Coach Inge outbattles V. E. Day in Brooklyn

ELMONT, NY – Coach Inge made his first start in a stakes race, first start beyond nine furlongs, and still came out a game winner of the Grade 2, $400,000 Brooklyn Invitational, beating V. E. Day by a neck in an strongly run race Saturday at Belmont Park..

V. E. Day, rallying from near the back of the field, took a narrow lead over forwardly placed Coach Inge with about a furlong to run, but Coach Inge battled back in deep stretch.

Trained by Todd Pletcher for owner Mike Repole and ridden by John Velazquez, Coach Inge was left in New York over the winter to race on the Aqueduct inner dirt track. The 4-year-old Coach Inge improved mildly in his third through sixth races, but really came around when Pletcher began racing him without blinkers, and Coach Inge was gelded. After a good first-level allowance win, Coach Inge took a step back, then came forward April 22 and won a nine-furlong allowance race by more than 12 lengths, earning a 104 Beyer Speed Figure and a Brooklyn start.

“Just kind of had a feeling he would handle the mile and a half, so we’ve kind of been targeting this for a while,” Pletcher said. “I tell you it was a heck of a horse race.”

V. E. Day, the 2014 Travers winner, got back to good form after returning from a winter break with a sixth-place finish in the Fort. Marcy on grass. Under Javier Castellano, he moved sharply into contention before the quarter pole, appeared to be poised to go onto victory, but was repelled by Coach Inge.

“I had a great trip,” said Castellano. “I was just second best today.”

The Coach Inge camp had planned to go to the lead, but Call Me George ran hard to the front and Coach Inge wound up stalking in the clear, the opening quarter-mile going in a swift 23.62 seconds, but the half in a more temperate 49.20. The pace was at least decent, but Coach Inge had plenty left for the finish, getting his last quarter-mile in 23.96, strong for a 12-furlong dirt race, for a final time of 2:27.17.

“For that kind of race, they were finishing,” Pletcher said. “It was a very legitimate-run race. You have the Travers winner come up to you, but you could see [Coach Inge] dug in and fought.”

By Big Brown and out of the Holy Bull mare Touch too Much, Coach Inge, bred by Paul Pompa and purchased at auction for $150,000, won for the fourth time in 10 starts. He paid $7.90 to win as the narrow favorite over Effinex. Effinex was eased in upper stretch after bolting to the outside fence on the second turn. Jockey Angel Arroyo said Effinex had been trying to get out the entire race.

“He’s never done that before,” Arroyo said.