Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}) tuned up for Saturday's GII Risen Star S. with a four-furlong work at Fair Grounds Monday in :50.40. The chestnut is coming off a close-up fourth-place effort behind fellow Risen Star contender Airoforce (Colonel John) in the Nov. 28 GII Kentucky Jockey Club S.
“He's a nice horse and [exercise rider] Carlos [Rosas], as always, does a great job,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. “He has a lot of talent. I thought that it was an excellent running of the Kentucky Jockey Club and while I hoped for a different result, I thought he ran very well. I feel good about his work and obviously I feel very fortunate to get to train the kinds of horses I do. Saturday is going to be a very exciting day.”
Also working Monday ahead of the Risen Star was LeeAnn Ohanesian's Bistraya (Haynesfield), who went an easy five furlongs in 1:04.60 at Santa Anita.
“He's doing very well,” trainer Ricky Agarie, a former assistant to Jack Van Berg, Carla Gaines and Kathy Walsh, said. “He did his last breeze today and it was a little slow, which is all right. He was just stretching his legs. He's really coming into his own. Down at Del Mar when we ran him the first time, we had a muddy track and he didn't like it. The next time I thought he was good enough, so we threw him in the [GII Best Pal] S. [where he finished fourth as a maiden], but a bug boy rode him and got intimidated by another jock. I thought he ran pretty well, but he would have been closer at the end.”
Bistraya is coming off a front-running maiden victory going one mile at Santa Anita Jan. 24.
“He doesn't necessarily need to be on the lead, unless we break and he can go :24 or :25,” Agarie said. “I'm trying to teach him to rate, especially if we want to get him to the Derby, but I expect him to be close to the lead. We're looking for [Kentucky Derby] points.”
Laoban (Uncle Mo), third in the GIII Sham S. last time out, was scratched from the Risen Star Monday.
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