In Love finds Prairie Bayou's synthetic surface to his liking

In Love, a lukewarm favorite in a full field of 12, made a successful synthetics debut when firing late to win the $97,613 Prairie Bayou at Turfway Park on Saturday in northern Kentucky.

Patiently ridden by leading jockey Gerardo Corrales when saving ground on both turns of the 1 1/16-mile race over Tapeta, In Love appeared destined for a minor placing when bottled up behind rivals before unleashing a fierce run to reel-in Price Talk, who had appeared well on his way to victory with 100 yards to go.

Cellist also surged late to get second, three-quarters of a length behind In Love and a head before Price Talk.

In Love, a Grade 1 winner on turf in 2021, was winning for the first time in six 2022 starts for Bonne Chance Farm and trainer Paulo Lobo. He paid $9.12 after finishing in 1:44.19. The Brazilian-bred 6-year-old gelding was ineligible for his share of substantial bonuses restricted to Kentucky-breds when earning $46,128 and now has bankrolled $865,138 from 20 starts, his biggest score coming in the Grade 1 Keeneland Turf Mile in October 2021.

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“I thought he had a good chance to run as well as he did over the synthetic,” Lobo said. “Gerardo rode a great race.”

The $2 exacta (1-6) paid $100.68, the $1 trifecta (1-6-11) returned $298.28, and the 10-cent superfecta (1-6-11-9) was worth $183.77.

Turfway now will run seven more dates (Dec. 21-23 and 28-31) to end a holiday meet that started Nov. 30. The three-month winter-spring meet then will start with a one-off Sunday card (Jan. 1), reverting to a Wednesday-to-Saturday schedule afterward.

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