Kentucky Derby competition heats up in New Orleans

Jan. 19 (UPI) -- With the 150th Kentucky Derby just 15 weeks away, the scramble for the starting gate heats up this weekend in New Orleans, where Saturday's $200,000 Grade III Lecomte Stakes is the first "Road to the Kentucky Derby" race offering 20 points to the winner.

The Lecomte headlines a solid program at Fair Grounds, also including a test for Kentucky Oaks prospects and a well-attended faceoff among accomplished older horses in the Louisiana Stakes.

Sunland Park in New Mexico and Turfway Park in northern Kentucky also get in on the 3-year-old action, but weekend races at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas were canceled amid awful weather.

Here's the sunny and warm preview from cold and snowy Chicago:

The Road to the Roses

The first dozen "Road to the Kentucky Derby" races, excepting only the 30-point Breeders' Cup Juvenile, awarded 10 points to the winner. Saturday's $200,000 Grade III Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds is the first jumping that to 20 points.

Thus, the first to finish will take second spot on the leaderboard, behind Breeders' Cup winner Fierceness. Track Phantom and Nash, first and third in the local Gun Runner Stakes on Dec. 23, are the morning-line favorites.

Track Phantom, a Quality Road colt trained by Steve Asmussen, has won two straight, including his maiden-breaker at Churchill Downs in November.

Nash, a Godolphin homebred by Medaglia d'Oro, is trained by Brad Cox and also got his first win under the Twin Spires, by 10 1/4 lengths, before the Gun Runner.

Cox currently has three of the top 10 on the leaderboard -- No. 3 Timberlake, No. 5 Drum Roll Please and No. 10 Catching Freedom.

Another to watch in the Lecomte: Mark Casse brings Can Group back to the main track after three outings on the grass, including a victory in the Grade II Bourbon at Keeneland. He finished a late-running fourth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf after that.

Saturday's $125,000 Leonatus Stakes has 11 3-year-olds tackling 1 mile on the Turfway Park all-weather. A case can be made for several of them, but the oddsmaker feels Vote No, Salvatore Prince, Awesome Road and Piper's Factor will be well-supported.

Lucky Jeremy, a William Morey-trained Lookin At Lucky colt ships in from Kentucky for Friday's $100,000 Riley Allison Derby at Sunland Park in New Mexico.

Asmussen brings Crafted, a Vino Rosso colt, from Fair Grounds where he won on debut a month ago. Ham Sandwich raced in Kentucky last year, but has been training in the Land of Enchantment.

The Path to the Oaks

The eight fillies entered for Saturday's $150,000 Silverbulletday Stakes at Fair Grounds range from an undefeated three-time stakes winner (Miss Code West) to a recent maiden winner (Perfect Shot). West Omaha, second in the local Untapable Stakes on Dec. 23, is the morning-line favorite.

Payingoffmymarker opened a big lead in the stretch run of Thursday's $100,000 La Senora Stakes at Sunland Park and easily prevailed by 4 1/2 lengths over the late-running favorite, Mark the Winner. All nine fillies in the race were locals.

Payingoffmymarker, a Marking filly, got her third win.

Classic / Dirt Mile

Saturday's $175,000 Grade III Louisiana Stakes at Fair Grounds got a solid field, indeed.

Among the seven takers to go 1 1/16 miles are Preakness fourth and West Virginia Derby winner Red Route One; Bluegrass runner-up and Grade II Alysheba winner Smile Happy; Jim Dandy runnerup and Pennsylvania Derby winner Saudi Crown; and last year's winner Happy American.

Saturday's $150,000 Fifth Season Stakes at Oaklawn Park fell victim to nasty winter weather as the Arkansas oval canceled the weekend's live racing for the protection of all.

Filly & Mare Sprint

Saturday's $150,000 Interborough Stakes at Aqueduct has seven distaffers with the favorites -- Ain't Broke, Hot Fudge and Dr B -- drawn in the outside gates. Linda Rice trains Hot Fudge and Dr B.

Turf

Beatbox, a 6-year-old trained by Cherie DeVaux, is the 5-2 morning-line favorite among nine in Saturday's $100,000 Col. E.R. Bradley Stakes at Fair Grounds. The horse has been in the trifecta in five of his last six starts.

Filly & Mare Turf

Tufani looks for her third straight win over the course as the morning-line pick in a field of nine entered for Saturday's $100,000 Marie G. Krantz Stakes at Fair Grounds. The first three finishers from the local Blushing K.D. Stakes on Dec. 23 also are in the field.

Turf Sprint

Saturday's $100,000 Duncan F. Kenner Stakes at Fair Grounds looks like a wide-open affair with seven well-matched runners to go 5 1/2 furlongs.

Around the world, around the clock

Asia

The beleaguered Macau Jockey Club is giving up the ghost effective April 1, ending a history of racing in the one-time Portuguese colony that extends back more than a century.

The MJC said only about 200 horses remain in training on its grounds, and provision will be made for their dispersal. The announcement follows the more surprising death notice proclaimed last year for the Singapore Turf Club, a far more robust operation, which will be shuttered at government orders in October and redeveloped for housing.

Dubai

Friday's seventh session takes the Dubai to its halfway point with little fanfare. The feature is the Group 2 Cape Verdi Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 mile on the turf, with Godolphin 4-year-old English Rose looking for her third win without a loss.

The boys in blue also have Shining Jewel, winner of two straight, returning from a layoff. Shymay, a 7-year-old mare who raced in Germany last year, provides the international spice.

Next weekend's "Fashion Friday" is the biggest date on the restructured Carnival calendar, eclipsing even Super Saturday en route to World Cup night itself.

The festivities comprise seven group races topped by the Group 1 Al Maktoum Challenge at 1,900 meters on the dirt, a prep for the World Cup; the Group 1 Jebel Hatta at 1,800 meters for candidates for the Group 1 Dubai Turf on World Cup night; and the Group 3 UAE 2,000 Guineas, a lead-in to the Group 2 UAE Derby.

The Group 2 Blue Point Sprint at 1,000 meters and the Group 2 Al Fahidi Fort at 1,400 meters are potential preps for the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint.

The Group 3 Firebreak Stakes is a trial for the Group 2 Godolphin Mile on the dirt on World Cup night. The Group 3 Al Shinadgha seems a logical steppingstone to the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen.