Saturday, April 18, 2009
Advice, a 3-year-old colt from the first crop of record-breaking sire Chapel Royal, stormed from last to first with a strong stretch rally to win the $300,000 Lexington S. (G2) on April 18th at Keeneland, earning a potential next start in the May 2nd Kentucky Derby.
Ridden by Garrett Gomez, Advice broke slow and was last most of the 1 1/16-mile race. On the far turn, the dark bay or brown colt began to move up and moved out to rally turning for home. Gomez got Advice rolling inside the sixteenth pole and they finished with a flurry, rolling past Grade 1 winner Square Eddie to hit the wire on top by a length in 1:43.33 over the local Polytrack.
The win was his first of the year in his second sophomore start, and Advice earned a solid 94 Beyer Speed Figure - and more importantly a berth into the Kentucky Derby in two weeks. Trained by Todd Pletcher for WinStar Farm, Advice won for the second time in six starts and moved his career earnings to $261,885.
Out of the Hennessy mare Word o' Wisdom, the Florida-bred colt broke his maiden last summer in his debut at Arlington before returning in his next start to run third in the Arlington-Washington Futurity (G3). WinStar purchased Advice from Eisaman Equine for $170,000 last
year at OBS as a 2-year-old.