The long Fair Grounds stretch ultimately worked in favor of Chip Honcho in the $100,000 Gun Runner S., run under the lights early Saturday night at the New Orleans track.

The Road to the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks gets underway at Fair Grounds Saturday with the Gun Runner S. and Untapable S.

An action-packed afternoon of racing at Kentucky Downs included a trio of lucrative stakes for three-year-olds: the $1,994,300 Franklin-Simpson (G1), the $1,867,100 Music City (G2), and the $1,897,778 Gun Runner S.

The 1 1/2-mile test, a Breeders' Cup Challenge prep for the Turf (G1), is one of six stakes at the all-turf course on Saturday, annually the biggest card of the seven-day meet.

Saturday’s “Road to the Derby Kickoff Day” at Fair Grounds features eight stakes races, led by the Gun Runner S. for Kentucky Derby (G1) hopefuls and the Untapable S. for Kentucky Oaks (G1) aspirants.

Brilliant Berti regained top honors in Sunday’s Gun Runner S. at Kentucky Downs, and promising juveniles Tiztastic, May Day Ready, and Kilwin scored their first stakes victories.

Track Phantom made his stakes debut a winning one in Saturday’s $98,000 Gun Runner at Fair Grounds, determinedly proving best by 1 1/4 lengths in the Road to the Kentucky Derby series qualifier.

British shipper Ancient Rome returned to his native place to plunder the $1,994,285 Mint Millions (G3), one of a trio of richly endowed stakes at Kentucky Downs on Saturday.

Monday’s Gun Runner S. and Untapable S. at Fair Grounds – respectively on the Road to the Kentucky Derby and Oaks – served as rebound spots for juveniles coming off graded stakes losses at Churchill Downs.

Monday’s fantastic 13-race card at Fair Grounds encompasses nine stakes, including the first two scoring races on the New Orleans Road to the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks.

The Fair Grounds Road to the Kentucky Derby gets off to its earliest-ever start in the Dec. 26 Gun Runner S., a new stepping stone to the traditional New Orleans series of the Lecomte (G3), Risen Star (G2), and Louisiana Derby (G2).