LEXINGTON, Ky. – It took the 3-year-old colt Trouble Calling a few starts – basically his whole 2-year-old season – to truly figure out this racing thing. Friday at Keeneland, in the Lafayette Stakes, it took him a few furlongs to find his footing over a sloppy, laboring track. In the macro sense, things clicked for Trouble Calling over the winter at Fair Grounds. In the Lafayette, it happened with three-eighths of a mile left to race when his rider, Luis Saez, got Trouble Calling to the far outside. “When we went out into the clear, he just started running,” Saez said. Last of seven on the first part of the turn, Trouble Calling rolled into the homestretch with all the momentum, already nearly in front. Oscar’s Hope, who’d stalked the pace and got first run, battled back when Trouble Calling came abreast and fought to the wire, but Trouble Calling wore him down and won by a head. “He finished pretty strong. He’s a nice horse – still learning,” Saez said. :: Keeneland Spring Meet! Get DRF Past Performances, picks, news, and more. Indeed, Trouble Calling might have gotten to the front earlier had he not laid in on Oscar’s Hope at the three-sixteenths pole. “Even today, he was a little green,” said Greg Foley, who trains Trouble Calling for his breeder, Mira Ball’s Donamire Farm. Several horses appeared to struggle badly with the racing surface in the $400,000 Lafayette, restricted to 3-year-olds and contested over seven furlongs. Knock It Off, the 2-1 favorite, was under a ride within a furlong trying to keep up with pacesetting Carson Street. He couldn’t and wound up sixth, beaten 10 lengths, after winning his first two starts. Arctic Beast, a very quick colt, never came close to making the lead, and while fourth, he was beaten seven lengths. Comport, 4-1 third choice, never came close to contention and checked in last. Even drawing clear from the rest of the field, Trouble Calling and Oscar’s Hope were not running fast: Trouble Calling got his last furlong in 13.93, Oscar’s Hope in 13.97. Trouble Calling clocked 1:24.03 and paid $11.40 after taking some late action. Carson Street, cutting back from a series of routes and adding blinkers, broke like a shot and showed far more speed than even trainer Brendan Walsh realized he possessed. He went through the quarter- and half-mile in 21.91 and 44.47 seconds, and even though he required a glacial 40.30 seconds to cover his final three furlongs, he checked in a clear if distant third. Knock It Off and Comport raced closest to the lead, with Oscar’s Hope sitting fourth out in the clear and Trouble Calling spinning his wheels. “I was a little concerned because he was struggling with the track down the backside,” Foley said. Trouble Calling is by Dialed In out of the Into Mischief mare Into Trouble – and what a broodmare she has become. Her first foal to race, Big Trouble, is a stakes-winning 5-year-old mare with a $372,000 bankroll. Four-year-old Troubleshooting, her second foal, is a Grade 1 winner with a $1.7 million bankroll who runs next week in the Grade 1 Maker's Mark Mile. And now, Trouble Calling. Third in his debut last September at Churchill, he was second by a nose over a sloppy Keeneland track in October. He then ran a poor race back at Churchill, and in his first Fair Grounds start, he came second behind Knock It Off. Trouble Calling finally cleared the maiden ranks Feb. 14, leading all the way in a Fair Grounds maiden sprint. Different style Friday, but same result. “He’s acted like a good horse from the first day he came to me,” Foley said. “Just with experience, he’s gotten better and better.” In the Lafayette, Trouble Calling proved just good enough. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.