The Grass Is Blue outruns Coffee Bar in Busanda Stakes

It remains to be seen what class level The Grass Is Blue will ultimately attain, but one thing that seems certain is her success will come in races going long.

On Sunday, The Grass Is Blue was doing her best running in the last furlong of the $100,000 Busanda Stakes at Aqueduct, a 1 1/8-mile race she won by one length over Coffee Bar. It was five lengths back to Diamond Ore. Traffic Lane and Wonderwall completed the order of finish.

The Grass Is Blue, who was coming off a third-place finish in the Anne Arundel Stakes at Laurel last month, was equipped with blinkers for the first time in the Busanda. A bit headstrong early under Manny Franco, The Grass Is Blue seemed to settle down traveling down the backside while in third, chasing Traffic Lane and Coffee Bar, the two fillies trained by Todd Pletcher, through a half-mile in 49.73 seconds.

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Approaching the three-sixteenths pole, Franco was able to maneuver The Grass Is Blue to the outside and, though it took her a few strides to get going, The Grass is Blue ultimately ran by Coffee Bar, who had taken a brief lead from Traffic Lane in midstretch.

The Grass Is Blue, a daughter of Broken Vow owned by Louis Lazzinaro and trained by Chad Brown, covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:54.90 and returned $5.50 as the favorite.

“With the blinkers first time, I knew she was going to take me there,” Franco said. “I just wanted to give her a breather at some point during the race and that’s why I stayed inside. When the time came, I tipped out and she just accelerated. She got the distance really well.”

Franco, who was riding The Grass Is Blue for the first time, noted Brown also changed bits to a ring bit to give the rider more control.

Lazzinaro purchased the The Grass Is Blue privately last summer after he watched on television from his Saratoga restaurant the filly win her debut in a maiden $25,000 claiming race at Monmouth Park by 8 1/2 lengths.

Lazzinaro said he noticed the horse broke bad, then the next time he looked at the television The Grass Is Blue had circled the field to win going away.
He said he watched the race with bloodstock agent Steve Young, who made an offer to buy the horse the next day.

“It looks like she could run,” Lazzinaro said Sunday.

The Busanda was worth 10 qualifying points toward the April 30 Kentucky Oaks. She’ll likely have to improve to be considered for a race like that, but on a chilly day in January she was fast enough.