Fulsome goes last to first in Matt Winn Stakes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – If you thought Fulsome could spot the opposition a head start and still win the Grade 3 Matt Winn by open lengths, you’re shrewder than the average horseplayer.

That’s the scenario that unfolded in what resulted in a visually impressive performance Saturday by Fulsome in the Grade 3 Matt Winn, the anchor of a busy Stephen Foster Preview Day card at Churchill Downs. Ridden by Florent Geroux, the rangy bay colt sped past O Besos leaving the eighth pole en route to a 3 3/4-length triumph in the 24th running of the Matt Winn, stamping himself as yet another top 3-year-old in the Brad Cox barn.

“I wasn’t worried when he broke a step slowly because sometimes that’s the way he is, and it looks like he doesn’t mind taking some dirt in his face and coming off the pace,” Geroux said. “I was just hoping they were going quick enough in front of me.”

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Fulsome was last of the seven 3-year-olds down the backstretch in the 1 1/16-mile race when Geroux decided to follow O Besos, who was launching a menacing move outside the front-runners entering the far turn. O Besos proceeded to take over from front-runners Helium and Game Day Play after swinging for home, but he had no answer for Fulsome in the final furlong.

“When I tipped him out at the quarter-pole, he was about to show me a nice turn of foot,” Geroux said. “He swallowed up those horses pretty easy.”

Fulsome, a Juddmonte Farms homebred by the red-hot Into Mischief, returned $5.40 as a slight favorite after finishing in 1:42.88 over a fast track. This was his third straight victory, and the fourth from his last five starts, with a win in the May 1 Oaklawn Stakes marking his previous start.

O Besos, fifth in the May 1 Kentucky Derby in his last start, had to settle for second as the 19-10 second choice, another 1 1/4 lengths before Helium, the eighth-place Derby finisher.

Cox already has Mandaloun and Essential Quality, the respective second- and fourth-place Derby finishers, in his powerhouse stable at Churchill. Mandaloun, another Juddmonte homebred, is being pointed to a pair of Monmouth Park races, the Pegasus and Haskell, while Essential Quality will be one of the favorites next Saturday in the Belmont Stakes.

Fulsome, said Cox, had trained brilliantly out of the Oaklawn race. “We were confident in him,” he said. “He got off a step slow, but he really finished up fast today and was impressive doing so.”

The $2 exacta (5-3) paid $15.80, the $1 trifecta (5-3-2) returned $16.90, and the 10-cent superfecta (5-3-2-4) was worth $11.61.

The Matt Winn was one of seven stakes on an 11-race card run amid unseasonably chilly conditions for late May.