The Risen Star Stakes this past Saturday at Fair Grounds came three days before Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday. Ash Wednesday marked, for Catholics in New Orleans, the beginning of the solemn 40-day season of Lent. And at Fair Grounds, the 35 days separating the Risen Star and the Louisiana Derby might have been assumed also to mark a period of relatively quiet reflection. The 3-year-old colt Reagan’s Honor was not ready for the party to end.
Reagan’s Honor in fact would have raced on the Risen Star program had an age-restricted, first-level dirt route allowance attracted sufficient entries to be carded. It did not, and instead, Reagan’s Honor’s connections ran him Thursday against older rivals. The elders did not stand a chance. Reagan’s Honor zipped straight to the lead under Jose Ortiz, went his opening half-mile in a lively 46.83 seconds, and ran his five foes right off their feet, winning by 6 3/4 lengths while running 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.02.
The Fair Grounds main track played fast Thursday, but even accounting for that, Reagan’s Honor sizzled, missing the track record, set by Olympiad in the 2022 New Orleans Classic, by .01 of a second. His Beyer Speed Figure, 96, was three points higher than Paladin’s winning number in the Risen Star, and only Nearly, who got a 98 in the Holy Bull, has earned a higher figure this year in a 3-year-old dirt route.
We will not have to guess how the Risen Star and the Thursday allowance figures stack up on a racetrack rather than a calculator, because Reagan’s Honor, like Paladin, has the Blue Grass Stakes on April 4 as a target, trainer Cherie DeVaux said Friday morning.
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DeVaux already has Golden Tempo, winner of the Lecomte and a subtly encouraging third in the Risen Star, for the Louisiana Derby on March 21. More than that, she has no interest in hustling Reagan’s Honor, a son of Honor A. P., into his next race.
“He’s always shown a lot of talent. He’s not a big, robust horse, and we kind of try to be more mindful about his spacing and things of that nature,” DeVaux said. “Off of that number, I’m not apt to push him into his next one.”
Reagan’s Honor is named for Reagan Ingordo, DeVaux’s stepdaughter and the daughter of David Ingordo, whom DeVaux married in 2018. David Ingordo’s stepfather, the trainer John Shirreffs, died at 80 on Feb. 12.
Ingordo, in partnership with the late Jerry Moss, bred Reagan’s Honor, while Moss and his wife, Ann, were longtime clients of Shirreffs, who trained Honor A. P.
Reagan's Honor’s dam, Rutile, is a sister to Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo, who won the 2005 Kentucky Derby for Shirreffs and the Mosses.
Reagan’s Honor sold at auction for $150,000, but Ingordo kept a piece of the horse, who also campaigns for West Point Thoroughbreds and Gabriel Duignan. Reagan’s Honor debuted Dec. 20 at Fair Grounds, finishing a respectable fourth in a fast sprint maiden. He wired a maiden route field on the Lecomte card of Jan. 14, earning an 81 Beyer.
“I’m super impressed with how he’s moved forward since he stretched out,” DeVaux said.
And while Reagan’s Honor led in his two wins, he acts nothing like a runaway speed horse.
“I just think he has natural speed. He settles well out there,” DeVaux said.
Is Reagan’s Honor, like his speed figure, really faster than Paladin? The Blue Grass will settle that.
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