LEXINGTON, Ky. – One does not expect to see a million-dollar auction buy show up in the middle of March to launch his racing career in Virginia. Until this winter, in fact, one wouldn’t have expected any Thoroughbred ready to race show up in Virginia that time of year.
But not only was there one seven-figure horse seen March 15, the last of a three-day Colonial Downs meeting created this year by the track’s owner, Churchill Downs Inc., there were two. Both were trained by Brad Cox, and one race before $1 million 2-year-old auction buy Verifire won his career debut for trainer Brad Cox, the Cox-trained Lion of Justice, a $1.1 million yearling, won his.
Verifire, who earned a 92 Beyer Speed Figure for that win, has not run back, but Lion of Justice, whose 6 1/2-length victory also yielded a 92 Beyer, returns Wednesday in Keeneland’s seventh race. Restricted to 3-year-olds, the 1 1/16-mile first-level dirt allowance drew an overflow field of 14.
The two on the also-eligible list, Hymn and Valentinian, must be accounted for should they draw into the race. And with Touchy, in the main body of the field, at press time set to contest the Lafayette Stakes on April 7 at Keeneland, at least one of them can.
Hymn easily won a sprint maiden at Oaklawn Park in his career debut, and facing winners second out in a route allowance, he finished second behind Passion Rules, who came back with a third on April 5 in the Wood Memorial. Valentinian debuted in a Tampa Bay Downs dirt route, turned back his Todd Pletcher-trained stablemate Last Man Standing, and won going away by more than three lengths, punctuating his victory with a strong gallop-out.
Valentinian already has proven his two-turn chops, but not Lion of Justice, who campaigns for a partnership, has Flavien Prat named to ride him back, and figures to be a strong favorite.
“I liked the way he finished in the one-turn mile,” Cox said Sunday. “I think he’ll get two turns.”
By Into Mischief, Lion of Justice is out of Ever So Clever, who won the 1 1/16-mile Fantasy Stakes in 2017 and has produced four foals to race. Cox trained the most successful of them, Everso Mischievous, who peaked with a victory in the Forty Niner Stakes, a one-turn Aqueduct mile.
The winner of this race, the seventh of eight on the card, will almost certainly go into stakes competition in his next outing. Meanwhile, the possible favorite in race 5, a second-level turf sprint allowance, drops out of stakes competition. That’s Demolition Duke, who on Feb. 18 checked in a solid third in the $100,000 Colonel Power at Fair Grounds, a race won by Mansa Musa, a better horse than anyone he faces Wednesday.
That said, Demolition Duke has looked on paper like the best horse in an allowance race, but his lack of positional space and, possibly, hanging tendencies have produced a 2-for-14 win mark. Boltage – who has speed, is not exposed in turf sprints, and exits a good Fair Grounds victory – will offer much better value.
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