On Saturday, Fair Grounds will host the $500,000 dollar, Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes. It’s the first race of the season to offer the Winner 50 qualifying points toward a spot in the Kentucky Derby. The contest will award a total of 105 points on a 50-25-15-10-5 scale.
The race was first held in 1973 as the Louisiana Derby Trial Stakes. In 1989, it was renamed in honor of Louisiana-based Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes Winner RISEN STAR.
The race was extended from one mile and 40 yards to 1 1/16 miles in 1990, and further increased to its current distance of 1 ⅛ miles in 2020. In 2002, the race was granted Grade 3 status, which was bumped up to Grade 2 status in 2010.
There has been plenty of legendary talent that used their Victories in the Risen Star Stakes as a springboard to great careers. Here’s a look at three of the best in the 21st century.
MUCHO MACHO MAN (2011) CAREER EARNINGS: $5,625,410 While he had a solid 3-year-old campaign, including a 3rd-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, it was as an older horse that MUCHO MACHO MAN made his biggest impact. As a 4-year-old, he Won the Grade 2 Suburban Handicap and the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap. He concluded that season with a 2nd place-finish in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic behind FORT LARNED.
At age 5 in 2013, MUCHO MACHO MAN avenged his BC Classic defeat from a year prior. He held off WILL TAKE CHARGE by a nose, and finishing 3 ½ lengths clear of 4th-place FORT LARNED.
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GUN RUNNER (2016) CAREER EARNINGS: $15,988,500 After Winning the Risen Star Stakes GUN RUNNER went on to Win three more Graded Stakes that year, and finished 3rd in the Kentucky Derby, a good year by any measure. But his talent was in full bloom as a 4-year-old. In 2017, he Won five Graded Stakes races, including four consecutive Grade 1s. The year culminated with a front-running Win in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic, which sealed a near-unanimous Horse of the Year voting tally at the Eclipse Awards.
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EPICENTER (2022) CAREER EARNINGS: $2,940,639 11 weeks after his Win in the Risen Star EPICENTER was sent off as the favorite in the Kentucky Derby. If not for the shocking upset by longshot RICH STRIKE he would have got the Derby W. Two weeks later, EPICENTER was sent off as the heavy favorite in the Preakness but again had to settle for 2nd, this time beaten by EARLY VOTING.
Later in the season, EPICENTER finally got his headline Victory when he Won the $1.25 million dollar, Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. The Mid-Summer Derby had been the goal for EPICENTER and his connections since his Triple Crown disappointments.
