Richard high on maiden winner Unexplained

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It was only a maiden race, and the winning Beyer Speed Figure was only a 66.

Still, “it was a lot of fun watching him make that big move down the stretch,” trainer Chris Richard said of a 2-year-old colt named Unexplained.

In what was arguably the most visually impressive effort on an eventful Stars of Tomorrow program Sunday at Churchill Downs, Unexplained rallied from last of 10 in a seven-furlong race to win his career debut by four lengths.

“From nowhere!” is partly how Churchill race-caller Travis Stone explained it.

Unexplained, a dark bay by Ghostzapper, is owned by the Midwest Thoroughbreds of Richard and Karen Papiese, the Chicago couple who bred and own such standouts as Work All Week and The Pizza Man and are on the verge of leading all North American owners in wins for the sixth straight year.

Unexplained will be pointed to a one-mile allowance on the second Stars of Tomorrow program of the 21-day fall meet on Nov. 28, said Richard.

“He’s a really neat colt,” said Richard. “The only thing is he has very little gate speed. He breaks fine – he just doesn’t go anywhere. He always indicated the farther he went, the better he’d be.”

Richard also was the trainer of Mo Tom, the winner of the non-graded Street Sense Stakes on Sunday, but that Uncle Mo colt has returned to the shed row of Tom Amoss, who this week completed a 45-day suspension stemming from a medication violation in Indiana. Mo Tom will run next in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes on Nov. 28.

Richard, a former assistant to Amoss, said he “took over the stable completely [for Amoss] for 45 days” while also training his own horses.

“All of the employees went on my payroll and my workmen’s comp, and I was the one communicating with the owners,” said Richard. “Obviously, Tom and I train for two similar clients,” Midwest Thoroughbreds and Maggi Moss, “so that made it a little easier.”

Richard, a graduate of Texas A&M University, said he now has about 10 horses each for Midwest and Moss, along with horses for other clients. Through last weekend, his career record at Churchill was 42 for 129 (33 percent), although it wasn’t until the 2013 September meet that he began running substantial numbers here.

◗ Norm Casse, son of and assistant to trainer Mark Casse, told Churchill publicity this week that the stable might run two of its Breeders’ Cup horses back in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes: Airoforce, second in the BC Juvenile Turf, and Conquest Big E, eighth in the BC Juvenile.