Risen Star

Risen Star (March 25, 1985 – March 13, 1998), was an American champion thoroughbred race horse which won the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes in 1988.

Background

The dark bay colt was the son of the great Triple Crown winner Secretariat out of the mare Ribbon. Bred by Arthur B. Hancock III and Leone J. Peters, Risen Star was bought by Louisianans Ronnie Lamarque and Louie Roussel III at the 1987 Calder two-year-old in-training sale. He was trained by Roussel, a devout Roman Catholic who was stricken by throat cancer and recovered. Ten percent of Risen Star's winnings were donated to the "Little Sisters of the Poor," a Roman Catholic order of nuns.

Racing career

As a two-year-old Risen Star was lightly raced, winning the Minstrel Stakes at Louisiana Downs.

Risen Star started his sophomore season by winning the grade two Louisiana Derby and followed that up with another grade two victory just two weeks prior to the Derby in the Lexington Stakes.

He went into the prestigious Kentucky Derby as the morning line third choice. All the colts in the Derby laid off the pace, their jockeys believing that the front-running gray filly Winning Colors would fade. She did not fade and won the race wire to wire by a neck. Risen Star finished third. Under jockey Eddie Delahoussaye, he was forced to the outside on the backstretch, where he stayed until making a charge at the head of the stretch. He was too late to make up all the lost ground to the front runner and finished third.