The Lecomte Stakes is a Grade III American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses at a distance of one and one-sixteenths miles on the dirt run annually in mid-January, at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana . The event currently offers a purse of $ 200,000.
29-520: The event was inaugurated 20 February 1943 as the LeCompte Handicap with handicap conditions for four-year-olds and older over a distance of one and one-eighth miles. The race was won by Emerson Francis Woodward 's Valdina Farms standout Valdina Orphan who started a short priced 2/5 odds-on favorite winning easily by two lengths in a time of 1:51 flat. Three months later Emerson Francis Woodward and his wife Bessie were killed in an accident with
58-798: A distance of one and one-eighth miles on the dirt run annually in February, usually during the President's Day weekend at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana . The event currently offers a purse of $ 400,000. The event was inaugurated 16 March 1973 as the Louisiana Derby Trial with handicap conditions over a distance of one mile and forty yards with the Indiana bred colt Navajo victorious by one length over Smooth Dancer with Assagai Jr. in third place. The time run by
87-542: A new stakes record of 1:42 2 ⁄ 5 . City Line would go on and repeat his win in his next start defeating Lemon Twist again by eight lengths in the Louisiana Derby . Mrs. Dorothy Dorsett Brown's two horse entry of Dapper Delegate and Doc Wesley won the event in 1965 starting at the short odds of 1/2. Dapper Delegate would also go on and in a fortnight capture the Louisiana Derby. The first winner of
116-578: A patient at the Medina Hospital in Hondo . A double funeral was held in Houston at Heights Church of Christ, and they were entombed in a mausoleum at the city's Forest Park Cemetery. Their fifteen-year-old grandson, Robert Woodward, would inherit their entire estate. Risen Star Stakes The Risen Star Stakes is a Grade II American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses at
145-462: A train at a graded crossing in his home state of Texas. The event was named after the town of Lecompte, Louisiana , which was named but incorrectly spelt after a famous 19th century race horse owned by the Wells family who lived on a plantation south of the town. The horse's name was Lecomte , who is known as the only horse to defeat Lexington . Lecomte's dam was the brilliant Reel . The event
174-500: The 1 + 1 ⁄ 16 miles distance. The 1961 running of the event would be the last time the race was scheduled as an event for older horses. In 1962 the conditions of the event were changed that only three-year-olds could enter. The event immediately became a preparatory race for the Louisiana Derby which was held later in the meeting in March. The 1963 winner City Line won the event defeating Lemon Twist by five lengths and setting
203-617: The 2019 Preakness Stakes . In 2020 the event's distance was set to the 1 + 1 ⁄ 16 miles distance, last run in 1991. The event is part of the Road to the Kentucky Derby . Speed record: Margins: Most wins by a jockey : Most wins by a trainer : Most wins by an owner: Lecomte Stakes – Louisiana Derby double: Notes: § Ran as an entry ƒ Filly or Mare Emerson Francis Woodward Emerson Francis Woodward (February 23, 1879 – May 24, 1943)
232-559: The Abilene Christian College , paying all their expenses." An automobile driven by Woodward collided into the side of a train at a grade crossing near D'Hanis, Texas , close to Hondo in Medina County, and the accident claimed both his life and that of his wife, the only other passenger in the vehicle. Bessie Woodward died of injuries on May 22, 1943, and Emerson followed at age sixty-four two days later while
261-561: The Derby Trial Stakes a week before the Kentucky Derby . In the 1972 Kentucky Derby No Le Hace finished second to Riva Ridge and two weeks later finished second in the 1972 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico to Bee Bee Bee. A major upset occurred in the 1988 running of the event when Thomas Leavell's Pastourelles defeated the heavily backed 3/10 odds-favorite Risen Star by a length and a quarter. Risen Star would turn
