Forevamo Must Start From Outside Post in Louisiana Derby

Brittlyn Stable’s Forevamo has gone from figuratively being on the outside looking in to literally doing so in a matter of five weeks. The son of red-hot sire Uncle Mo went into the Grade II $400,000 Risen Star Stakes as a minor stakes winner with questionable class credentials and came out as a serious Kentucky Derby contender who not only defied his 40-1 odds, but did so by progressing by approximately five lengths on  speed figures for the second consecutive race.

 

On Saturday at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, instead of being simply labeled an outsider, he must start from the outside post 11 under regular rider Colby Hernandez in the Grade II $1,000,000 TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby for trainer Al Stall, Jr.

 

“Everything is good with him and he had a nice work Sunday and came out of it great,” Stall said. “He galloped Tuesday and is eating well and doing all the things you need to be doing.

 

“He laid a little closer when he was younger in his earlier races and got shuffled a hair around the six-furlong area last time, so I don’t think that will happen with the outside post this time. If the race stretches in that first part, I would like to be near the first flight. It’s hard to give instructions in a race like this. I would never tell (Hernandez) to take back if he didn’t need to.”

 

Forevamo, a Florida-bred half-brother to champion sprint filly Musical Romance, has been working well toward his next big test. On Mar. 20, he zipped a half-mile in 48.40 – a quick time for Fair Grounds’ main track in the morning – exactly one week after working the same drill a full second slower.

 

“He looks wonderful,” Stall beamed. “The horse is taking us here and that is the best way to get to these kind of races. This horse has been a developing-type horse and seems to be getting better and better.”

 

 

A notoriously fickle game, horseracing easily forgets one after a bad effort – even if it was a matter of weeks after a nearly show-stopping one. Ten weeks ago on Jan. 16, G M B Racing’s Tom’s Ready looked home free at the top of the long Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots stretch after making an eye-catching move to take the lead, only to ultimately be passed and consequently overshadowed once again by his compatriot of common ownership, Tom Amoss-trained Mo Tom.

 

It was the second time in their careers that the Benson Family-owned duo had gone tête-à-tête down the stretch – with the first being in the $80,000 Street Sense Stakes at Churchill Downs on Nov. 1 – and it reached an eerily similar result with Mo Tom clearing. The two colts whose owners control the fates of the New Orleans Saints landed on separate sides of the playing field next out in the Grade II $400,000 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 20. While Mo Tom suffered a rough trip and rallied belatedly to get third, Tom’s Ready never appeared comfortable and stayed in contention until the top of the stretch where he was distanced and finished seventh of 11, beaten 13 lengths. Still, Stewart remains vehement that we have not seen the best of the son of More Than Ready.

 

“He’s doing well and he’s had a great few weeks,” Stewart said. “He’s a hard trying horse who has had some good works and is handling it well. He had a strong half and a really nice three quarters to follow that up and his weight is good. His feet and general health are excellent, too.

 

“What has helped him is that I switched up his training,” Stewart continued. “I was taking him out around 6 a.m. before, but I decided to start taking him out later where there was more cushion to the track and he fell right into it nicely. He’s a cool horse who just lies down and takes a nap before he goes out there and does what he’s supposed to do. It’s the first time for basically all of them going a mile and an eighth and I think he’ll handle it. I think the pace will play a little slower and I’m happy with the post. (Jockey) Brian (Hernandez, Jr.) has won on him and knows him. We’re ready.”

 

 

Five weeks after his high-profile pupil Airoforce failed as the favorite in the Grade II $400,000 Risen Star, top trainer Mark Casse returns to Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots for the Grade II $1,000,000 Louisiana Derby unbothered by that disappointment. Smartly switching his approach, the Florida- and Arkansas-based conditioner brings in Conquest Stables’ Conquest Windycity, an unknown quantity with two victories from just four starts who shipped in early and got a work over the New Orleans oval on Sunday, Mar. 20, negotiating a half-mile in a spritely 48.80.

 

“He went really good and I thought it would be nice to get a breeze over the track,” Casse explained. “He worked well and we’re just trying to see how good he is right now. He’s got to step up his game and we’re hoping he can. The distance should suit him – there are no questions about that. If there was a prep race at a mile and a quarter, that’s where I’d run him. The farther the better.”

 

Unlike his aforementioned John C. Oxley-owned multiple graded stakes-winning stablemate, Conquest Windycity has a lot to prove with being just an allowance winner going up against multiple stakes winners in Louisiana’s premier racing event. Luckily though, unlike Airoforce, there are no questions as to whether the dark bay son of to dirt stud Tiznow will enjoy the main track. Out of a full-sister to Grade II-winning juvenile Jump Start, the $800,000 sale purchase has come to hand well in his last two starts, winning both and defeating Grade I-placed Rated R Superstar in his last effort.

 

 

Other than the loss of John C. Oxley’s post-time favorite Airoforce, the most significant disappointment in the Grade II $400,000 Risen Star Stakes was the performance of Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey’s Uncle Walter. Trained by Mike Maker, the son of Uncle Mo was sent to post at 8-1 and keyed by as one of the major players on the strength of his game third-place finish in just his third lifetime start in the Grade III $200,000 Lecomte Stakes five weeks prior. Instead, the bay colt was wide on the turns and then quickly backed up at the three-eighths-pole before finishing last, beaten 41½ lengths in last of 11. He returns from his Gulfstream Park base for another crack at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots Saturday for the Grade II $1,000,000 Louisiana Derby.

 

“He had a little bit of a breathing issue,” Maker said. “Hopefully it’s gone now. He’s a strong work horse and he had a good work the other day, so that seems to be behind him. There’s nothing out of character with him right now and the breathing problem seems to be taken care of with a change of equipment and some treatment.”

 

Maker, who has won the last two Louisiana Derbies with Ramsey color-bearers Vicar’s In Trouble and International Star, expects a different race from the compact maternal grandson of Unbridled’s Song. In that, he is also making what could be a key equipment change, as well as replacing Javier Castellano with locally based jockey Robby Albarado. He breaks from post eight of 11 and has been assigned morning-line odds of 20-1.

 

“I’d like to see him fourth or fifth somewhere in there,” Maker continued. “We’re going to add blinkers, which might put him in the race a little more.”