New Orleans native and enthusiastic home chef Wayne Catalano headed from his morning at Fair Grounds back home Wednesday, eager to check on the chuck roast he’d seared and put in a pressure cooker before leaving for the track. His New Year’s Day check-in on Gun Runner Stakes winner Built revealed the same thing Catalano has seen since Built’s breakout score in his stakes debut Dec. 21 – a colt in robust health ready for more racing.
Thus, Catalano all but confirmed Built will make his fourth career start Jan. 18 in the Grade 3, $250,000 Lecomte.
“He came out of the race real good and I’m happy the way he’s training, so it looks like he’ll probably go,” said Catalano, who trains Built for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners.
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Catalano feels good coming back one month after the Gun Runner partly because Built took the race well and because he enters 2025 a fresh horse. Built, by Hard Spun, debuted Aug. 23 in a maiden sprint, finishing fourth behind victorious East Avenue, an elite talent. Built notched a seven-furlong Keeneland maiden win in October, after which Catalano kept the colt fresh and sharp awaiting the Gun Runner.
There, Built benefited from an easy lead on a slow pace, yet finished so fast that he clocked a good raw time and earned a strong 92 Beyer Speed Figure. And because Catalano worked Built fairly hard to make the Gun Runner, he now can go easier into the Lecomte. Catalano said he plans to give Built just one timed workout between starts. Built will have some long gallops and two-minute licks. Catalano can train even better than he can cook. Built will be ready.
First Resort held up
One colt you can rule out of the Lecomte is Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes winner First Resort. First Resort, based at Turfway, has wintered very well, but trainer Eoin Harty said that while no specific target has been set, the Godolphin colt won’t make his 3-year-old bow until early or mid-February.
“We’ll probably decide on a race this weekend. There are lots of options,” Harty said Wednesday.
There are, indeed, including the John Battaglia on Feb. 22 at Turfway, along with 3-year-old dirt route stakes during Harty’s time frame in Arkansas, California, Florida, and Louisiana.
First Resort, who sandwiched a couple solid defeats between his debut victory and a successful two-turn debut in the Kentucky Jockey Club, strikes his trainer as a progressive newly turned 3-year-old.
“Mentally, he’s gotten better and better all the time, and I think he’s progressed from the race at Churchill,” Harty said.
We’ll know more about Harty’s assessment after First Resort’s first start at age 3 – whenever and wherever that comes.
◗ Petcoff, after a smashing Fair Grounds maiden turf sprint win in his first start for trainer Brittany Russell, should rule a solid favorite Friday in the featured seventh, a first-level allowance at 5 1/2 furlongs on grass.
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