Fifty Stars Shines in Louisiana Victory

It’s the time of the year when maturing 3-year-olds can develop into serious race horses.

At Gulfstream Park on Saturday, Monarchos, running in a stakes race for the first time, won the Florida Derby and was immediately deemed one of the favorites for the Kentucky Derby on May 5.

At the Fair Grounds on Sunday, another colt, Fifty Stars, became a contender with a two-length win in the $750,000 Louisiana Derby. Fifty Stars, who paid $43 to win, finished no better than fourth in two other stakes at the New Orleans track this winter.

The Louisiana Derby had been tabbed as a stronger race than the Florida Derby because of ship-ins Millennium Wind from California and Hero’s Tribute from Florida. They joined the local standout, Dollar Bill, who was the 17-10 favorite off a powerful stretch run in the Risen Star Stakes three weeks ago.

Fifty Stars ran fifth in the Risen Star, but Sunday he and Donnie Meche found room on the rail in a roughly run race. Behind them, Dollar Bill, making a belated run, clipped heels with another horse, Gracie’s Dancer, and almost spilled Pat Day. Dollar Bill finished fourth, about 2 1/2 lengths behind the winner.

Millennium Wind, ridden by Chris McCarron, had the lead after six furlongs, lost it to a 103-1 shot, True Concern, at the top of the stretch and then doggedly held on for second place, a neck in front of Hero’s Tribute, who was boxed in behind horses. Dollar Bill missed third place by a head and True Concern finished fifth. The time for 1 1/16 miles was 1:44 3/5.

“He just got outrun from the eighth pole to the wire,” McCarron said of Millennium Wind. “He may have been getting a little tired.”

Millennium Wind, who had good position early, has two wins and two seconds in four starts. He won the Santa Catalina at Santa Anita after winding up his 2-year-old season with a second to Point Given in the Hollywood Futurity.

Fifty Stars is trained by Steve Asmussen, whose brother Cash recently closed out a successful riding career in Europe. Fifty Stars’ win Sunday, his third in seven races, was his first victory since capturing the Texan Juvenile at Sam Houston Race Park in December. The Houston track will pay out a $1-million bonus if Fifty Stars also wins the Kentucky Derby.

Fifty Stars, bought for $70,000 as a yearling, is a son of Quiet American and My Bubbling Belle, a Tsunami Slew mare. Quiet American also sired Real Quiet, winner of the 1998 Kentucky Derby.

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Noting that Gary Stevens had won with Blueprint at Ascot in England in June of 1999, trainer Bob Hess Jr. put the jockey on the 6-year-old Irish-bred Sunday at Santa Anita and they beat Devon Deputy by a head to win the $250,000 San Luis Rey Handicap.

Ciro, the shipper from Florida who was the 119-pound high weight and 7-10 favorite, finished fourth after trailing by 15 lengths after the opening mile of the 1 1/2-mile race.

Blueprint, owned by David Shimmon and Bill Bianco, who bought him from England’s Queen Elizabeth II last year, hadn’t run since September. This was his first win in four starts in the United States.

Blueprint, carrying 116 pounds, paid $15.20 for $2 and earned $150,000. His time on a course labeled good was 2:28 2/5.

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For the third time in four years, Team USA outpointed Team Europe in the British Airways International Jockey Challenge.

With Laffit Pincay winning two of the four races, the Americans defeated the visitors, 47-37, based on a scoring system that gave points for the first five finishes in each race.

Pincay, still the leading rider at Santa Anita this season despite a recent slump, won with Flowington, a 9-1 shot that had been badly beaten in two starts at the meet, and favored Hasty Kris, who ended a nine-race losing streak that dated to his maiden win in October of 1999. Before riding two winners on Saturday’s card, Pincay had won with only one of his previous 45 mounts.

European jockeys won the other races in the challenge, with Olivier Peslier clicking with Warm April and Frankie Dettori scoring with Meet Me In Dixie.

Notes

In a vote by fellow jockeys, Dean Kutz has won the 2001 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, named in honor of the Hall of Fame jockey who was killed in a spill at Santa Anita in 1946.