It was a good weekend to be a 3-year-old colt from Royal Blue Silk.
Within 24 hours the Kentucky Derby presented by the sovereignty of the Woodford Reserve winner captured another gem of the Triple Crown in the Belmont Stakes presented by Neelabett, another homemade derby attendee of Godolphin. East Avenuesecured the winner’s return to circle with a Gate-to-Wire victory for $387,000 Matt Winstakes June 8th at Churchill Downs.
“It was an incredible super weekend,” said the director of Godolphin’s Bradstock Michael Banahan.
Following the Belmont evening celebration, Banahan left Saratoga, New York, around 4am, and arrived in Lexington at about 10:30am before heading to Louisville for a run on East Avenue.
“I wanted to be here and see what he could do,” Banahan said. “We really love horses. Obviously, we were a little disappointed with the Derby, but we didn’t lose faith in him. It was good to take him on the dry track and see what he could do.”
Medaglia D’Oro Colt was eighth in the derby and failed to lead the Sloppy track.
East Avenue returned to its customary forward spot on Sunday. Jockey Lewis ran him out of the gate, but set a comfortable fraction of 24.41, : 47.66, and 1: 11.38. However, the three Colt competitors were not leaning forward, all returning from the Kentucky Derby. A small field showing signs of a thriller spins for the house as Burnham Square went up to the railroad, the coal battle challenged from the outside and the final Gambit began the rally from behind.
East Avenue was denied and fought in April for a half-length victory over Burnham Square, which had been beating him with the nose of the Toyota Bluegrass Stakes in Keeneland. The coal battle was third, and another three-quarters of the length was delayed.
“We’ve always thought of this horse’s world,” said trainer Brendan Walsh. “We hit the road a bit at the beginning of the year, and it was great to see him dig in today. When those horses came to him, he fought again. There were three very good horses with him.
East Avenue completed 1 1/16 miles at 1:42.12 and paid $4.94 to win as a favourite of just 1.47-1.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czxsdgldsfi
After becoming the top derby contender for Claybourne Breeders’ future domination in Keeneland last fall, East Avenue was stumped with poor winter performances. It was his blue grass runner-up and Matt Wynn’s victory, and that day seems to be behind him.
Walsh said the future of East Avenue is likely to include races ranging from 1 mile to 1 1/16 mile, but said they will enjoy Colt’s return to form before the connection decides where to go.
“We’ve always expected these kinds of performances from him,” Banahan said. “This was the perfect race to come back today. I’m very pleased with what I saw against a really nice horse today.”
