Colloquial takes the heat, prevails in Lafayette

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Colloquial wasn’t where his trainer, George Weaver, expected him to be at the start of the Lafayette Stakes, but he wound up where Weaver hoped he’d be at the end of it.

A surprise early leader, Colloquial staved off sustained pace pressure from Smoken Wicked, edging clear in upper stretch and posting a 2 1/4-length victory in the $400,000 Lafayette, a seven-furlong dirt race for 3-year-olds on Monday at Keeneland.

Colloquial paid just $2.70 to win, his odds-on favoritism based upon a second-start maiden win on Feb. 7 at Aqueduct. That day, Colloquial and jockey Manny Franco stalked the pace from fifth in the early stages. A couple of scratches took some pace out of the Lafayette, and speedy Rolando bobbled at the break and failed to muster his customary early foot. Colloquial, breaking from the inside post, popped out alertly and found himself in front.

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“I always tell my riders that I might have a plan, but they’re the ones out there and they might have to adjust,” Weaver said.

Franco adjusted.

“He broke so sharp, and nobody else went. I didn’t want to take anything away from him,” Franco said.

Smoken Wicked ratcheted up the pressure around the turn, perhaps even poking his head in front between the five-sixteenths marker and the quarter pole before Colloquial found a little more than Smoken Wicked could muster.

“We threw everything at him that we had,” trainer Dallas Stewart said.

Smoken Wicked stayed on solidly for second, 2 1/4 lengths better than Touchy. Rolando finished a well-beaten fourth, followed by Itsmybirthday. Off a half-mile in 44.96 and six furlongs in 1:10.20, Colloquial required 13.20 seconds to complete his final furlong for a time of 1:23.92.

Gunmetal and One True Shance were early scratches. Gate to Wire, who might’ve been second choice, flipped in the paddock and was a late scratch.

Colloquial is by Vekoma, whom Weaver trained, and out of Terminology, by Bernardini. Weaver said he’d like to await the Grade 1, $500,000 Woody Stephens on June 7 at Saratoga.

Colloquial might be a better horse with a target. He was the target in the Lafayette and still hit the mark.

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