WITH the Pegasus World Cup and big money prizes in the Arab states coming up, top-quality racing in the US begins early and the card at Fair Grounds last weekend featured two of the top three-year-olds from last season along with an early trial on the road to the 2022 Kentucky Derby.

Mandaloun and Midnight Bourbon were meeting for the sixth time and the two four-year-olds served up a thriller as they battled down the stretch in the Grade 3 Louisiana Stakes before Juddmonte’s Mandaloun edged away by three-quarters of a length.