April, according to T.S. Eliot, is the cruelest month. But for the training operation of Brendan Walsh, February and March 2026, have been the coolest months.
Since the calendar flipped to February, the Walsh barn has gone crazy in turf stakes, and they won another Saturday at Fair Grounds, where Indigo Woods turned a sharp rally into a half-length victory in the $100,000 Allen “Black Cat” Lacombe Memorial.
That ran Walsh’s record in turf stakes the last five weeks to 10-6-0-1. Walsh, the last two weekends, has won the four turf stakes he entered, and five of the last six such races, including the Colonel Liam, Herecomesthebride, and Honey Fox at Gulfstream, and the Black Gold and Lacombe at Fair Grounds.
Indigo Woods, a strong closing winner in her lone start, a Churchill Downs turf-route maiden on Oct. 26, was no secret after shipping from Walsh’s Florida string at Palm Meadows and into his Fair Grounds barn: Co-fourth choice on the morning line at 8-1, she went off the 8-5 favorite and paid $5.60. Four scratches, among them the co-second choice Alone Time, did change the pricing in the Lacombe, a 1 1/6-mile grass race for 3-year-old fillies.
An outside post dictated debut tactics with Indigo Woods, whom jockey Axel Concepcion took back out of the gate at Churchill to save ground, his mount winning clear despite a less-than-ideal trip. By Blue Point out of Brushed Gold, by Touch Gold, Indigo Woods tends toward the tall and rangy side, and Walsh took things very slow with the filly out of her first start. After settling into a rhythm in Florida, Indigo Woods got onto a strong work pattern while breezing over grass, working during January and February with ever greater alacrity as her 3-year-old debut approached.
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So, it was no surprise to Concepcion or anyone else closely involved with Indigo Woods when she showed decent gate speed and got up into a favorable spot into the first turn, racing a settled fifth, about three lengths off a slow 48.92 half-mile split. Concepcion said Indigo Woods felt like a winner every step of the race; she looked like one, too.
Cruising around the far turn, Concepcion steered right at the five-sixteenths marker to take Indigo Woods outside the tri-leaders, and by the quarter-pole she’d surged to the lead with a four-wide thrust. Indigo Woods found her peak stride from the three-sixteenths to the eighth pole, displaying a fine turn of foot and going well clear, clocking 1:43.80 over a firm course.
Either because she was asked a half-furlong prematurely and grew weary, or because she lacked focus in just her second start, Indigo Woods failed to firm up her stretch-call advantage. Instead, Faithful Departed, a 35-1 chance who saved ground on both turns while stalking inside Indigo Woods, got off the fence and outside the tiring trio Indigo Woods passed turning for home, coming with her own strong run. It fell a half-length short, and Indigo Woods seemed more superior than the bare margin of victory, but Faithful Departed ran well in defeat, finishing almost three lengths clear of third-place Bohemian, the 5-2 second choice.
Bred in Ireland by Tinnakill Bloodstock. Indigo Woods campaigns for Larry Rodgers and Coast Racing. Part of the Walsh stable’s avalanche of late-winter turf stakes wins, the filly has the look of a horse who could be even better come summer.
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