Favorite El Padrino edged Mark Valeski in a close finish to win the Grade 2, $300,000 Risen Star Stakes on Saturday, the final prep for the Louisiana Derby.
Neither horse was separated by more than a neck for most of the final stretch, leaving the rest of the field of 11 up the track.
El Padrino, trained by Todd Pletcher, returned $3.60 for a $2 win bet. It was his third win in five career races and his first in a graded race. He went off as the 3-5 favorite, and jockey Javier Castellano coaxed just enough out of him to justify those odds.
''You hope it's the kind of race that he'll improve from,'' Pletcher said. ''He's become battle-tested a little bit and is getting more professional all the time. Hopefully, he's learning how to win.''
Mark Valeski was part of a dual entry by trainer Larry Jones. Z Dager took third.
The Louisiana Derby is April 1, five weeks before the Kentucky Derby. Pletcher said running El Padrino there would be one of his top options.
''He's got two good mile-and-a-sixteenth races under his belt this year, so we've got a good foundation,'' Pletcher said. ''He's a big, strong colt. He's the kind of horse we need to race to get him more and more fit.''
In the 3-year old filly division, Summer Applause raced wide in the stretch and passed Avie's Sense to win by a length in the Grade 3, $200,000 Rachel Alexandra Stakes. Summer Applause paid $8.4. Favorite Believe You Can faded to fourth in the stretch, more than seven lengths behind the winner.
