Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s Vicar’s in Trouble towered over his
foes on paper entering Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000
Super Derby at
Louisiana
Downs and utterly dominated on the track, rolling to a 7 1/4-length decision
beneath Rosie Napravnik.
A convincing winner of the Louisiana Derby over the spring at
Fair Grounds, the Mike
Maker-trained colt snapped a three-race losing skid and became Thoroughbred
racing’s newest millionaire, pushing his earnings to $1,128,900 from a 9-4-0-4
record.
The dark bay son of Into Mischief returned a $4.60 mutuel
after scoring as the 6-5 favorite among 11 three-year-olds.
Vicar’s in Trouble broke alertly from post 4 but allowed Ide Be Cool to take the lead entering the first turn, settling up close to the
pacesetter on the outside through an opening quarter-mile in :23.
He continued to travel comfortably down the backstretch, a
head back after a half-mile in :47 4/5 and six furlongs in 1:12 1/5, and broke
the race wide open leaving the far turn, quickly accelerating to a clear lead
entering the straightaway.
Vicar’s in Trouble poured it on in the final furlong,
splendidly widening his advantage while winning in hand, and completed the 1
1/8-mile distance in 1:50 1/5 on the fast track.
Declan’s Fast Cat, the longest shot in the field at 88-1,
rallied from last for runner-up honors, three-quarter of a length better than
the 5-1 Victory Nor Defeat. It was another head back to fourth-placer Ide Be
Cool, who was followed by Jessica’s Star, East Hall, Louisiana Flyboy,
Announcement, Louies Flower, Alamo Heights and Gold Appointment.
After breaking his maiden in his second career start,
Vicar’s in Trouble jumped straight to stakes company with a victory in the
LeComte in mid-January. He followed with a third in the Risen Star and earned
his first graded tally in the Louisiana Derby, triumphing by 3 1/2 lengths
in wire-to-wire fashion.
Vicar’s in Trouble wound up last in the
Kentucky Derby and,
after nearly a two-month freshening, returned with a third in the Iowa Derby. He
was exiting another third in the August 2 West Virginia Derby.
Bred in Louisiana by Spendthrift Farm LLC, Vicar’s in
Trouble initially sold for $8,000 as a weanling before bringing $80,000 at the
Fasig-Tipton Maryland May sale last year. He is out of the winning Vicar mare
Vibrant, who counts Grade 3 winner True Direction as a half-brother.
Grade 3 winner Jabot is Vicar’s in Trouble’s third maternal
dam and she produced multiple stakes hero Enclosure, who finished second to
Belmont Stakes hero Crème Fraiche in the 1985 Super Derby. Jabot is a
half-sister to multiple Grade 1 winner Big Spruce.
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