Neat overcomes self-created trouble to upset Transylvania

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The 3-year-old colt Neat broke well and headed into the first turn of the Transylvania Stakes on Friday at Keeneland set to pull a favorable trip racing along the rail just behind the speed. That didn’t work out so well.

Neat grabbed the bridle and took off like a bat out of hell, bursting inside the early leader, mouth agape pulling on the bit, bent on running as fast as he possibly could.

The man on his back, Reylu Gutierrez, unlike the horse beneath him, did not lose his head. Pulling firmly on the reins, but not overcorrecting, Gutierrez turned onto the backstretch and gradually brought Neat back to earth. Musical Act, the 7-2 favorite, came alongside Neat and took the lead, Neat eventually settling back into the trip he was supposed to get, behind the speed and tucked along the fence. Circumstances turned against him again in upper stretch. Still somehow full of run, Neat was trapped inside and behind Musical Act. Gutierrez probed an inside run, found nothing, and settled on a split, Neat coming with a rush between tiring Musical Act and hard-trying Cugino, getting his nose down on the wire to win the Grade 3, $400,000 Transylvania by a nose.

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“I give the horse all the credit,” Gutierrez said.

Nah. It was a remarkable ride, one that earned Gutierrez his first Keeneland stakes victory. It was the first Keeneland win of any sort for Rob Atras, who trains Neat for Randy Gullat’s Red White and Blue Racing.

“He gets on the bridle a little too much going into the first turn,” Atras said. “Reylu did a good job getting him to relax. You’ve got to have a lot of confidence in your horse letting horses pass you on the backstretch. I thought it was a very heads-up ride."

Cugino, taking a tough beat, had a tough trip of his own, breaking from post 12 and getting hung wide the first turn. Jockey Javier Castellano, sensing the pace slowing as the field turned into the backstretch, made an early move to position his mount just off Musical Act.

“There seemed to be a lot of speed on paper, but as soon as the gate opened, nobody wanted to go. They were going slow. I used by best judgement, put the horse in the game, try to win the race,” said Castellano.

Almost. It was a close photo, the result taking several minutes to post. Neat by a whisker.

Lagynos, finishing fastest from ninth, ran big in his first grass race in five starts to get third, a half-length behind Cugino and one length in front of fourth place Lord Bullingdon. Neat was timed in 1:44.93 for 1 1/16 miles over a course rated “good” and paid $28.82.

Neat, bred in Kentucky by Hidden Brook Farm and Spruce Lane Farm, is by Constitution out of Orabella, by More Than Ready.

Ironically, Neat won the Texas Turf Mile on Jan. 27, his most recent race, in part because a horse racing in front of him blew the first turn and took out a rival to his outside. That left Neat on an easy lead and enabled a 5 1/2-length victory. In his two previous turf routes, Neat was an easy winner of a Laurel Park maiden and a Fair Grounds allowance.

“Constitutions in general can be a little tricky, a little high strung, but every race he seems to be putting more together, getting more mature physically and mentally,” Atras said. “He had run against some lesser competition and beat them handily. He was going to get tested here. I’m glad he showed up.”

Neat also showed he can overcome difficult circumstances – in this case of his own making. Neat is now in two-turn turf races and will remain in Kentucky with his next race undecided, Atras said, surely hoping it will not be quite such an adventure as Friday’s.

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