Talented 2-Year-Olds Pre-Entered for $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot

On Tuesday morning, Delta Downs’ racing office received 14 pre-entries to this year’s $1,000,000 Delta Downs Jackpot (G3), which will be renewed for the 11th time on Saturday, November 23. The Jackpot Day program will feature a special post time of 1:15 p.m. CST and it will include eight stakes races and more than $2.2 million in total purse money awarded.

Throughout its 10 previous runnings, the $1,000,000 Delta Downs Jackpot has attracted top trainers from coast to coast and this year will be no different. Doug O’Neill, who won the 2012 Kentucky Derby with I’ll Have Another and last year’s $1,000,000 Delta Downs Jackpot with eventual Santa Anita Derby and Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile hero Goldencents, has pre-entered Rum Point in the race. Todd Pletcher, who has three Classic victories to his credit, has nominated Intense Holiday. And Belmont winning trainer Tim Ice has pre-entered Mighty Brown.

Rum Point is owned by Reddam Racing LLC, who also campaigned I’ll Have Another. Rum Point broke his maiden at Del Mar on August 3 before making three consecutive Grade I appearances in the Del Mar Futurity, the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita Park. His best finish in that set of races was a fourth-place effort to We Miss Artie in the Breeders’ Futurity.

Intense Holiday broke his maiden at Monmouth Park before finishing fifth to eventual Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up Havana in the Champagne (G1) at Belmont Park. In his most recent race he finished fourth in the Nashua (G2) at Aqueduct.

Mighty Brown comes into the $1,000,000 Delta Downs Jackpot off a runner-up effort to fellow pre-entrant Rise Up in the Jean Lafitte Stakes at Delta Downs on October 26. The Jean Lafitte is the major local prep for the $1,000,000 Delta Downs Jackpot and the winner gets an automatic berth in the season’s richest race. Rise Up is conditioned by Tom Amoss and will most likely be ridden by Gerard Melancon, who rode Sabercat to victory in the 2011 edition of the $1,000,000 Delta Downs Jackpot.

Other noted trainers who pre-entered horses on Tuesday include Mark Casse, who could win his second $1,000,000 Delta Downs Jackpot with Street Sense Stakes winner Coastline; Mario Morales, who may send this year’s Hopeful Stakes (G2) runner-up Casiguapo to Vinton; and Katerina Vassilieva, who will attempt to become the first female trainer to win the $1,000,000 Delta Downs Jackpot with Grey Stakes (G3) runner-up Big Bazinga.

Listed below are this year’s 14 pre-entrants to the $1,000,000 Delta Downs Jackpot in order of career earnings.

Horse (state bred in)                    Trainer               Owner                         _   Earnings
Best Plan Yet (Florida) Stanley I. Gold Jacks or Better Farms, Inc. $300,960
Rise Up (Kentucky) Thomas M. Amoss Paul & Andrena Van Doren $210,633
Yes I’m Lucky (Kentucky) Edward Plesa, Jr. Trilogy Stable and Laurie Plesa $173,000
Casiguapo (Kentucky) Mario Morales All American Horses $107,250
Coastline (Kentucky) Mark E. Casse John C. Oxley   $80,779
Mighty Brown (Kentucky) Tim Ice Tri-Star Racing, LLC and
The Farm on 4 LLC   $76,590
Rum Point (Kentucky) Doug F. O’Neill Reddam Racing LLC   $71,490
Big Bazinga (Kentucky) Katerina Vassilieva Derby Dreamers Racing Stable   $61,347
Whyruawesome (Kentucky) Anne P. Smith Windy Hill Farm
(Peter Scott Reiman & R. P. Reiman)   $54,315
Intense Holiday (Kentucky) Todd A. Pletcher Starlight Stables, Paul H. Saylor
and Barbara Kurtin   $51,900
Final Step (Florida) Peter Miller Richard C. Pell   $43,800
Rankhasprivileges (Kentucky) Kenneth G. McPeek Magdalena Racing (Susan McPeek)   $33,600
Roman Unbridled (Kentucky) Chad Cook Michelle Y. Brown   $31,225
Flat Gone (Kentucky) J. Keith Desormeaux Don’t Tell My Wife Stable
(Robert J. Slack)   $31,000

Final entries and post positions will be drawn for this year’s $1,000,000 Delta Downs Jackpot on Tuesday, November 19. First preference for the race will be given to Rise Up, who won the Jean Lafitte Stakes at Delta Downs on October 26. After that, preference will be given to those horses that have finished first, second or third in a grade I or grade II race, then preference goes to those horses that have finished in the money in any graded stakes. The final determinant to get into the field will be lifetime earnings at the time of pre-entries closing.

For the second consecutive year, the $1,000,000 Delta Downs Jackpot is part of the ‘Road to the Kentucky Derby’ series, which includes 34 stakes leading up to next year’s big race at Churchill Downs on Saturday, May 3. The top four finishers in this year’s $1,000,000 Delta Downs Jackpot will be awarded points on a 10-4-2-1 scale toward a possible starting position in the first leg of the 2013 Triple Crown.

For more information about the $1,000,000 Delta Downs Jackpot, including the special $200,000 guaranteed Pick 4 wager that will take place during the program, visit www.deltadownsjackpot.com. Additional information about the race can also be found on the ‘Delta Downs Racing’ page on Facebook, and by following Delta Downs on Twitter with the account @deltaracing.