Colloquial to bypass Triple Crown for one-turn options

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though Colloquial ran the fastest Beyer Speed Figure earned by a 3-year-old this year, his connections are not looking to make him into a Kentucky Derby candidate.

Colloquial, who earned a 106 Beyer for his seven-length romp at Aqueduct in a 6 1/2-furlong maiden race last Friday, will return to trainer George Weaver’s South Florida base at Palm Beach Downs this week and will likely be kept at one-turn races at least through the first half of the year.

Weaver said that a race like the Grade 1 Woody Stephens at seven furlongs on June 7 at Saratoga is a mid-year target and it’s just a matter of coming up with a plan to get there. Races like the $400,000 Lafayette at Keeneland on April 4 or the $150,000 Bay Shore at Aqueduct on April 19 will be considered. Weaver ruled out wheeling the horse back on March 1 in the Grade 3 Gotham, saying it would be too quick back.

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“I don’t think any of us are in a hurry to make him into a two-turn, Triple Crown horse,” Weaver said Monday morning. “We just broke our maiden, we’ll take it a race at a time.”

Colloquial is a son of Vekoma, who Weaver trained to win the Grade 1 Blue Grass at 1 1/8 miles as a 3-year-old prior to finishing 14th in the 2019 Kentucky Derby. At 4, Vekoma won the then-Grade 1 Carter and the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, both one-turn races.

Last Friday, Colloquial made his first start since June, when he was beaten a nose by Mentee in a race where a track record was established for five furlongs. Colloquial showed some areas of concern during a pre-sale exam that led to the horse being sidelined.

“You don’t really know what they’re running against,” Weaver said. “We were excited about the horse. Off of that first race he had a reputation, we were just hoping he jumped up and looks somewhat close to what we thought he could when he ran first time out. Anytime a horse runs that fast those numbers make him a serious contender in any race. Now he’s got to do it in a big race.”

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