Encino still has room for improvement off Lexington win

The late-blooming Encino still has room for development as he eyes the spring classics, trainer Brad Cox and jockey Florent Geroux both said following the colt’s win in the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland.

Encino, who has shipped from Keeneland to Cox’s base at Churchill Downs, set the pace in the Lexington and turned back The Wine Steward for a three-quarter-length win. The Godolphin homebred was making just his fourth career start, first on dirt, and first in a graded stakes race.

“Mentally, he’s not all there yet, and that’s okay,” Cox said. “I think there’s some room for improvement. Florent said he raced a little green on and off . . . but he finished up. Most Godolphin horses relish a route of ground, and he did.”

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Encino came to Cox’s Kentucky assistant, Tessa Walden, in October, and was based with her at Turfway Park over the winter, making his first three starts on the Tapeta, all around two turns. After finishing second by a neck after a tardy start on debut, he won a maiden race, then the John Battaglia Memorial on March 2.

Encino controlled the Lexington, in which he earned a career-best 94 Beyer Speed Figure, from the outset, but the trip wasn’t as straightforward as it looked as he came off and on the bridle while unchallenged in the early going.

“He was beginning to shut off a little bit up the backside,” Cox said. “Florent had some positive things to say about him – said he was green, still learning. He thinks there’s a tremendous amount of improvement he could do mentally moving forward.”

Geroux was happy when The Wine Steward came to him, giving his colt something to focus on.

“I think that’s what he needed because he was getting a little lost out there on his own,” Geroux said. “But he had plenty left in the tank, the dirt felt great, and it looks like added distance shouldn’t be a problem for him.”

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