Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Colebrook reveling in moment
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Plenty of folks around Keeneland have known Ben Colebrook since he was a kid, so you might say his first Grade 1 win as a trainer coming at his home track was a pretty big deal.
“I just got done responding to all my messages,” a smiling Colebrook said Sunday afternoon in the aftermath of the stunning 70-1 upset by Knicks Go in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity here Saturday. “It’s still kind of sinking in. It was all pretty surreal.”
Knicks Go won by 5 1/2 lengths in wire-to-wire fashion, putting an abrupt stop to what Colebrook suspected might be an agonizing fall meet. Some 24 hours earlier, his stable star Limousine Liberal encountered an absolutely brutal trip when finishing a close third in the Grade 2 Phoenix.
“It was a bad day Friday and I was wondering how the meet was going to go,” said Colebrook, 40. “I thought [Knicks Go] could run a decent race, but I never thought he’d blow it wide open the way he did.”
While his father, John, managed several Thoroughbred farms in the Blue Grass region, Colebrook attended school in Lexington and nearby Versailles before moving to Shelby County, Ky., during his high school years. He returned to Lexington in his late teens and has worked on local farms and the racetrack since then, moving away only when he served as an assistant for about four years to Christophe Clement. He went out on his own late in 2012 and has seen his numbers rise steadily. He won 45 races in both 2016 and 2017. He already has surpassed his career-high stable earnings for a year with more than $2.3 million in 2018.
The Breeders’ Futurity also was the first Grade 1 win for jockey Albin Jimenez and just his second in a graded event, following Lady Fog Horn in the 2016 Falls City at Churchill Downs.
Emotional victory for Correas
Ignacio Correas hit a low point in early 2015 after parting ways with Sagamore Farm, the Maryland breeding and racing operation for which he served as private trainer for several years. So when Blue Prize gave him his first Grade 1 victory in North America by winning the Spinster here on Sunday, Correas – a former leading trainer in his native Argentina – was elated beyond words.
“This means a lot,” said Correas, 58. “It’s been a tough road, for me and my family, but we all believed in ourselves and thank this great country that gives us opportunities to thrive if you work hard and you try.”
Correas, whose goodhumored demeanor has made him particularly popular with fellow horsemen and the racing media, has made steady gains in his numbers and clientele while based primarily in Kentucky for nearly four years now. By training such standouts as Blue Prize, Dona Bruja, and Kasaqui in the last few years, he has overcome the deep disappointment he experienced when having no choice but to regroup and rebuild following his Sagamore departure. “They have built me,” he said. Correas said that Dona Bruja, beaten just a head in the Grade 1 First Lady here on Saturday, will not run in the Breeders’ Cup and will be pointed instead to the Grade 1 Matriarch on Dec. 2 at Del Mar. Her narrow defeat, combined with a just-miss loss by Ready and Rich in the final race Saturday, had Correas shaking his head early Sunday, but all those regrets were washed away by the Spinster result.
“This is great, just great,” he said.
Insta Erma fine after stumble
The first couple of steps for Insta Erma in the First Lady on Saturday produced perhaps the most vivid images of opening weekend at Keeneland. Somehow, some way, Tyler Gaffalione stayed aboard the 5-year-old mare when she stumbled badly out of post 1.
No other horses were affected, and although she was never a serious factor at 23-1, Insta Erma persisted to finish a decent sixth of nine, beaten just 3 1/4 lengths. She came out of the race no worse for wear, according to Aimee Dollase, assistant to trainer Richard Baltas.
“Credit to her for still trying the way she did,” said Dollase.
Things went much better a little later in the day for Baltas, who upset the $1 million Shadwell Turf Mile with another 23-1 shot, Next Shares.
No shortage of longshots
Although favorites won nine of the first 31 races (29 percent) at this meet – including Promises Fulfilled ($3.40), Restless Rider ($4.60), and Bucchero ($8.40) in FallStars Weekend stakes – longshots had their say, too.
Besides Next Shares ($48.80) and Knicks Go ($142), other pricey winners in the first three days of racing included Fun Paddy ($110.60) and She’s a Lucky One ($67.20) on Friday. In all, there were six winners at double-digit odds, and 13 of the 31 winners went off 7-1 or higher.
◗ Keeneland officials said Saturday handle of $619,106 in the late pick five and $742,450 in the late pick four both are track records for those respective wagers.