It was a horse race and jockey Corey Lanerie was in it so you knew where to look for him.

Lanerie's default tactic is to cleave to the inside rail, and that's where he was again in the $60K Dixie Poker Ace with Trust Factor on Saturday at Fair Grounds. It almost backfired.

Trust Factor had sat a sweet pocket trip inside and just behind the leaders in the one-mile grass race for Louisiana-breds, but after getting up inside pace-setting Morning Mischief at about the three-sixteenths pole, Lanerie and Trust Factor got in a world of trouble when Morning Mischief pushed back toward the inside, bumping Trust Factor, who had nowhere to go other than over the fence, before the eighth pole. Morning Mischief wandered outside leaving enough room for Lanerie and his mount to come through, and after one more momentary tricky spot when the tiring leader came back down, Trust Factor finally was in the clear at the sixteenth pole.

One minor issue: Extra Credit, the 8/5 favorite, had rallied cleanly on the outside and taken a clear lead as Trust Factor fought to get through. Extra Credit had all the momentum, but Trust Factor still ran him down to win by a nose, and was clearly much the best today. Trust Factor, trained by Mike Maker for Scrivener Stables, ran about one mile over firm going in 1:37.93 and paid $6 to win. Morning Mischief held third.