trend in which the five winners from 2013 to 2017 came through as deep closers at the race’s old distance of 1 1/16 miles.

Blasi thought it was more about the quality of the horse than it was necessarily about any style trends.

“Horses win races, not people,” he said. “If you look at Mandaloun or Midnight Bourbon (third last year), both of them are on their way to the Saudi Cup right now. Gun Runner was Horse of the Year. It’s a pretty good list of horses, if you look at it, and I think quality overcomes a lot.”

The list of Risen Star horses looks pretty good this year, too. At 7-2 on the morning line, Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) winner Smile Happy is forecast to be the post-time favorite. Drawn into post 5, Epicenter is the 4-1 co-second choice along with Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up Pappacap. Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) winner Slow Down Andy is 9-2 in spite of his being drawn outside in the 10-horse field. Already having run and won at Saturday’s 1 1/8-mile distance, Remsen (G2) victor Zandon also is 9-2.

“There’s no easy spot right now,” Blasi said. “I’d like to think they’re going to give it to you, but they don’t.”

Epicenter carries the shortest odds among the Asmussen candidates in the Kentucky Derby futures markets. He is best-priced at 25-1 in Las Vegas and was 24-1 last weekend in Pool 3 of the pari-mutuel wager conducted by Churchill Downs.

Both the Risen Star and the Rachel Alexandra are the first 50-20-10-5 races on the roads to the Derby and Oaks, meaning the winners are virtually assured of getting to the big races at Churchill Downs in May.