290-824: The Farmers Petroleum Company , held the position of superintendent, and in 1921 became president of the Republic Production Company , a subsidiary of American Republics Corporation . With the formation of the Yount-Lee Oil Company , Woodward eventually became one of its largest stockholders. Emerson Woodward, in January 1924, advanced $ 28,000 to build the Houston Gun Club on Westheimer Road, and he actively participated in his favorite hobby of trapshooting in
319-560: The Goodwill Hill public schools in Pennsylvania, Woodward, at the age of eleven, went to work in the oil fields, and before the end of his career, he would be affiliated with the industry in various other states, including Oklahoma , Ohio , Arkansas , Louisiana , and Texas . He married Bessie McGarry in 1901 at her hometown of Woodsfield, Ohio. The couple had only one child, a son, Harley E. Woodward, who died at age 34 when
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#1732791437888348-601: The LeComte Handicap to make an impact on the American Triple Crown events was Joseph R. Straus's 1972 winner No Le Hace . No Le Hace started as the 6/5 favorite and won by 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 lengths winning his third straight race. No Le Hace would win the Louisiana Derby and the go to Oaklawn Park and win the Arkansas Derby . No Le Hace proceeded in running second at Churchill Downs in
377-461: The Louisiana Derby. Later in his Triple Crown campaign, Master Derby was victorious in the Preakness . The event was shortened back to its inaugural distance in 1988 of 1 mile and 40 yards. The event that year was won by Risen Star who went on to win the Preakness and Belmont Stakes and be voted the 1988 Eclipse Award for American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse . The following year
406-727: The Risen Star Stakes has gone on to win the Kentucky Derby. However, two runners who have run in the event have gone on to win the Run for the Roses. War Emblem finished sixth at Fair Grounds before winning at Churchill Downs in 2002. Country House was second in the Risen Star before crossing second in the 2019 Kentucky Derby , only to be promoted after first-place finisher Maximum Security was disqualified by Kentucky stewards for interference. The Risen Star also has produced two winners of
435-542: The catastrophic damage caused by of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 the winter meeting was abbreviated and held at Louisiana Downs and the event was not scheduled. The event was held over a distance of a mile and 40 yards in 2010 and 2011 and was increased to a mile and 70 yards in 2012. In 2013 Oxbow won the event by a stakes record 11 + 1 ⁄ 2 lengths. Later in May Oxbow won the 2013 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. The 2019 winner War of Will also went onto win
464-619: The company of friends such as Hank A. Hausmann of LaGrange, Texas and Forest McNeir, a fellow Houstonian. His expert marksmanship earned for him places in the National Trapshooting Hall of Fame , which inducted him on August 24, 1973, and in the Texas Trapshooters Association Hall of Fame , which reciprocated in 1983. One of his records "in 1933 … set a yearly ATA ( American Trapshooters Association ) 16-yard average record of .9950 that
493-753: The industry, the Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame inducted him as a member in 2001. Emerson and his wife were also recognized for their philanthropic accomplishments. According to Jack Meyer, their pastor at the Heights Church of Christ in Houston, "They financed an orphanage in Hope, Arkansas …, built the Church of Christ at College Station, contributed heavily to the Boles Orphans home at Quinlan, Texas . They sent many girls through
522-460: The name Valdina, he raised, trained, and sent his horses such as Valdina Myth , Valdina Orphan , and Rounders to racetracks all over the country. Called by The New York Times as "one of the largest and most famous racing stables of its time," under trainer Frank Catrone these Thoroughbreds competed head to head with some of the best the American racing world had to offer. Valdina Myth
551-466: The private plane he was in crashed into Rich Mountain , Arkansas . The Producers Oil Company employed Emerson Woodward for eleven years, and during this stretch, he met his lifelong associate, Thomas Peter Lee , who worked for the same firm. Woodward advanced quickly within the organization and received a promotion to assistant superintendent of its southern division, which encompassed the area from New Orleans to El Paso . Later, he helped organize
