The Road to the Kentucky Derby is heating up, with the Championship Series races offering 50 points to the winners over the next month. Then the major Derby preps kick in with 100 points to the winner and 40 points for runner-up. Winners of the 16 Championship Series races will earn enough points to qualify for the 20-horse Kentucky Derby on May 7 at Churchill Downs. The first Championship Series race of 2022 is the Risen Star Stakes at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans.
The 2022 Risen Star also serves as a prep race for the $1 million Louisiana Derby on March 26.
Saturday’s 13-race card at the Fair Grounds includes six graded stakes anchored by the $400,000 Risen Star. The Grade 2 race for 3-year-olds drew 10 colts and will test them at 1 1/8 miles. The top four finishers will receive qualifying points (50-20-10-5) for the 2022 Kentucky Derby.
The Risen Star was extended from 1 1/16 miles to 1 1/8 miles in 2020.
Risen Star field and odds
Five runners are tight at the top of the morning line odds to win. Only two post-time favorites have won the Risen Star in the past 10 editions.
| Post | Horse | Odds | Jockey | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pappacap | 4-1 | T. Gaffalione | M. Casse |
| 2 | Russian Tank | 50-1 | J. Vega | G. Dorochenko |
| 3 | Trafalgar | 10-1 | C. Hernandez | A. Stall Jr. |
| 4 | Tawny Port | 12-1 | F. Geroux | B. Cox |
| 5 | Epicenter | 4-1 | J. Rosario | S. Asmussen |
| 6 | Pioneer of Medina | 10-1 | L. Saez | T. Plethcer |
| 7 | Zandon | 9-2 | J. Ortiz | C. Brown |
| 8 | Smile Happy | 7-2 | C. Lanerie | K. McPeek |
| 9 | Bodock | 10-1 | M. Pedroza Jr. | B. Cox |
| 10 | Slow Down Andy | 9-2 | M. Gutierrez | D. O'Neill |
Pappacap is sired by 2016 Risen Star winner and Breeders’ Cup Classic champion Gun Runner. He won his stakes debut last August and then finished fourth and second in a pair of Grade 1 races. Pappacap then went off at 15-1 odds in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and finished second behind the favorite, Corniche. Pappacap finished a close third as the 3-2 favorite in his sophomore debut last month. Jockey Tyler Gaffalione rides Pappacap for the first time.
Epicenter has won two of four starts and finished second as the co-favorite in last month’s Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds. With Joel Rosario aboard, he raced on the lead, finishing just a head behind the winner and just in front of Pappacap. Epicenter won his previous start, the Gun Runner Stakes, by more than six lengths. He’s posted back-to-back 97 Equibase speed figures.
Smile Happy is 2-for-2 and makes his 2022 debut as a 3-year-old. He’s a son of Breeders’ Cup Sprint champion Runhappy, who was owned by retail furniture magnate and huge sports bettor “Mattress Mack.” Smile Happy’s grandsire is 2010 Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver. Smile Happy won the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club in November with a solid 100-speed figure. He finished well in front of Classic Causeway, who won last weekend’s Grade III Sam F. Davis, and White Abarrio, who came back to win the Holy Bull.
Zandon makes his sophomore debut and third start after finishing second by a nose in the 1 1/8-mile Remsen Stakes in December. He’s the only runner in the field to have raced this distance, and jockey Jose Ortiz rides him for the first time.
Slow Down Andy is 2-for-3 and won his last start in December in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity. He outdueled Messier, who came back to dominate the Grade 2 Robert B. Lewis. 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist sired slow Down Andy.
Last year’s Risen Star winner was Mandaloun, a 2-1 favorite who set the race speed record at 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.39. Mandaloun then finished a disappointing sixth in the Louisiana Derby but came back strong to run second (for now) in the Kentucky Derby.
Race 12 is the Rachel Alexandra Stakes for 3-year-old fillies and one to watch as a prep race for the 2022 Kentucky Oaks on May 6.
History of the Risen Star
The Risen Star has produced two Kentucky Derby winners. War Emblem finished sixth at Fair Grounds before winning at Churchill Downs in 2002. Country House was second in the Risen Star before crossing the finish line in second place in the Derby. Following a disqualification of Maximum Security for interference, Country House was promoted to the winner’s circle and paid off big at 65-1 odds.
The Risen Star also has produced three winners of the Preakness Stakes, including the race’s namesake. Risen Star won it when the race was known as the Louisiana Derby Trial in 1988. Master Derby (1975) also pulled off the double, as did War of Will (2019). Risen Star winners who became Breeders’ Cup Classic winners include Gun Runner and Mucho Macho Man.
Risen Star Winners since 2010
| Year | Winner | Odds | Payout | Time | Style | Favorite |
| 2021 | Mandaloun | 2-1 | $6.20 | 1:50.39 | Stalking | 1st |
| 2020 | Mr. Monomoy | 7-1 | $17.00 | 1:50.43 | Front | 3rd |
| 2020 | Modernist | 12-1 | $27.60 | 151:28 | Pace Presser | 9th |
| 2019 | War of Will | 1-1 | $4.00 | 1:44.59 | Pace Presser | 1st |
| 2018 | Bravazo | 21-1 | $44.00 | 1:42.95 | Pace Presser | 4th |
| 2017 | Girvin | 8-1 | $18.20 | 1:43.08 | Midpack | 5th |
| 2016 | Gun Runner | 5-1 | $12.20 | 1:43.94 | Midpack | 10th |
| 2015 | International Star | 7-2 | $9.60 | 1:43.82 | Midpack | 5th |
| 2014 | Intense Holiday | 5-1 | $12.00 | 1:43.86 | Closer, late run | 3rd |
| 2013 | I’ve Struck a Nerve | 135-1 | $272.40 | 1:44.52 | Closer, last, late | 5th |
| 2012 | El Padrino | 4-5 | $3.60 | 1:42.96 | Stalking | 1st |
| 2011 | Mucho Macho Man | 7-2 | $9.20 | 1:43.98 | Pace Presser | 3rd |
| 2010 | Discreetly Mine | 5-2 | $7.00 | 1:44.88 | Front | 4th |
