Michael and Doreen Tabor’s Circular Quay has been installed as the 9-5 morning-line favorite in a field of eight 3-year-olds for the 94th running of the $600,000 Grade II Louisiana Derby Saturday at Fair Grounds Race Course.

The Louisiana Derby, to be contested at a mile and a sixteenth, is the last of five stakes races on Louisiana Derby Day presented by Budweiser. Approximate post time is 4:43 p.m. CST.

Circular Quay, who is trained by three-time Eclipse Award winner Todd Pletcher and will be ridden by two-time Eclipse winner John Velazquez, is coming off a fifth-place finish in the Grade III Risen Star Stakes here last month, a race in which his chances of winning were compromised by a spill near the top of the stretch.

As a 2-year-old, Circular Quay won the Grade I Hopeful at Saratoga and the Grade III Bashford Manor at Churchill Downs. He capped his 2006 campaign with a second-place finish behind Street Sense in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill.

Circular Quay will break from the rail on Saturday.

The combination of owner J. Paul Reddam and trainer Doug O’Neill captured the Risen Star with Notional. Reddam and O’Neill will be back in the Louisiana Derby with Liquidity, who just missed in graded stakes in his last two starts.

Liquidity was beaten a length by the highly regarded Ravel in the Grade III Sham at Santa Anita last month. Before that, he was second by a neck in the Grade I Hollywood Futurity in December.

Corey Nakatani will ride Liquidity, who is the early 7-2 second choice and drew post No. 5.

The second and third-place finishers behind Notional in the Risen Star, Imawildandcrazyguy and Zanjero, return for the Louisiana Derby. Zanjero, trained by six-time Fair Grounds leading conditioner Steve Asmussen, is the third choice on the morning line at 4-1 and gets the riding services of Garrett Gomez.

The William Kaplan-trained Imawildandcrazyguy, who like Zanjero made his seasonal bow in the Risen Star, capped a busy 2-year-old season with a 10-length allowance win at Calder.

Also in the Derby field is Birdbirdistheword, who will make his sophomore debut for trainer Ken McPeek after ending his 2-year-old campaign with a win in the $1 million Delta Jackpot; locally based Ketchikan, who has won two straight for trainer Al Stall Jr.; the Pletcher-trained Soaring By, who will make only his third lifetime start; and Slew’s Tizzy, who clipped heels and lost his rider in the Risen Star but returns in this spot for trainer Gregory Fox.

The other stakes on Louisiana Derby Day are the $400,000 Grade II Fair Grounds Oaks, the $500,000 Grade II New Orleans Handicap, the $500,000 Grade II Mervin H. Muniz Jr. Memorial Handicap and the $100,000 Bienville Stakes. The four Grade II races will comprise a $200,000 guaranteed pool all-stakes Pick 4.
Source www.kentuckyderby.com