Clearly Unhinged makes quick work of Winning Colors rivals

The trainer Steve Asmussen came to the Churchill Downs meeting this spring with a strong hand in the older filly-and-mare dirt sprint division. He has played it perfectly.

Zeitlos won the $200,000 Roxelana Stakes on April 27. She qualified for a $140,000 turf allowance May 24. The race was rained off. Zeitlos won.

Zeitlos has nothing on Clearly Unhinged. Purchased privately after a third-place finish Dec. 26 in the Grade 1 La Brea, Clearly Unhinged made her first start for Asmussen on April 30, winning, like Zeitlos, a rich turf allowance race rained onto dirt. And three days after Zeitlos knocked out her second win in a month, Clearly Unhinged got hers, turning in a powerhouse performance to capture the Grade 3, $250,000 Winning Colors Stakes by 1 1/2 lengths.

A master class in training and management.

Clearly Unhinged held safe favored runner-up Dazzling Blue through the final furlong despite racing on a wicked pace. Breaking sharply, she was outrun to her inside by B G Warrior, who tore through a quarter-mile in 21.02 seconds, Cleary Unhinged hot on her heels. B G Warrior called it an afternoon before even getting to the turn, Clearly Unhinged racing solo through a half-mile in a testing 44.34.

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It’s not just that Clearly Unhinged was running so fast – she also was running so easily. Jockey Joel Rosario never moved his hands until the filly turned into the stretch, began encouraging her approaching the three-sixteenths pole, and urged his mount strongly at the furlong grounds. But Rosario didn’t even cock his stick until the sixteenth pole: One tap and Clearly Unhinged was home.

The 4-year-old filly stopped the timer in 1:09.69 for six furlongs over a fast track, paying $6 as the well-bet second choice. Dazzling Blue, who rallied wide, was up for second by 1 1/4 lengths over Unsung Melody, a 56-1 shot. The other horses anywhere near the lead were nowhere to be found.

Asmussen trains Clearly Unhinged for John Sikura’s Hill ‘n’ Dale Equine Holdings and Jarret Prussin, who bought the filly from her breeder, Rock Brothers Breeding. By Into Mischief out of Smart Win, by Smart Strike, Clearly Unhinged was shipped from California to Saratoga last summer and missed winning the Grade 1 Test by a head. She may he headed toward the top of the filly and mare sprint ranks this year, too.

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