Trainer Brad Cox has won the first three Fair Grounds stakes races leading to the Louisiana Derby and will have three chances to win the Louisiana Derby itself.  Cox won the Gun Runner in December with Jace’s Road, the Lecomte in January with Instant Coffee, and the Risen Star in February with Angel of Empire. Angel of Empire is headed to the Arkansas Derby, while Cox entered Jace’s Road and Instant Coffee as well as Tapit’s Conquest when entries were taken Saturday for the March 25 Louisiana Derby.  A dozen names passed the entry box late Saturday morning for the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby, contested over 1 3/16 miles. The race is the 12th of 15 on the second-to-last day of a race meeting that began Nov. 18.  :: Bet the races on DRF Bets! Sign up with code WINNING to get a $250 Deposit Match, $10 Free Bet, and FREE DRF Formulator.  Instant Coffee, who drew post 2, likely will be favored under Luis Saez. Winner of the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs in November, Instant Coffee rallied steadily to annex the 1 1/16-mile Lecomte on Jan. 21 and was going away from runner-up Two Phil's at the finish. Confidence Game didn’t run his best race in the Lecomte but at least to some extent validated the race’s form when he returned to capture the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn.  Jace’s Road wired the Gun Runner on Dec. 26, and runner-up Raise Cain returned to win the Gotham Stakes by open lengths. Jace’s Road ran poorly at Oaklawn in the Southwest Stakes, but that race was run over a sloppy surface, and this is a colt who appears to hate a wet track.  Tapit’s Conquest hasn’t won this Fair Grounds meet but ran well to finish second in a first-level allowance on Jan. 21 and was a decent fourth, looking like a horse a race away from his best, in the Risen Star.   Jace’s Road drew post 11 and will be ridden by Florent Geroux, who previously had ridden Tapit’s Conquest. Tapit’s Conquest breaks from post 9 under new jockey Manny Franco.   Two other trainers have multiple entrants. Kenny McPeek runs Sun Thunder (post 4, Brian Hernandez Jr.) and Denington (post 10, Junior Alvarado), the former an improved second in the Risen Star, the latter a winner of a tough first-level allowance on the Risen Star undercard. Sun Thunder and Denington recently have been working in company at Fair Grounds. Denington is the more exposed of the pair, and Sun Thunder ought to have greater latitude for improvement.  Steve Asmussen, who won this race last year with Epicenter, runs Disarm and Shoppers Revenge. Disarm (post 5, Joel Rosario) returned from a layoff of more than seven months to finish second on Feb. 19 in a one-mile Oaklawn allowance race. The colt, an eye-catching Saratoga maiden winner in August, should improve coming off a race he needed, and Asmussen believes longer distances will suit Disarm. Shoppers Revenge (post 1, Ricardo Santana Jr.) won an Oaklawn maiden route earlier in the winter and returned to finish second in an entry-level allowance race there.   Todd Pletcher sends Kingsbarns from Florida to make his stakes debut. Kingsbarns, who breaks from post 6 under Flavien Prat, won a one-turn Gulfstream maiden mile in his career debut and was comfortably best facing soft opposition in a Tampa Bay Downs route allowance.   Cagliostro is a Louisiana Derby sleeper. He’s a better horse than the 69 Beyer Speed Figure he earned in winning a Jan. 21 Fair Grounds maiden route, and greenness probably cost him a win over Denington in the first-level allowance last month, when Cagliostro’s Beyer jumped to a 90. Cristian Torres, leading rider at Oaklawn Park, picks up the mount with Hernandez, aboard last time, sticking with Sun Thunder.  Single Ruler, who rallied from 12th to finish an encouraging fifth in the Risen Star, starts from post 8 under new jockey David Cohen. Curly Jack, a disappointing eighth in the Risen Star, his 3-year-old debut, drew post 3 with Edgar Morales named to ride. Baseline Beater, a Feb. 18 maiden route winner, drew post 12 for his first start with other winners and retains the services of Corey Lanerie, who rode Denington last out.  The Fair Grounds Oaks drew a mere five entrants. From the rail out, the field for the Grade 2, $400,00 race is Southlawn, Christian d’Oro, Pretty Mischievous, The Alys Look, and Hoosier Philly.   Pegasus World Cup Invitational winner Art Collector tops the field for the $500,000 New Orleans Classic. The others in this nine-furlong dirt contest are Treasury, West Will Power, Trafalgar, Rattle N Roll, Happy American, Mr. Wireless, and Pioneer of Medina.  Two Emmys will try to win the $300,000 Muniz Memorial for the second year in a row. His nine foes in this nine-furlong grass contest include Atone, last-out winner of the Pegasus World Cup Turf.  ***Confidence Game had his first timed workout Saturday morning at Fair Grounds since he won the Feb. 25 Rebel Stakes. Confidence Game was timed in 50 seconds for a half-mile.  ***Fair Grounds is moving the temporary turf rail from 34 feet, where it’s been since turf racing over a damaged course belatedly began in late December, to 27 feet for the meet’s final week. That expands the maximum number of starters in turf races from eight to 10.  :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.