The 2021 Kentucky Derby prep schedule really starts to heat up this Saturday with the running of the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans. The entire card is filled with exciting betting action, including a number of big money graded stakes events.

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The 13-race card gets underway at 1 p.m. and its runs all the way to 7:18 p.m. as the official post time for the 2021 Risen Star. The field for that race is set with a number of solid contenders looking to stay hot on the Kentucky Derby Trail.

2021 Risen Star Stakes

Track: Fair Grounds Race Course

The Risen Star is a Grade 2 stakes race open to three-year old Thoroughbreds. The total prize purse for this year’s event is $400,000 plus qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby. The race will be contested on the dirt track at Fair Grounds covering a total distance of 1 1/8 miles.

A large field of 13 horses are listed as entered for Saturday’s main event. The talent runs deep with each entry carrying a Horse Racing Nation rating. The top two contenders to keep an eye on Saturday would be Midnight Bourbon and Proxy after running first and second in the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds on Jan. 16.

Midnight Bourbon would be my top choice coming off the victory in that early Derby prep. He covered the 1 1/16 miles on dirt in 1:44.41. Trained by Steve Asmussen, the Kentucky-bred colt will break from the middle of the field at No. 6 this Saturday with jockey Joseph Talamo on board.

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The son of Tiznow has finished in the money in all five events he has run going back to his juvenile campaign.

I am also looking for another one-two run in this race with Proxy as my second choice. This Kentucky-bred three-year old will break from the No. 2 post with John Velazquez as his jockey. Trained by Michael Stidham, he has finished first or second in four career events. Three of those races were at Fair Grounds to give the son of Tapit an edge as far as racing experience at this track.

Moving down the list of entries, another colt you can throw into the mix would be trainer Todd Fincher’s Senor Buscador with an solid HRN rating of 6.32. He closed out his run as a juvenile with a victory in the ungraded Remington Springboard Mile on Dec. 18 with a winning time of 1:37.87.

Sired by Mineshaft, he will start this race at the No. 5 post with jockey Luis Quinonez getting the ride. Senor Buscador is two-for-two in his racing career after winning a Maiden Special Weight race at Remington Park on Nov. 6.

Also in the field for this year’s Risen Star as a potential spoiler is trainer Robertino Diodoro’s Keepmeinmind. He will be making his three-year old debut breaking out of the No. 12 post with jockey David Cohen on the mount.

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This Kentucky-bred colt caught everyone’s attention at the end of last year by winning the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs on Nov. 28. He covered the 1 1/16 miles on dirt around that track in 1:44.52.

The son of Laoban placed in the money in three graded races last season, including a third- place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland earlier in November.