580-517: The second leg of the American Triple Crown : Master Derby (1975) and War of Will (2019). It has also produced two winners of the Breeders' Cup Classic : Gun Runner and Mucho Macho Man . The event is part of the Road to the Kentucky Derby . Speed record: Margins: Most wins by a jockey : Most wins by a trainer : Most wins by an owner: Risen Star Stakes – Louisiana Derby double: Notes: † Risen Star Stakes
609-661: The tables on Pastourelles in the Louisiana Derby Trial Stakes and Louisiana Derby . More impressive was Risen Star 's campaign in the American Triple Crown events where he won 1988 Preakness Stakes and then the Belmont Stakes by 14 + 1 ⁄ 2 lengths. In 1991 the distance of the event was decreased to one mile. In 2003 the American Graded Stakes Committee classified the event as Grade III . Due to
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#1732791437888638-466: The track renamed the event in honor of Risen Star to the Risen Star Stakes . In 1991 the distance of the event was increased to 1 + 1 ⁄ 16 miles and in 2002 the American Graded Stakes Committee upgraded the race to Grade III . The event was upgraded once more in 2010 to Grade II . The Risen Star Stakes was run in two divisions in 1989, 1993, 1995 and 2020. No winner of
667-424: The winner was 1:40 flat. Navajo received free entry into the Louisiana Derby and finished second to Leo's Pisces. Later that year Navajo ran in the Kentucky Derby and finished seventh to Secretariat . The event as a trial race immediately became a major prep for the Louisiana Derby . In 1975 the event was increased to 1 + 1 ⁄ 16 miles and was won by Master Derby . Master Derby followed up winning
696-471: Was a dead heat between My Request and Caillou Rouge. My Request won and would go on and win the New Orleans Handicap . In 1951 Joe W. Brown's four-year-old filly won the event Thelma Berger as part of his two horse entry in event with Riverlane and to date remains the only filly or mare to have won the event. The 1953 winner Smoke Screen also won the New Orleans Handicap . In 1955 the event
725-555: Was an oilman who co-founded the Yount-Lee Oil Company which made a major discovery at the Spindletop field near Beaumont, Texas . In 1935, Woodward and partners sold the company to Standard Oil & Gas for $ 46 million. He was born at Podunk, New York to William W. and Ida May LaGrange Woodward. Because his father made his living in the oil business in its earliest days at Titusville, Pennsylvania , Emerson wanted to follow in his footsteps. After receiving an early education in
754-610: Was not broken or tied until 1965, some thirty-two years later. After the Yount-Lee sale, Emerson Woodward announced, "Well, I sold the last of my oil interests today. I've got nothing to do but fool with horses." He kept his word, retired from the oil business and spent much of his time occupied with the sport of the kings . During the late 1930s and early 1940s, on his ranch, Valdina Farms , spanning 18,127 acres (73.36 km ) located in both Uvalde and Medina Counties in Texas, hence
783-466: Was programmed as a preparatory race for the Fair Grounds signature event for older horses, the New Orleans Handicap which in the era was scheduled one or two weeks after this race with the place getters receiving automatic entry. In 1945 the event was not held due to World War II . In 1948 the eight-year-old Jack S. L. became the first two time winner of the event. In 1949 the result of the event
812-483: Was run as the LeComte Handicap with reference to the correct name of the famous horse. In 1961 one of Fair Grounds' favorite horses Mrs. Joe W. Brown's Tenacious won the event for the third straight time. In 1958 Tenacious finished third as the 11/10 favorite to the two time winner Speed Rouser, but would go on and win the New Orleans Handicap . In 1959 Tenacious set a new track record of 1:43 flat for
841-472: Was the 1940 two-year-old-fillies earnings Champion and the 1941 Kentucky Oaks winner. Valdina Orphan, with jockey Carroll Bierman aboard, won 1942 Derby Trial Stakes then ran third in the Kentucky Derby . Irish bred Rounders won several top races in the United States including the 1942 Arlington Handicap in which he beat the great Triple Crown champion, Whirlaway . For his contributions to
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