Churchill: Clearly Unhinged cruises in Winning Colors

Louisville, Ky.

21 flat. Seriously?

“There was a tailwind.”

Trainer Brad Cox used that simple, declarative sentence to say why he was not
surprised Clearly Unhinged got out to that fast of a first quarter-mile and
defeat his favored filly Dazzling Blue on Monday in the Grade 3, $250,000
Winning Colors Stakes, a six-furlong test for older females at Churchill Downs.

“It seems like the winner had the first run on me,” Dazzling
Blue’s jockey Florent Géroux said.

Click here for Churchill Downs entries and results.

Clearly Unhinged (2-1) had the first run on all seven of her
rivals. Swift yet relaxed. Within 1 1/2 lengths of first-quarter leader B G Warrior (16-1). Engaged quickly by Happy Am I (7-1). Leeloo (20-1) made an appearance among the stalkers on
the turn. Only Dazzling Blue (3-2), closing down the middle of the track, put
up what looked closest to a legitimate threat late. Too late, it turned out, to
make up the last 1 1/2 lengths by which the 4-year-old Into Mischief filly
earned her first stakes victory.

“She’s super fast,” winning jockey Joel Rosario said. “The
way she was doing it was in a zone. I was not asking for anything. I was just
sitting there chill, and when it was time to go, she’d just go. As soon as she
likes to go, she definitely went forward for me.”

Rosario and the vanquished connections sounded matter of
fact enough after the Memorial Day feature was run on a partly cloudy,
79-degree day and on a main track that was tightened to lightning fast by an
overnight thunderstorm. Still, 21.02 seconds for the first quarter-mile did
more than just create a ripple of conversation during the race.

“You’re always concerned when you see 21 flat,” said Scott
Blasi, assistant to winning trainer Steve Asmussen. “And she went 44 and change
(44.34 seconds for the first half-mile). Joel just said she does it so easily.
You know, made the lead and just run them off their feet.”

It was entirely in keeping with Clearly Unhinged’s first
start for Asmussen, who got the filly this winter when owners John Sikura of
Hill ’n’ Dale and Jarret Prussin bought her privately from Rock Brothers
Breeding and moved her east from the California stable of Michael McCarthy.

Coming off a four-month break, Clearly Unhinged was within a
half-length of a 21.96-second first quarter and led with a time of 44.53 seconds
for the first half-mile on the way to a 2 3/4-length allowance victory April 30
covering five furlongs in 56.78 seconds. That was in a five-furlong race that
was taken off the turf but still run on a fast main track at Churchill Downs.

It was a preview of things to come.

“I talked to Steve, and in races like this, when you see a
lot of speed, everybody else does, too,” Blasi said. “I didn’t give Joel any
instructions. You’ve just got to let them ride it how it comes up. The filly
broke sharp and was sharp early.”

Clearly Unhinged actually took the bit and tugged on Rosario’s
hold coming out of post 3. Racing two wide up the backstretch, she seemed oblivious
to her challengers as gradually drew clear by 2 1/2 lengths before
relinquishing some of that lead when she was not in danger of being caught.

“I feel like I was just chasing (Rosario) around from the
eighth pole to home,” Géroux said about Dazzling Blue. “I never really got a
fair chance to take a shot at him when I wanted to.”

Unsung Melody (44-1) finished another 1 1/4 lengths back in
third, nosing out Leeloo for the show money. Happy Am I, Positano Sunset (9-1),
Royal Spa (5-1) and B G Warrior finished fifth through eighth in that order.

Spirit Wind, who was 3-1 on the morning line and would have
applied pace pressure, was scratched since she was cross-entered by trainer
Saffie Joseph Jr. in the Memorial Day Sprint Stakes at Lone Star Park. Backyard
Money and Miss Arlington also were scratched.

Clearly Unhinged finished with a winning time of 1:09.69 that
was the slowest for the Winning Colors in five years. This was after the early
fractions of 21.02 and 44.34 seconds. Presuming the clock did not malfunction
for the first two furlongs, the 23.32- and 25.35-second final quarters may have
been evidence of the backstretch tailwind Cox mentioned.

“Plus I think the track is a little bit quicker than it’s
been the last few days,” Géroux said. “It’s drying up pretty quickly. You could
see that earlier in some of the races.”

“I think with the rain the track has definitely tightened
up,” Blasi said. “But she’s a fast filly that we feel like has some quality.”

Blasi said the owners and Asmussen, who was at Lone Star on
Monday, would point Clearly Unhinged to Saratoga this summer with potential goals
being the six-furlong Honorable Miss (G2) in July and the seven-furlong
Ballerina (G1) on Travers day in August.

“I would say those would be good targets,” Blasi said.