Sharp full of praise for half-brother to Rachel Alexandra

As a general rule, it’s a good idea not to get too invested in 2-year-old debut maiden winners, but this is the time of year, as the 2-year-old crop nears its third birthday and the spring classics loom, that that rule often gets broken. And when the debut maiden winner in question is a half-brother to beloved Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra and his trainer says the colt is “one of the nicest horses I’ve sat on in my life,” well, let the silly season begin.

To be clear, when trainer Joe Sharp calls Dolphus one of the nicest horses he’s ridden, he means within the context of 2-year-olds. But Sharp is a former jockey and assistant trainer who still exercises many of the horses he trains. He knows what a good horse feels like, and he said Dolphus has felt like one for a few months.

“Everything he does in the morning has come so easy for him,” said Sharp.

Dolphus, by Lookin At Lucky and out of Lotta Kim, won his debut in the sixth race last Sunday at Fair Grounds by three-quarters of a length. He wasn’t flashy from a visual perspective, and his Beyer Speed Figure of 64 is pedestrian. But Dolphus, Sharp said, is a big, heavy colt obviously meant for two turns. Dolphus broke modestly and raced in midpack while stuck inside, and it wasn’t until jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. showed him daylight past the three-sixteenths pole that Dolphus sparked to life. The best part of his race was the last half-furlong and the gallop-out, and Sharp will waste no time getting Dolphus into a two-turn race, preferably a first-level allowance.

The 2-year-old of note last weekend at Fair Grounds was a filly, and not necessarily the one who won a first-level allowance race. The allowance winner was Midnight On Oconee for trainer Larry Jones, but the second-time starter and maiden winner Lovable Lyss ran faster and looked better while racing about an hour before Midnight On Oconee on Saturday.

Trained and owned by Hugh Robertson, Lovable Lyss came from far back in the homestretch to just miss winning her career debut in an Arlington maiden sprint this past August. On Saturday, she showed good early speed while relaxing just off the pace and went on to win by 3 3/4 lengths. Her raw six-furlong time of 1:11.19 produced a 74 Beyer.

“She’s a pretty nice filly, I hope. She has acted like she could get real speed-crazy, and we’ve been working to get her to relax,” said Robertson. “She’s never looked like she was strictly a sprinter, always finishes strong and gallops out well. I think she’ll be capable of going two turns.”