It’s fair to say that when Carpis debuted Dec. 9 at Fair Grounds, a talented Louisiana-bred 2-year-old slipped through the cracks. Carpis, ridden by Erica Murray, broke alertly, set a strong pace, and never wavered, coming home a 2 1/4-length winner of a Louisiana-bred maiden sprint. Carpis ran six furlongs in 1:10.94 and earned an 83 Beyer Speed Figure, one of only two juvenile maiden winners this meet, Louisiana-bred or otherwise, to hit a number that high. All that, and Carpis paid $70.40 to win. “I don’t know how he got off at such a big price,” said Sam David, who trains Carpis for his breeder, Spring Run Thoroughbred Stable. “I knew this horse could run a little bit. He’d been working well, training good. Now, he wasn’t training as good as he ran. It’s better like that than the other way around.” If Carpis comes close to repeating his debut performance, he’ll win the $100,000 colts and geldings division of the Louisiana Futurity on Sunday. With Murray named to ride him back, Carpis is among seven entrants in the six-furlong contest and was made the 5-2 morning-line favorite, though it’s easy to see him going off at a considerably lower price. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. A powerful first race can sap a young horse physically, and some sharp, speedy debut winners become too aggressive after running as fast as they can for the first time in their life. David has seen nothing to suggest Carpis, a son of leading Louisiana stallion Star Guitar, isn’t the same horse he was earlier this month. “He came out of the race super, physically and mentally. He’s always had a good mind on him and never made mistakes in the morning,” David said. Wish Carefully, runner-up behind Carpis, was making his third start after facing restricted maiden special weight rivals in Kentucky. He returned to finish second on Dec. 23 in another Louisiana-bred maiden sprint but there ran into a very live Steve Asmussen-trained first-time starter named Autie. David believes Carpis can rate off another horse if required, but that seems unlikely. Drawn in post 5, Carpis got a ridiculously high 131 TimeformUS early pace figure in his race, and if the number is a true marker, no one is beating him to the lead. With four wins from six starts and earnings of more than $216,000, Strong Promise easily is the race’s most accomplished entrant. But while it was easy to excuse an odds-on flop Nov. 10 racing two turns over a sloppy Delta Downs strip, Strong Promise had no apparent excuse finishing an uninspiring sixth Dec. 9 as the 2-1 favorite in the Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile. Another flashy maiden winner, Freeburn, should be favored in the $100,000 fillies’ division of the Louisiana Futurity, also carded for six furlongs but with 10 entrants. Trained by Asmussen, Freeburn finished third debuting in a Nov. 5 Churchill Downs maiden race. Halina’s Forte, the winner, returned with a close second in the $215,000 Fern Creek Stakes, while runner-up Silver Rose, just a nose in front of Freeburn, ran back Dec. 9 and beat 11 in an Oaklawn Park maiden. Freeburn comfortably cleared the maiden ranks facing fellow Louisiana-breds on Dec. 10, going fast enough to win by almost three lengths but not so fast that she can’t run back to or improve upon the performance Sunday. Her chief rivals are Clearly a Test and Guitar Solo, respectively second and third in the Champions Day Lassie. Clearly a Test was 1 1/2 lengths better on the day, but Guitar Solo set a fast pace while starting only nine days after winning her debut by more than 14 lengths at Delta Downs, earning a field-best 83 Beyer. Legalize points to Lecomte Legalize, who won the Dec. 23 Sugar Bowl Stakes over six furlongs by 2 3/4 lengths following a second-start seven-furlong maiden victory at Churchill Downs, will try to stretch his speed to 1 1/16 miles in the Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 20. “There aren’t a lot of good options for him right now, so we’re going to try and stretch him out,” said Cherie DeVaux, who trains Legalize. Legalize is by Constitution out of Allez Marie, by Unbridled’s Song. Constitution gets plenty of route horses, but Legalize’s fastest siblings were sprinters. His dam made four starts in Brazil, where she was campaigned as a miler. Legalize could face, among others, Track Phantom, who set a fast pace and won the Gun Runner Stakes on the same card as the Sugar Bowl. ◗ Bobby Kelly, a longtime jockey’s agent and former assistant trainer, died Dec. 26 at 64. Kelly’s death was confirmed by fellow agent Richie Price, who said no services are scheduled, but that a celebration of Kelly’s life might be held Jan. 8. Kelly was an assistant to trainer Louie Roussel before becoming an agent. He was booking mounts for C.J. McMahon at the current Fair Grounds meet. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.