Seeking the Soul up in time to take Stephen Foster

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez and trainer Dallas Stewart flaunted their big-game skills once again Saturday night when Seeking the Soul rallied to win the most important post-Kentucky Derby event of the Churchill Downs spring meet, the Stephen Foster.

Velazquez and Stewart have teamed on numerous occasions to win major races in recent years with Seeking the Soul, Unbridled Forever, and the 2017 champion mare, Forever Unbridled. The 38th running of the Grade 2, $600,000 Foster, run under the Churchill lights, was more of the same, with Velazquez giving Seeking the Soul a flawless ride when guiding him from several lengths off the pace to a neck victory over Quip.

Bred and owned by Charles Fipke, Seeking the Soul paid $11.20 as third choice in a field of 12 horses after finishing the 1 1/8-mile distance in 1:49.27 over a fast track. The winner’s share of $345,960 lifts his career bankroll to $3,335,802.

Quip, a 13-1 shot under Florent Geroux, was another 1 3/4 lengths before front-running Tom’s d’Etat, the 9-2 second choice who held grimly to be third. It was another 5 3/4 lengths back to Gift Box, the 2-1 favorite.

Seeking the Soul, fifth for much of the trip, typically comes from farther back.

“As soon as I broke out of there and got into the first turn, he was a little more aggressive than I wanted him to be,” said Velazquez, a two-time Kentucky Derby-winning jockey. “He’s never been that close in the first part of the race. But I got him back to where I wanted him to be, got comfortable where he was, and then down the stretch, pulling out, he had it.”

Stewart, based at Churchill for most of the year, could not stop grinning in the winner’s circle.

“This horse is so special to our entire barn,” he said. “With family and friends here tonight, this is as good as it gets.”

The Foster is a Win and You’re In event toward the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup Classic. “We will definitely be in the Breeders’ Cup Classic this year,” said Stewart.

This was the first time the Foster was not run as a handicap, as Gift Box carried highweight of 125 pounds under allowance conditions and Seeking the Soul toted 121. It was also the first time the Foster was run as a Grade 2 since being downgraded last fall; it had been a Grade 1 since 2002.

On a warm, breezy night, and before a crowd of 19,481, Tom’s d’Etat set fractions of 24.60 seconds, 49.43, and 1:13.44 when dogged from the outside by Quip. Down the stretch, as those two pulled away from the others, Velazquez angled out Seeking the Soul from his midpack trip for the drive, and the horse responded willingly under right-handed urging.

Seeking the Soul now has won seven times from 27 starts, with his best prior races resulting in a victory in the Grade 1 Clark at Churchill in 2017 and a runner-up effort behind City of Light in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup in January. He had been a distant third in his previous start in the May 3 Alysheba at Churchill, which followed an eighth-place finish in the Dubai World Cup.

After the top four, the order was Thirstforlife, Yoshida, Exulting, Runaway Ghost, Tenfold, King Zachary, Alkhaatam, and Rated R Superstar.

The $2 exacta (4-10) paid $122, the $1 trifecta (4-10-9) returned $377.50, and the 10-cent superfecta (4-10-9-6) was worth $132.06.

The Foster was one of five graded stakes for Thoroughbreds (plus one for Arabians) on a Downs After Dark card that also included the traditional presentation of engraved trophies to the connections of the Kentucky Derby winner. Bill Mott, the trainer of Country House, was on hand to accept his trophy following the third race, as were ownership partners Guinness McFadden and the Roth family of LNJ Foxwoods.