Calhoun runners sweep first 2-year-old races
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Nobody was better prepared for the opening of Keeneland than Bret Calhoun – unless it was True Saint, whom Calhoun saddled to win the first race of the 16-day spring meet under cloudy skies Friday.
“He came to me the first of December, broke and already turned out,” Calhoun said after True Saint, ridden by Corey Lanerie, won the 4 1/2-furlong race for 2-year-olds by 1 1/4 lengths. “We’ve had him at the Evangeline training center ever since. We’ve been looking forward to coming back to Kentucky, and this was a nice way to get us started on the spring.”
True Saint, a Texas-bred colt bred and owned by Tom Durant, returned $6.80 as second choice after finishing in 52.02 seconds over a fast track. The son of Yes It’s True had to check near the quarter pole when the leader and odds-on favorite Onthewaytonevrland “made the turn better than I thought he was going to,” said Lanerie, who was trying to sneak up the rail.
“It turned out okay, though,” he said.
Fans could hardly be blamed for backing down Onthewaytonevrland to 4-5 favoritism. Since 2007, his trainer, Wesley Ward, had won a remarkable 35 of these baby races at Keeneland spring meets. Ward had entered two horses in each of the two 2-year-old races here Friday, but scratched one in each, and he also has two entered in each 2-year-old race Sunday (races 1 and 3).
“We’ll keep trying,” said Ward.
:: KEENELAND CLOCKER REPORT: Get workout grades and comments for the spring meet
Ward quickly made amends by sending out Kirby’s Penny ($3.60), a 5-year-old mare, to win the second race as a heavy favorite under Jose Ortiz. And then it was Calhoun’s turn to foil Ward and his many backers again, as Shanghaied Roo ($9.20), another Durant homebred, won the other race for 2-year-olds (race 3) under Gabriel Saez while Ward’s 4-5 favorite No Bang No Boom faded to finish third.
A 10-race card opened amid unseasonable chill, with some customers donning overcoats and other winter attire. A wintry mix of rain and snow was forecast overnight into Saturday, when the richest card of the meet was scheduled.
The Grade 3 Transylvania was to be run later Friday as the ninth-race feature over a turf course rated yielding.
