Behindatthebar Wins Coolmore Lexington Stakes April 19 at Keeneland

Posted on Saturday, April 19th, 2008

Behindatthebar thrust himself into the 2008 Kentucky Derby (G1) picture Saturday at Keeneland with a come-from-behind victory in the $325,000 Coolmore Lexington Stakes (G2).

Trailing by as many as 15 lengths early in the 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds, the son of Forest Wildcat wore down pacesetter Samba Rooster in the final sixteenth of a mile to win by a length under jockey David Flores.

“When he passed those horses, he wanted to lug in and stay with the horses but I just kind of let him gallop out,” said Flores. “It doesn’t look like the distance is going to be a problem.”

Samba Rooster held on for second after setting a fast pace with jockey Garrett Gomez aboard. He finished a half-length in front of third-place Riley Tucker with Racecar Rhapsody another head back in fourth.

Samba Rooster raced the quarter in :22.78, the half in :45.21, the three-quarters in 1:09.48 and the mile in 1:35.47 on a Polytrack surface that was dampened by a late afternoon shower.

It was the first start outside of California for Behindatthebar, who ran the distance in 1:42.14 and earned $201,500 for the partnership of Padua Stables, Michael Shustek and W. Don Stanley.

The winner also gave trainer Todd Pletcher another prospect for the Kentucky Derby to be run in two weeks at Churchill Downs. The Pletcher trained Monba and Cowboy Cal finished first and second, respectively, in last week’s $750,000 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1) at Keeneland.

“We’ve had a good couple of weeks,” said horse trainer Todd Pletcher after the latest win.

The victory improved Behindatthebar’s record to three wins in five starts and increased his career earnings to $277,100. His earnings in graded races–$204,500â€”rank him in the top 20 among the prospective 2008 Kentucky Derby starters.

“We were impressed by this horse obviously not only today but by the way he ran in California, and David’s been really high on him,” said Pletcher. In his previous start, Behindatthebar won a 1 1/16-mile allowance race on April 3 At Santa Anita.

“Of course, we were concerned about coming back in 16 days but we knew he liked the synthetic surface so we figured we’d give it a shot,” Pletcher added.

Behindatthebar paid $13.60, $7.60 and $5.20 as the fifth choice in the betting. Samba Rooster returned $17 and $9.20 and Riley Tucker with John Velazquez aboard paid $6.80.

Tomcito, who finished third in the recent Florida Derby (G1) after winning four of five starts in Peru last year, finished sixth in the 11-horse field as the slight favorite.

www.keeneland.com

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"Behindatthebar Wins Coolmore Lexington Stakes April 19 at Keeneland" was posted on Saturday, April 19th, 2008 at 9:37 pm and is filed under Horse Racing Industry, Horses, Keeneland, Race Tracks News, USA Horse Racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.