Beat the Blues captures Winning Colors in third attempt

Beat the Blues (right) led her rivals on a merry chase in the Winning Colors (Churchill Downs/Reed Palmer Photography) The third time proved to be the charm for Beat the Blues in Monday’s Grade 3, $108,000 Winning Colors, a six-furlong dash at Churchill Downs she had finished second in the previous two years. Hounded by Burban, who traded leads with her through splits of :21 2/5 and :44, Beat the Blues shook off that rival at the top of the stretch and repelled a bid from Judy the Beauty to win by three parts of a length in a time of 1:08 2/5 over a fast track. The 9-2 third choice in a field of five, Beat the Blues returned $11.20, $4 and $3.20. Owned by Martin Racing Stable and Morgan Thoroughbred, Beat the Blues is trained by Bret Calhoun and secured the trip to the winner’s circle under the direction of Miguel Mena. Martin and Morgan also won the Winning Colors in 2009-10 with champion Dubai Majesty.

“My filly was traveling so nice,” Mena said. “Even though the fractions were
fast, she looked like she was enjoying doing it. She was comfortable. She picked
it up at the eighth-pole and was game. I never hit her. She ran great and was
ready for this race. She deserved this win.”

Judy the Beauty, sent off as the 4-5 favorite, finished 4 1/4 lengths clear
of Vuitton, with Burban and Funnys Approval rounding out the order of finish.

The field was reduced by two following the scratches of Grade 3 winner
Blueeyesintherein and Holiday Soiree. Trainer Garry Simms felt the race came up
too tough for the three-year-old Blueeyesintherein, while Holiday Soiree
finished third in the Red Cross at Monmouth Park on Monday.

An ex-claimer who developed into an allowance-class filly in 2010, Beat the
Blues became a stakes winner in 2011 when taking the Saylorville at Prairie
Meadows. She also placed in both the Winning Colors and the Honorable Miss
Handicap at Saratoga, losing the former by a neck to the talented Sassy Image.

In an abbreviated five-race campaign in 2012, Beat the Blues captured the
Carousel at Oaklawn Park and again placed in both the Winning Colors and
Honorable Miss, as well as the Blue Sparkler at Monmouth Park. She preceded this
initial graded stakes triumph with runner-up efforts in the Mardi Gras Handicap
at Fair Grounds and in the Carousel, the latter by a nose to Vuitton. The
daughter of Great Pyramid now possesses a mark 24-10-6-4, $520,634.

Bred in Florida by Edward Pendray, B.K. Pendray, William F. Murphy and
Annabel Murphy, Beat the Blues was produced by the Pentelicus mare Imtheblues.
Smart Deb, the champion juvenile filly of 1962, and multiple Grade 1 winner Gold
and Myrrh hail from this extended family.

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