Un Ojo eyes Blue Grass Stakes after Rebel upset
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Fans of the one-eyed Patch have a new rooting interest on this year’s road to the Kentucky Derby.
The one-eyed Un Ojo emerged from his 75-1 upset in the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel on Saturday in good order and will likely make his next start in the Grade 1, $1 million Blue Grass on April 9 at Keeneland, trainer Ricky Courville said Sunday.
Courville said the Grade 1, $1.25 million Arkansas Derby on April 2 also remains a consideration for the horse, who picked up 50 points for the Kentucky Derby with his half-length victory in the Rebel.
Courville, who trains the horse for Cypress Creek Equine, said Un Ojo was set to leave Oaklawn late morning Sunday and head to his base of Copper Crowne Training Center near Lafayette, La.
“He came back good,” Courville said. “We’re leaning toward the Blue Grass. Cypress Creek, the farm is right there, and everybody can go and enjoy the whole experience right there at Keeneland.”
Courville said final plans are still to be determined. He said he liked the timeframe he would have from the Rebel to the Blue Grass, which is run a week later than the Arkansas Derby.
:: KENTUCKY DERBY 2022: Point standings, prep schedule, news, and more
“I want to freshen him up,” he said.
Un Ojo won his maiden on Nov. 5 at Delta Downs, in a 6 1/2-furlong race run around two turns. Following the start, he was fourth in the track’s $100,000 Jean Lafitte before heading to his native New York and the barn of Tony Dutrow, where he was second by a neck in a division of the New York Stallion Series Stakes on Dec. 18 at Aqueduct. Un Ojo then ran second for the same barn in the track’s Grade 3 Withers on Feb. 5. He returned to this region and Courville’s care for the Rebel.
“It’s kind of bittersweet for Tony,” Courville said. "It's a shared win."
Un Ojo and jockey Ramon Vazquez rode the rail in the Rebel, stalking the pace, moving to the fore, and coming back late to secure the win over Ethereal Road. Un Ojo covered 1 1/16 miles on a track listed as fast in 1:45.69 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 84.
“It looked like he was just going to be third,” Courville said. “When they crossed the tracks where the gates were, Ramon just kind of picked him up and he hit another gear.
“Coming off the mile and an eighth in the Withers, he came from last in that race, so he was fit.”
Courville was unable to make the Rebel in person as he has been caring for his wife, jockey Ashley Broussard, who is recuperating from a recently broken leg. They also have a family, and Courville has a stable racing in Louisiana. There is no timeline for Broussard’s return, with her next medical appointment Tuesday, Courville said.
Courville is a former jockey whose top mounts included multiple stakes winner Show Me The Stage.
“I rode her at Oaklawn,” he said of the America’s First Ladies Stakes win in 1999.
Un Ojo lost his left eye as yearling at the hands of a tree branch, Courville said.
Patch, who also raced without his left eye, was on the Kentucky Derby trail in 2017. He ran second in the Louisiana Derby before finishing 14th in the Kentucky Derby and third in the Belmont Stakes.
Courville previously won a stakes with a one-eyed horse, Idefromthebayou, who went 14 for 67 overall in his career for earnings of nearly $400,000.
A new chapter has begun with Un Ojo.