Eleven vie in Lecomte; Silverbulletday attracts six

Chip Honcho will have to overcome a more challenging post position if he's to follow up his win in last month's Gun Runner S. in the $250,000 Lecomte (G3) at Fair Grounds on Saturday.

Best positioned to inherit the lead when Crown the Buckeye ran out of gas inside the final sixteenth of the Gun Runner, Chip Honcho also has far more rivals to deal with in the 1 1/16-mile Lecomte. Victorious over five opponents breaking from post 1 in the Gun Runner, Chip Honcho drew the widest post, 11, for Saturday's race.

Trainers Brad Cox, Brendan Walsh, and Cherie DeVaux will be represented by multiple Lecomte entries. Cox, who has won two of the last three editions of the race, has entered Gun Runner fourth, Quality Mischief, but White Tiger might be the better candidate to improve. A distant second to the highly rated Englishman on debut in September, White Tiger returned a month later to earn his diploma in wire-to-wire fashion.

Cox has also entered Thunder Buck, a 1 3/4-length graduate on Dec. 20, but the Calumet Farm homebred is also cross-entered in a first-level allowance earlier on Saturday's program.

Walsh will be represented by Stop the Car, who stepped up in class from maiden claiming company to land a first-level allowance at Churchill by 3 3/4 lengths as a 16-1 shot. Arguably less intriguing is Carson Street, a blowout maiden winner in the slop last time, albeit in his fourth lifetime start.

DeVaux's pair are also last-out maiden winners. Mesquite rallied from far back to earn his diploma second out at Churchill as an odds-on choice, while Golden Tempo kicked off his career in style on the Gun Runner undercard with a rallying success going six furlongs.

The Lecomte, the last of 13 races on the card, offers Kentucky Derby (G1) qualifying points of 20-10-6-4-2 to the respective top five finishers.

The $150,000 Silverbulletday S., for three-year-old fillies, will offer Kentucky Oaks (G1) qualifying points on the same distribution. Luv Your Neighbor, an unlucky second in last month's Untapable S. when her jockey lost his iron during a crucial stretch duel with eventual winner Hit Parade, will attempt to avenge that loss over the same distance of one mile and 70 yards.

Also among the field of six are Taken by the Wind, 5 1/4-length winner of the Pocahontas (G3) in September; Golden Rod (G2) runner-up Atropa; and White Smoke, a debut winner for Cherie DeVaux going six furlongs four weeks ago.