Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners’ Built  aims to build on his Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots success as he faces 13 rivals in the $250,000 Lecomte Stakes (G3) Jan. 18.

The 3-year-old Hard Spun   colt bred by Robert and Lawana Low introduced himself to the general racing audience with a dominant 6 3/4-length frontrunning triumph in the Dec. 21 Gun Runner Stakes, netting 10 Kentucky Derby (G1) qualifying points.The scintillating victory in his first start around two turns off a 2 1/2-month layoff surprised even his trainer, Wayne Catalano.

The race may set up differently this time for Built, who only faced four rivals in the Gun Runner and was allowed to set tepid fractions of :24.64, :49.23, and 1:13.77 for the 1 1/16-mile distance. The pace competition will likely increase this time with a full 14-horse gate, but Catalano is confident that his colt will adjust from post 13.

“He’s got good enough speed that he can break. (Jockey Jareth Loveberry) can go in and kind of look everything over and see what he needs to do,” Catalano said. “He can come from off of it like he did when he won the time before (in an Oct. 6 seven-furlong Keeneland maiden race). He’ll come from off the pace a little bit.”

A solid performance Saturday is crucial for Built and his competitors as the Lecomte is the first race in the second series of the Road to the Kentucky Derby prep races; the Top 5 finishers receiving qualifying points on a 20-10-6-4-2 scale. Twenty points for Built would elevate him to second place on the leaderboard with a total of 30.

“Obviously the young horses, when they’re running good and peak, that’s what we’re all in the game for: winning these big races,” Catalano said. “It would be a blessing to run two big races going into, hopefully, the Kentucky Derby down the road.”

Two of his foes will be looking for revenge after their defeats in the Gun Runner: runner-up Magnitude , who breaks from post four for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen and owner Winchell Thoroughbreds, and Admiral Dennis , the 4-5 favorite that day who finished a distant fourth after a bad stumble at the break.

Brad Cox, who trains Admiral Dennis for Albaugh Family Stables, also entered undefeated Juddmonte homebred Disco Time  in the Lecomte. The son of Not This Time   makes his first two-turn start after a seven-furlong maiden and one-mile allowance victory at Churchill Downs.

Trainers Kenny McPeek and Dallas Stewart join Cox in doubling their odds with two entrants. McPeek enters Maximum Promise , a 14 1/2-length Ellis Park maiden winner returning from a 5 1/2-month layoff, and Mobetterthangood , a Saratoga Race Course debut winner.

Stewart’s pair are both last-out Fair Grounds winners at six furlongs, with Tough Catch  taking the Dec. 21 Sugar Bowl Stakes and Dapper Moon  a Dec. 19 allowance. Dapper Moon has already accumulated six Derby points with a trio of fourth-place finishes in Kentucky this fall.