Rise Up Rejoins Stakes Company in Tenacious

Paul Van Doren’s talented sophomore Rise Up will take on a tough field of seasoned older runners, including Robert and Lawana Low’s Agent Di Nozzo, in Sunday’s $50,000 Tenacious Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course. Originally including the likes of multiple graded stakes winner Grand Contender and multiple graded stakes-placed Treasury Bill in the original 10 entries, the race will most likely go without those two as they are expected to run Friday afternoon in the $50,000 Buddy Diliberto Memorial Stakes. The Tenacious will be run on the main track over a mile and 70 yards and is named for Dorothy Dorsett Brown’s popular 1954 homebred winner of 11 Fair Grounds Race Course stakes – including three Louisiana Handicaps and two New Orleans Handicaps.

A winner of four stakes and $810,633, Rise Up has been impressing clockers in the mornings for trainer Tom Amoss – including four consecutive bullet works and a second-best (of 106) move on Dec. 14 when going four panels in :48.20. The son of Rockport Harbor returned from a five-month break when a good third behind multiple stakes winners Apprehender and Pataky Kid in a seven-furlong allowance last out at Churchill Downs. Gerard Melancon is scheduled to ride the Kentucky-bred from post eight.

Agent Di Nozzo also continues a comeback when he makes his second start since January in the Tenacious. The Steve Margolis-trained son of Ghostzapper was a respectable second last out in the $250,000 Delta Mile to Sunbean on Nov. 22 and has two stakes wins to his credit. Third in last year’s Tenacious to Prayer for Relief, the 5-year-old gelding is scheduled to be piloted by Miguel Mena from post four.

The late Jim Tafel’s Fordubai returns to the site of his last win in the Tenacious for trainer Greg Geier. The son of E Dubai ran arguably the best race of his career to win last season’s Louisiana Handicap over Grand Contender and Prayer for Relief by a length and was also third in the Grade III Mineshaft Handicap. Robby Albarado, who was aboard for the Louisiana victory, is scheduled to ride from post two.

Worthy of mention is Frank Fletcher Racing Operations’ Al Stall, Jr.-trained Rocket Time. A lightly raced gelding with five starts and three wins, the son of Tiz Wonderful is the lone other sophomore in the field and exits a sharp win in an optional claimer at a one-turn mile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 23. That wire-to-wire effort earned him a 91 Beyer Speed Figure and was the $150,000 Fasig-Tipton March graduate’s second consecutive win following a stalk-and-pounce victory in a Keeneland allowance. Calvin Borel returns to the saddle and is scheduled to break from the rail with the promising charge. 

The Tenacious field is completed by stakes-placed Hard Aces (Kerwin Clark, post five), graded stakes-placed Street Spice (Willie Martinez, post six), improving gelding Flashy Sunrise (Abel Lezcano, post seven) and longshot Tiz Adonis (Brian Hernandez, Jr., post nine). Grand Contender and Treasury Bill are assigned posts three and 10, respectively. 

Source: Fair Grounds Barn Notes