The road to the Kentucky Derby started in September with the running of the Iroquois. New Orleans’ Fair Grounds Race Course entered the fray on Dec. 23 with the Gun Runner, which was won by a Steve Asmussen-trained horse named Track Phantom.

Track Phantom earned 10 Derby qualifying points for that victory and another 20 for prevailing in the Lecomte a month later. Then, on Feb. 17 in the Risen Star, he was caught late by Sierra Leone after setting a modest pace over a sloppy track, a runner-up finish that earned him an additional 25 Derby points.

This Saturday marks the running of the Derby trail’s first two 100-point preps, the cheekily named Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park and the Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds. Given his success in the latter track’s first three stakes legs for first-Saturday-in-May aspirants, Track Phantom will start on the far outside of a 12-horse field as the 3/1 morning-line favorite in the Louisiana Derby, as Sierra Leone is pointed toward Keeneland’s Blue Grass Stakes a week later.

Todd Pletcher, who will saddle three horses — Triple Espresso (20/1 ML), Antiquarian (12/1), and Agate Road (8/1) — in this year’s Louisiana Derby, has won the race more times (five) than any other trainer in its history, but should four-time winner Asmussen prevail, he’ll even that score.

And while oddsmakers think Track Phantom gives Asmusssen his best shot at tying that record with Joel Rosario aboard, it’s a more lightly raced stablemate that has captured US Bets’ imagination.

A horse by any other name 

Gun Runner is not just a race, it’s also a horse. And not just any horse, but a future Hall of Famer who won the Louisiana Derby before finishing third in the Kentucky Derby in 2016.

In Gun Runner’s 4-year-old year, he posted consecutive Grade 1 wins in the Stephen Foster, Whitney, Woodward, and Breeders’ Cup Classic before finishing his career with a victory in the Pegasus World Cup. The 2017 Horse of the Year was trained by Asmussen, who now looks after one of Gun Runner’s progeny, the lightly raced Louisiana Derby entrant Hall of Fame.

With a name like that, a sire like that, and a $1.4 million purchase price as a yearling, Hall of Fame didn’t sneak up on anyone when he broke his maiden in dazzling fashion at Fair Grounds on Jan. 20. 

What a performance from #4 Hall of Fame in R5 at Fair Grounds! The Steve Asmussen trainee graduates impressively at second asking under @jrosariojockey!

You may want to add this son of Gun Runner to your TwinSpires #StableAlerts!

#TwinSpiresReplay pic.twitter.com/GhPvF6ArRI

— TwinSpires Racing (@TwinSpires) January 20, 2024

Hall of Fame seemed primed to take a step forward in the Risen Star, but the wet track, a tough trip, and his lack of experience (just two races heading in) amounted to a disappointing seventh-place finish. 

The weather is expected to be far fairer this Saturday in the Crescent City, and if Hall of Fame, who will break from the two-hole, can position himself just off the lead in a field that shouldn’t feature much early speed, he’ll provide horse bettors with tremendous value should his odds stay near his morning-line price of 8/1.

Frozen schooners can’t come sooner

As a pivotal scene in the road movie Mississippi Grind makes clear, Fair Grounds is a workaday track in a relatively quiet, nondescript neighborhood. But it’s where I chose to celebrate my 40th birthday — in part because, duh, New Orleans, but also because of Liuzza’s by the Track, a simple, splendid restaurant and bar on Fair Grounds’ perimeter.

More memorable than the track, Liuzza’s — not to be confused with a nearby Liuzza’s of equal esteem, but with a different owner — is known for its crispy seafood po’ boys and frozen schooners of beer.

Let’s stop right there: If ever you come across a bar that serves beer in frozen schooners, it’s a bar you should come across again and again. And with Liuzza’s, I’m pleased to say I’ve heeded that call.

Photo: Getty Images