War of Will scored an easy win last month in the Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds, but he won’t have it easy in the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 16 after drawing post 14 when an overflow field of 3-year-olds was entered Saturday at Fair Grounds.

Gun It is on the also-eligible list for the 1 1/16-mile Risen Star. The main body of the field, from the rail out, consists of Plus Que Parfait (Julien Leparoux), Roiland (James Graham), Mr. Money (Gabriel Saez), Chase the Ghost (Mitchell Murrill), Henley’s Joy (Manny Franco), Hog Creek Hustle (Florent Geroux), Manny Wah (Channing Hill), Owendale (Shaun Bridgmohan), Country House (Luis Saez), Limonite (Brian Hernandez), Dunph (Jose Ortiz), Frolic More (Corey Lanerie), Kingly (Drayden Van Dyke), and War of Will (Tyler Gaffalione). Gun It, who needs a defection to draw in, has Ricardo Santana named.

War of Will, a War Front colt trained by Mark Casse, didn’t make his dirt debut until his fifth start, won that maiden race last November at Churchill by five lengths, and came back about two months later to capture the Lecomte by four lengths in a visually impressive performance.

Since 1980 there have been 2,492 dirt races over 1 1/16 miles run at Fair Grounds but only four had as many as 14 entrants. No horse breaking from post 14 earned a top three placing and post 13 has produced one winner from 14 starters. But post 12 is 28-393 in the win category, a 7-percent strike rate comparable to the 8-percent that 1,668 horses breaking from post 8 have produced the last 38-plus years. So maybe War of Will’s isn’t a hopeless task – but his connections surely would’ve preferred something more similar.

War of Will was one of several Risen Star entrants to work Saturday, going a half-mile at Fair Grounds in 47.20 seconds.

Hog Creek Hustle finished second in the Lecomte, while Manny Wah was third and wound up in the Risen Star despite trainer Wayne Catalano contemplating passing the race.

Bob Baffert entered Kingly, who would be his first Fair Grounds starter since the 2013 – 2014 season provided Baffert follows through with shipping the horse after drawing post 13. Kingly has a win and a second from two starts.

The other out-of-town shippers are Country House, a maiden winner for trainer Bill Mott; and two Mike Maker-trained horses, Dunph and Henley’s Joy. Dunph was third in the Springboard Mile at Remington Last out while Henley’s Joy only has raced on turf in his six-start career.

Set to make his stakes debut is Owendale, a Brad Cox-trained colt who earned this chance with a solid first-level dirt-route allowance win Jan. 17 at Fair Grounds. Limonite, trained like Gun It by Steve Asmussen, makes his 3-year-old debut after finishing his 2-year-old campaign with a solid third in the Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs. That race’s runner-up, Plus Que Parfait, will try to improve upon his even fifth-place Lecomte finish. Mr. Money, fourth last fall in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, had to be scratched sick from the Lecomte the day before the race but is ready now for his seasonal bow.

The Lecomte is the last of 12 races on an excellent Feb. 16 card and is part of the Road to the Kentucky Derby series that will sort out the 20 horses that can start in the Kentucky Derby. The race if worth 85 points distributed 50-20-10-5 to the top four finishers.

Immediately preceding the Risen Star on the card is the Grade 2, $200,000 Rachel Alexandra Stakes, which drew 10 entrants and is a much deeper race than the first this year in the division, the Silverbulletday. Needs Supervision won the Silverbulletday and is back for the Rachel Alexandra, drawing post 9, but faces considerably stronger competition this time. Drawn outside her is the Baffert-trained Chasing Yesterday, who won the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes in her 2-year-old finale.

From the rail out the other entrants are Molto Bella, Street Band, Serengeti Empress, Positive Spirit, Liora, Oxy Lady, Bell’s The One, and Eres Tu.

Molto Bella won the Gasparilla Stakes at Tampa Bay last out, while Serengeti Empress flopped in the BC Juvenile Fillies following massive victories in the Pocahontas and the Ellis Park Debutante. Positive Spirit won the Grade 2 Demoiselle by more than 10 lengths in her most recent race, while Oxy Lady, fourth in the Starlet, won the Grade 3 Tempted by five last Nov. 2. Bell’s The One has started her career with three sprint wins and tries two turns for the first time.

The Grade 3,$150,000 Fair Grounds Handicap also drew a strong field, with Synchrony the 122-pound high-weight and likely favorite. Tiz A Slam, First Premio, and Combatant lend heft to the supporting cast.

The Louisiana Stakes, the older-male dirt-route race on the Lecomte program, had just a six-horse field, but the Grade 3, $150,000 Mineshaft somehow lured 13 entrants. Harlan Punch, the Louisiana winner, is back, and the other three most prominent entrants all make their 4-year-old debuts following layoffs. Lone Sailor starts for the first time since a sixth-place Breeders’ Cup Classic finish, while Flameaway hasn’t run since the Smarty Jones Stakes in August and Quip, who drew post 13, starts for the first time since finishing well back in the 2018 Preakness.

The stakes races start with the $75,000 Albert Stall Memorial and the $75,000 Colonel Power earlier on the card.