Multimillionaires Hit Show, Brilliant Berti to Open 2026 Campaigns at Fair Grounds

Multimillionaires Hit Show and Brilliant Berti were slated to kick off their 2026 campaigns on Louisiana Derby Preview Day, Feb. 1, at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, headlining a stacked undercard of graded stakes for older horses. The moves add star power to New Orleans’ lead-up to the Risen Star card and reshape wagering dynamics for the winter meet.

The Mineshaft Stakes, a Grade 3 with a $250,000 purse run at 1 1/16 miles, drew seven males and listed Hit Show as the 9-5 morning-line favorite. The 6-year-old trained by Brad Cox for Wathnan Racing arrives off a decorated 2025 campaign that included a victory in the Louisiana Stakes (G3) and a headline-making triumph in the Dubai World Cup (G1) at Meydan, where he rallied from off the pace to defeat Mixto. Hit Show’s reputation as a late runner and a Kentucky Derby alumnus frames him as a closing factor in a compact, competitive field.

The principal threat in the Mineshaft is Accelerize, a rising 4-year-old colt owned by Spendthrift Farm and Repole Stable and trained by Todd Pletcher. Accelerize, 4-1 on the morning line with John Velazquez named to ride, has won three of four career starts and enters off a hard-fought Louisiana Stakes performance in which he set a pressured pace, was headed, and battled back to edge odds-on Just a Touch by a neck. With Hit Show’s late kick and Accelerize’s pace presence, the Mineshaft sets up as a classic speed-versus-stalker puzzle for handicappers and trainers alike. The race is scheduled as Race 9 of 12 and opens an all-graded-stakes Late Pick 4 that concludes with the Grade 2, $500,000 Fasig-Tipton Risen Star Stakes, amplifying its impact on the day’s pools.

On the turf, the Grade 3 Fair Grounds Stakes presented by Horse Racing Nation at 1 1/8 miles attracted a field of 10 and features Brilliant Berti, a 5-year-old multimillionaire who boasts more than $2.4 million in career earnings and will be making the first start of his 5-year-old campaign. Brilliant Berti’s presence on the lawn elevates the quality of the turf feature and offers turf specialists a marquee target early in the year.

The arrivals of Hit Show and Brilliant Berti matter beyond pedigrees and purses. Hit Show’s international credentials, capped by a Dubai World Cup, underline Fair Grounds’ ability to draw horses with global profiles, while Brilliant Berti’s bankroll signals durability and top-level turf form. For local business and handle, those names bring attention and increased wagering interest to an undercard already structured to funnel bettors into the Late Pick 4 and Risen Star pools.

Officials have not published full post positions or confirmed jockey engagements for Hit Show or the connections for Brilliant Berti in the materials released. Final entries, paddock confirmations, and official field charts will determine how trainers deploy tactics and how bettors shape tickets. For now, handicappers and racing fans can mark the Mineshaft-Fair Grounds Stakes sequence as a high-stakes launching pad for older horses and an early barometer for who will carry momentum into the Gulf Coast spring stakes season.