By My Standards rolls to win Fair Grounds' New Orleans Classic
By My Standards, an upset winner of last year’s Louisiana Derby (G2), repeated on the day, this time as a well-known older horse when making a dominating run at Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 New Orleans Classic.
The son of Goldencents, relaxed behind a rank leader and Bret Calhoun stablemate Silver Dust, took over into the stretch and cruised to 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.27.
Chester Thomas’ Allied Racing campaigns By My Standards, who made this his second race off the bench. Earlier in the meet, the 4-year-old colt exited a layoff dating back to an 11th in the Kentucky Derby by coasting in allowance company.
Last year, connections including the owner Thomas enjoyed a raucous celebration after the Louisiana Derby. The New Orleans Classic victory occurred in a much more subdued setting, with only essential on-track personnel allowed on the grounds due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re sorry (Thomas is) not here, but I’ll probably feel a little better tomorrow since he’s not here,” Calhoun quipped. “This horse has really developed since his time off. We thought he could be one of the top older horses in the country this year. …
“We found a nice comeback spot for him and he was impressive, but it was still just an allowance race. This was a solid group of horses and he proved today what we’ve been thinking.”
Hitting the wire behind the 2-1 winner were 40-1 shot Captivating Moon and 25-1 Chess Chief. Florent Geroux, who rode beaten favorite Fearless, successfully filed an objection that saw Chess Chief disqualified to sixth for interference in the stretch under jockey Miguel Mena.
The final front four was determined to be By My Standards, Captivating Moon, Tenfold and Silver Dust.
Silver Dust hopped at the start but ran straight to the front, setting fractions of 25.43 and 50.09 to open proceedings. By My Standards relaxed in second before pouncing and improving his record to 4-2-1 in eight starts.
All four of By My Standards’ wins, and all but two of his starts, have come at the Fair Grounds. The Kentucky-bred colt has now won four in a row at the New Orleans track, highlighted by his two Grade 2 victories.
Calhoun said it will “be very difficult” to find a next-race target for By My Standards as tracks around the country alter their schedules to deal with the pandemic.
Captivating Moon, a 5-year-old Chris Block trainee, finished runner-up Saturday for the fourth time in a graded stakes, though he’s still looking for his first win in graded company. The son of Malibu Moon got up to second Saturday with a late bid on the far outside, passing Chess Chief just before the wire.
Tenfold, a 5-year-old son of Curlin, snapped a skid of six straight races in which he missed the board. The Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC homebred entered off a sixth-place showing for trainer Steve Asmussen on Jan. 25 in Gulfstream Park’s Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1).