Photo:

Fair Grounds / Hodges Photography

Catching Freedom, winner of the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby last year, returns to Fair Grounds on Saturday as the 3-1 morning-line favorite for the Mineshaft (G3). The 1 1/16-mile dirt route attracted eight older males.

Catching Freedom won last year’s Louisiana Derby on his way to running fourth in Kentucky Derby 150. The Constitution colt finished his 3-year-old campaign with a third in the Preakness and a fourth in the Ohio Derby (G3).

On Saturday he will begin his 4-year-old campaign in the Mineshaft for trainer Brad Cox, who so far this meet has saddled the winner in both of Fair Grounds’s older dirt route stakes, as Saudi Crown dominated in the Tenacious and Hit Show added a fifth graded stake title to his resume in the Louisiana (G3). Flavien Prat returns to the irons and will guide Catching Freedom from post 5.

Catching Freedom is one of five 4-year-olds entered in the Mineshaft, along with Hall of Fame, Tuscan Sky, Batten Down and Maycocks Bay. Each has the potential to make noise in the older male dirt route division this year.

Hall of Fame failed to crack into the 2024 Kentucky Derby Leaderboard, finishing seventh in the Risen Star (G2) and 10th in the Louisiana Derby (G2). But the Steve Asmussen trainee regrouped and returned to the races, putting a winning bow on his 3-year-old campaign in a first-level allowance on closing day of Churchill Downs’s fall meet.

On Jan. 5 in a local second-level allowance, Hall of Fame wired the field by 6 1/2 lengths to make it back-to-back victories. Made 4-1 in the morning line, the Gun Runner colt will be reunited with Jose Ortiz.

Tuscan Sky ran his best race to date in the 2024 Pegasus at Monmouth, when he won by open lengths over Domestic Product. Bet down to favoritism last out in December’s Harlan’s Holiday (G3), the Vino Rosso colt failed to factor, finishing seventh. A lightly raced 4-year-old trained by Todd Pletcher, Tuscan Sky has three wins in seven races, including his one local start.

Ohio Derby winner Batten Down, trained by Bill Mott, held his own with the best of his class last year, including running third to Fierceness and Sierra Leone in the Jim Dandy (G2). A half to Scylla and Tacitus, the Tapit colt has proven most effective at longer distances, never victorious at less than nine panels. Jockey Tyler Gaffalione will take the call aboard Batten Down, who will begin his 4-year-old campaign in the Mineshaft.

Set to make his first start on last year’s road to Kentucky Derby in the Southwest (G3), Maycocks Bay was scratched from the race as the morning-line favorite, then took longer than expected to recuperate. Returning to the races in a local allowance 10 months later, the Mike Stidham trainee looked like he hadn’t missed a beat. Last out in the Louisiana (G3), Maycocks Bay run a better-than-it-looks fourth overcoming a far outside post and an unfavorable race shape. Drawing post 6 in the Mineshaft, the Speightstown colt will be reunited with Ben Curtis.

Post	Silks	Horse / Sire	Rating	Trainer / Jockey	Last Start / Next Start	HRN
1		Warrior Johny Cairo Prince	5.59	Philip A. Bauer Jaime Torres	3rd, 2024 Tenacious LS 2025 Fair Grounds Stakes G3	6-1
Last Race Next Race		3rd, 2024 Tenacious LS 2025 Fair Grounds Stakes G3
2		Heroic Move Quality Road	5.79	Robertino Diodoro Harry Hernandez	5th, 2025 Louisiana Stakes G3 2025 Mineshaft Stakes G3	12-1
Last Race Next Race		5th, 2025 Louisiana Stakes G3 2025 Mineshaft Stakes G3
3		Tuscan Sky Vino Rosso	6.35	Todd A. Pletcher Irad Ortiz, Jr.	7th, 2024 Harlan’s Holiday G3 2025 Mineshaft Stakes G3	9-2
Last Race Next Race		7th, 2024 Harlan’s Holiday G3 2025 Mineshaft Stakes G3
4		Hall of Fame Gun Runner	6.09	Steven M. Asmussen Jose L. Ortiz	1st, FG AOC (01/05/2025-R6) 2025 Mineshaft Stakes G3	4-1
Last Race Next Race		1st, FG AOC (01/05/2025-R6) 2025 Mineshaft Stakes G3
5		Catching Freedom Constitution	7.69	Brad H. Cox Flavien Prat	4th, 2024 Ohio Derby G3 2025 Mineshaft Stakes G3	3-1
Last Race Next Race		4th, 2024 Ohio Derby G3 2025 Mineshaft Stakes G3
6		Maycocks Bay Speightstown	6.14	Michael Stidham Ben Curtis	4th, 2025 Louisiana Stakes G3 2025 Mineshaft Stakes G3	10-1
Last Race Next Race		4th, 2025 Louisiana Stakes G3 2025 Mineshaft Stakes G3
7		Batten Down Tapit	6.64	William I. Mott Tyler Gaffalione	4th, 2024 Discovery LS 2025 Mineshaft Stakes G3	4-1
Last Race Next Race		4th, 2024 Discovery LS 2025 Mineshaft Stakes G3
8		Komorebino Omoide California Chrome	6.19	Robertino Diodoro Jansen Melancon	2nd, 2025 Louisiana Stakes G3 2025 Mineshaft Stakes G3	8-1
Last Race Next Race		2nd, 2025 Louisiana Stakes G3 2025 Mineshaft Stakes G3