Admiral Dennis tops Gun Runner; eight stakes debutantes in Untapable

Dec 15, 2024 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Fair Grounds hosts its “Road to the Derby Kickoff Day” on Saturday, with the $100,000 Gun Runner S. opening the series of scoring races at the historic New Orleans track. Also on the banner card is the companion event on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks, the $100,000 Untapable S.

Each stakes is worth points on the 10-5-3-2-1 scale to the top five finishers. The Gun Runner is the first of four races on the Road to the Kentucky Derby at Fair Grounds, followed by the Jan. 18 Lecomte (G3), Feb. 15 Risen Star (G2), and ultimately the March 22 Louisiana Derby (G2). The Untapable likewise commences a four-race sequence on the same dates for Oaks prospects comprising the Silverbulletday S., Rachel Alexandra (G2), and Fair Grounds Oaks (G2).

The Gun Runner is carded as the seventh race at 4 p.m. ET, while the Untapable goes off as the 11th race at 6 p.m. ET. You can watch and wager on the 12-race program, featuring eight stakes, at TwinSpires.com.

Gun Runner S.

Admiral Dennis, who attracted some interest as a 38-1 chance in Pool 2 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, is the latest Triple Crown hopeful for Albaugh Family Stables. Trained by Brad Cox, the $425,000 yearling purchase has ranked as the favorite in both of his starts.

A troubled third in his 6 1/2-furlong debut at Churchill Downs, Admiral Dennis came back to romp in a one-mile maiden beneath the Twin Spires. The Constitution colt should only improve on the stretch-out to two turns in the 1 1/16-mile Gun Runner, where he will break from the outside post 5 with a returning Luis Saez.

#10 Admiral Dennis stretches out to a mile and breaks his maiden in the finale at @ChurchillDowns for trainer @bradcoxracing with @luissaezpty aboard! 💪

🎥 #TwinSpiresReplay pic.twitter.com/k4wV0Aptdq

— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) November 7, 2024

Two of his rivals, Magnitude and Render Judgment, hope to fare better in their second attempts in points races.

Magnitude has connections in common with race honoree Gun Runner, as a Winchell Thoroughbreds runner trained by Steve Asmussen. The same owner/trainer tandem won the inaugural Gun Runner in 2021 with eventual champion Epicenter, like Magnitude a son of Not This Time.

After a dominating maiden win at Ellis Park back in July, Magnitude tired to seventh in his stakes debut in the Iroquois (G3). But he rebounded in a Nov. 17 allowance going this distance at Churchill. Now the $450,000 yearling picks up leading rider Jose Ortiz.

The Ken McPeek-trained Render Judgment is the only other entrant with a victory over 1 1/16 miles, accomplished in an Oct. 27 maiden race on Churchill’s “Stars of Tomorrow I” card. The $310,000 son of Blame advanced to the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) during “Stars of Tomorrow II,” only to check in a belated fifth. The pace scenario figures to be more genuine here.

Built, last seen beating Render Judgment in a seven-furlong maiden at Keeneland Oct. 6, makes his stakes and two-turn debut for Wayne Catalano. Two starts back, Built was promoted to third in an Ellis Park maiden behind next-out Breeders’ Futurity (G1) star East Avenue.

Rounding out the quintet is Chris’s Revenge, who has class questions in the wake of his fourth in a starter allowance at Churchill. But he is from the high-percentage Brittany Russell barn.

Untapable S.

A well-matched field of eight fillies will test stakes waters for the first time in the Untapable over one mile and 70 yards.

Recent Woodbine maiden romper Drexel Hill has been facing future stakes winners up north, possibly giving her a form edge for new trainer Whit Beckman. When runner-up to the eventual Grey (G3)-winning colt He’s Not Joking, Drexel Hill had behind her in third Thundering, the next-out winner of the Display S.

Drexel Hill was subsequently second in another maiden to Aristella, who later captured the Princess Elizabeth S. Also, in her career debut, Drexel Hill closed for fifth to Winterberry and Foxtastic, who respectively went on to win the Glorious Song S. and Presque Isle Debutante.

Although those efforts came over the Tapeta, Drexel Hill should adapt to dirt as a daughter of Bolt d’Oro and a Daaher mare. Perhaps the distance is more of a question, considering that she profited by cutting back to seven furlongs to break her maiden last time out. A similar comment applies to Beckman’s other runner, Churchill debut winner Her Laugh, although she’s untested beyond six furlongs.

Five contenders are proven around two turns. McPeek’s Golden Gamble, third to California Sunset on debut on “Stars of Tomorrow I,” came back to win another 1 1/16-mile maiden at Churchill by nine lengths. California Sunset, a Gary and Mary West homebred from the Cox barn, has not raced since her Oct. 27 maiden coup.

Amarth, the only two-time winner in the field, rolled in a Keeneland maiden before successfully stretching out in a Churchill allowance. By leading freshman sire McKinzie, the Eddie Kenneally pupil left Stable Currency back in third in that 1 1/16-mile test. Stable Currency has the most experience in routes, having crushed an off-the-turf maiden at Hawthorne by 22 lengths and just missing in a 1 1/16-mile Keeneland allowance prior to her effort at Churchill.

Prima Bella is the lone entrant with local form, thanks to her 1 1/16-mile maiden tally, albeit in slow time.

Trainer Brendan Walsh won the first two runnings of the Untapable, notably with future Kentucky Oaks (G1) champion Pretty Mischievous in 2022, and he’s back with another Godolphin homebred in Paris Lily. The City of Light filly was game to prevail in a maiden around Churchill’s one-turn mile, and she’ll need to move forward in this spot.