Risen Star draws 10 Kentucky Derby hopefuls to Fair Grounds

Next Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star drew a solid 10-horse field that's set to go 1 1/8 miles at Fair Grounds. The 3-year-olds in the race will compete to earn Kentucky Derby points in 50-20-10-5 payouts to the top four finishers.

The two top horses in the Derby points standings will participate in Epicenter and Pappacap, who both have 14 points. Set to make their sophomore bows are graded-stakes winner Smile Happy and Slow Down Andy as well as Zandon for trainer Chad Brown.

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Pappacap, trained by Mark Casse, ran third in the Lecomte (G3) most recently on Jan. 22. Previously, the son of Gun Runner finished second in both the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the American Pharoah (G1). He drew the rail for the Risen Star, where he will be ridden by Tyler Gaffalione.

Epicenter finished second in the Lecomte. The Not This Time colt, trained by Steve Asmussen, finished 2021 with a win in the Gun Runner at Fair Grounds.

With Joel Rosario in the irons, Epicenter will start from post 5.

The two points leaders will face a tough challenge in part due to the 2022 debuts of two invaders, Slow Down Andy, running for trainer Doug O’Neill and Zandon, trained by Chad Brown. Slow Down Andy won the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) in December.

Since graduating at Santa Anita in October, the Nyquist colt finished second in the Golden State Juvenile at Del Mar. He will be ridden from post 10 by Mario Gutierrez.

Zandon will be searching for his first stakes win in the Risen Star. The Upstart colt has raced twice, breaking his maiden at Belmont in October before finishing second to Mo Donegal in the Remsen (G2) at Aqueduct.

Smile Happy will be making his 2022 debut after closing out last year with a win in the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) at Churchill Downs. Smile Happy is trained by Kenny McPeek.

The Runhappy colt, who finished as the individual favorite in the first two pools of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, also broke his maiden at Churchill Downs.

The Risen Star is carded as race 13 on next Saturday’s program at Fair Grounds. The day’s events will also include four other stakes races, including the Albert Stall Memorial, the Mineshaft (G3), the Fair Grounds (G3) and the Rachel Alexandra (G2), a prep race for the Kentucky Oaks.

First post is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. EST. The Risen Star is set to go off at 6:58 p.m.