
The five-year-old Hit Show and jockey Florent Geroux work well together. The pair teamed up for their fifth win in six pairings with a last-to-first rally in the $173,250 Louisiana (G3), richest of the four stakes devoted to older horses at Fair Grounds on Saturday.
Sent off as the 13-10 favorite, Hit Show trailed the field of eight until the far turn, when the gray began to pick off rivals. Making an extremely wide rally down the stretch, Hit Show steadily advanced position and made the front inside the final sixteenth to score by 1 1/2 lengths over longshot Komorebino Omoide. It was a head back to Skinner in third.
Owned by Wathnan Racing and trained by Brad Cox, Hit Show returned $4.60. He completed 1 1/16 miles over a sloppy track in 1:44.91.
This was the fifth career stakes win for Hit Show, a son of Candy Ride. He won three straight late last year — the West Virginia Governor’s (G3), Lukas Classic (G2), and Fayette (G2) — all with Geroux aboard. His season finale in the Clark (G2), without Geroux, wasn’t his best run, as he drifted under pressure and interfered with a rival. He was disqualified from third and placed fifth.
Hit Show also won the 2023 Withers (G3) earlier in his career and later finished fifth in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and a dead-heat fourth in the Belmont (G1).
“He can run with the top, but we’ve yet to win a Grade 1 with him,” Cox said. “Hopefully, he’ll get an opportunity this year.”
The versatile Gigante continues to be a stakes-winning machine for trainer Steve Asmussen. The five-year-old notched the seventh added-money win of his career when taking the $97,000 Colonel E.R. Bradley S., one of a trio of stakes on Saturday’s program that was forced off the turf and moved to the main track.
Gigante steadily wore down long-time leader Idratherbeblessed with an inside rally and won by 1 3/4 lengths under Jose Ortiz. Money Supply finished 4 3/4 lengths farther back in third in the field of six older runners.
Owned by Diamond T Racing and Iapetus Racing, Gigante paid $3.80 as the 9-10 favorite after covering 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.66.
A son of Not This Time, Gigante has now won eight of 19 starts. The Bradley was his second stakes win on dirt, following success in an off-the-turf renewal of the Commonwealth Turf S. at Churchill Downs in November 2023. He also captured the Secretariat (G2), Kitten’s Joy S., Caesars H., and Woodchopper S. on grass that season. He preceded this victory with a score in last month’s Buddy Diliberto Memorial over the Fair Grounds turf.
Stir Crazy, who possessed strong form for both turf and wet tracks ahead of the $100,000 Marie G. Krantz Memorial for fillies and mares, put the latter to good use when driving up the inside to a 5 3/4-length win under Joel Rosario.
Now a two-time stakes winner at the meet following a score in last month’s Blushing K. D. S. on the grass, Stir Crazy rewarded her many backers with a $6 win payout as the 2-1 favorite in a field of nine. Cupids Crush finished second, a half-length ahead of Strikingly Spun.
Owned by Paradise Farms and David Staudacher, the Mike Maker-trained seven-year-old is a daughter of Vancouver.
Riding great Frankie Dettori registered his first Fair Grounds success aboard Kavod in the $98,000 Duncan F. Kenner S., a 5 1/2-furlong dash for older horses.
Benefiting from an early duel between 2-1 favorite Uncashed and Bear River, Kavod surged past both in upper stretch and won comfortably by five lengths in a time of 1:04.34. Over and Ollie rallied for second ahead of Demolition Duke, while Uncashed weakened to sixth in the field of seven. Nobals, the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) winner and expected favorite, was one of four scratches.
Owned by Dwight Baron and trained by Joe Sharp, Kavod paid $9.80. It was the son of Lea’s first stakes win since capturing the 2021 Advent S. at Oaklawn Park.