Barn Notes
Dallas Stewart Recalls Galloping Winning Colors
FAIR GROUNDS BARN NOTES
Headlines for Friday, February 22, 2008
· Dallas Stewart Recalls Galloping Winning Colors
· Amoss Saddles Winners for Maggi Moss, Last Mango Stable Thursday
· Zimmerman Rides Thursday Triple; Graham, Calhoun Get Doubles
· Louisiana Derby Day Nominations Close Saturday
· 2007 Risen Star Stakes Winner Notional Runs Third in 2008 Bow
Dallas Stewart Recalls Galloping Winning Colors
NEW ORLEANS, La. – For more than a decade, trainer Dallas Stewart has increasingly gained recognition as one of the most respected horsemen on the New Orleans winter racing circuit – so much so that people are forgetting that earlier in his career he was a valued assistant for Hall of Fame conditioner D. Wayne Lukas.
It was in those days in the employ of Lukas that New Orleans resident Stewart was given the responsibility of galloping the filly Winning Colors while she was being prepared for her Triple Crown campaign in the spring of 1988.
Of course Winning Colors won that year’s Kentucky Derby – joining 1980 heroine Genuine Risk and 1915 winner Regret as one of only three fillies to capture the Run for the Roses.
Following Winning Colors’ death last Sunday at age 23, Stewart was asked to recall the days when he galloped the roan daughter of Caro.
“That was definitely a highlight for me,” said Stewart this week. “It gives me chills just thinking back to that time. She wasn’t too hard to gallop, but you did have to take a good hold of her because she was so explosive. I certainly didn’t ever want her to get away from me.
“I remember before one work (as the Derby got closer) when I was told we had to pick it up a notch, and I certainly felt the responsibility that day. I think I washed out a little bit that morning – certainly more than she ever did – but after it was all over I was told, ‘Give me three or four more like that and we’ll be in great shape.’
“That was a tremendous weight off my shoulders when I was told that,” said Stewart. “She was really a great horse to be around, and I get a lot of pleasure in remembering her in those days.”
These days, Stewart is having a great meeting – tied for eighth in the trainer standings at the end of Thursday’s program, with 11 wins, 11 seconds and nine third-place finishes from 79 starters. The 48-year-old horseman is currently seventh on the local earnings list with $466,830 through Thursday.
Overbrook Farm’s Island Warrior, fourth in the Diliberto Memorial, fifth in the Gaudin Memorial and seventh in the Mineshaft handicaps, remains a “possibility” for the Grade II New Orleans Handicap on Louisiana Derby Day, March 8, according to Stewart.
Amoss Saddles Winners for Maggi Moss, Last Mango Thursday
Thoroughbred owner Maggi Moss, who led the nation in wins two years ago and was second last year, visited Fair Grounds Thursday for the first time this season after escaping her snow-bound Iowa home base.
“It’s a lot warmer here (in New Orleans) today than it was at home,” said Moss after watching her appropriately-named Can’tstopthisstorm win the second race of the afternoon by eight lengths. “When I left home yesterday it was five below.”
Moss is also currently second leading owner in number of national wins for the 2008 racing season and was one of three finalists for the 2007 Eclipse Award as an owner.
Conditioned by nine-time Fair Grounds trainer champion Tom Amoss, Cant’stopthisstorm was ridden by Ramsey Zimmerman
Later in the afternoon, Amoss posed in the winner’s circle with Pulaski County, who races in the silks of another high profile ownership group. Among the members of Last Mango Racing Stable are singer Jimmy Buffett, whose hits include “Last Mango in Paris;” Drew Brees, quarterback of the New Orleans Saints; Sean Payton, head coach of the Saints; and Mickey Loomis, general manager of New Orleans’ NFL franchise.
Greg Bensel, principal owner of Last Mango and vice president of communications for the Saints, convinced Pulaski County’s jockey Robby Albarado to wear a football helmet decorated in Last Mango colors for the subsequent winner’s circle photo.
Zimmerman Rides Triple; Graham, Calhoun Get Doubles
Jockey Ramsey Zimmerman, fifth in the Fair Grounds rider standings at the end of Thursday with 44 wins, enjoyed a riding triple during the afternoon. After winning the second with Can’tstopthisstorm, the Chicago native came right back to the winner’s circle after the third aboard Ted Cooper’s Easyfarthislady, and returned for a third time following the seventh astride William Reed’s Private Fight.
Irish-born jockey James Graham, fourth in the local standings with 49 wins through Thursday, had a riding double on the program, winning the fourth race with Richard and Karen Papiese’s Silvie’s Lullaby and the fifth on Foxwood Plantation’s Star Production.
Conditioner Bret Calhoun scored a training double Thursday, saddling Easyfarthislady to win the third and Private Fight to capture the seventh.
Calhoun remained fourth in the trainer standing at the end of Thursday with 34 wins – one behind defending champion Amoss, whose own training double kept him in the third spot with 35 wins.
Louisiana Derby Day Nominations Close Saturday
Horsemen throughout the nation are reminded that nominations close Saturday for the six stakes on Louisiana Derby Day March 8 at Fair Grounds.
The upcoming Louisiana Derby Day will be the richest day of racing ever offered in Louisiana, with $2.3 million in stakes purses on the line.
The $600,000 Grade II Louisiana Derby for 3-year-olds on the road to the Triple Crown is the centerpiece event of the New Orleans racing season.
The $400,000 Grade II Fair Grounds Oaks for 3-year-old fillies on that second Saturday in March is the feminine equivalent of the Louisiana Derby.
The $500,000 Grade II New Orleans Handicap for older horses on dirt and the $500,000 Grade II Mervin Muniz Memorial for older horses on turf complete the graded stakes portion of the program.
Rounding out the stakes schedule March 8 is a pair of sprints: The Duncan F. Kenner Stakes, which offers a $200,000 purse, including $50,000 from Breeders’ Cup Ltd., and the $100,000 Bienville Stakes for fillies and mares on turf.
2007 Risen Star Winner Notional Runs Third in 2008 Bow
J. Paul Reddam’s Notional, who captured last year’s Grade III Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds, made an encouraging debut as a 4-year-old by finishing third beaten a neck for all of it in last Sunday’s Daytona Handicap at Santa Anita.
After winning last year’s Risen Star, Notional shipped to Gulfstream and finished second in last year’s Florida Derby, but last April suffered a fractured cannon bone following a routine gallop at Keeneland.
