Bruce Lunsford's homebred Bernardini colt, Art Collector, threw his hat into the ring for the Kentucky Derby with a victory over top 3-year-old filly Swiss Skydiver in Saturday's Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.
Trained by Thomas Drury and ridden by Brian Hernandez, Art Collector sat just behind Swiss Skydiver and jockey Mike Smith, took command in mid-stretch and drew away to win by about three lengths in 1:48.11 for nine furlongs on a fast track. Swiss Skydiver, coming off three consecutive graded stakes wins over fillies, finished second, with Rushie third, Enforceable fourth and Attachment Rate fifth in the field of 13 3-year-olds.
The top four finishers earned 100-40-20-10 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby, to be run on Sept. 5.
The Blue Grass was the first stakes victory for Art Collector, who was coming off back-to-back allowance wins at Churchill Downs. This was trainer Drury's first graded stakes win as well.
Shivaree, breaking from the inside post, took the early lead, outrunning Swiss Skydiver to the first turn and setting an opening quarter mile fraction of :23.25. Swiss Skydiver took over the in the run down the backstretch after a half mile in :46.61, with Art Collector just behind that pair in third.
Going into the far turn, Swiss Skydiver continued to control the pace, but Art Collector and Rushie began to apply more pressure. After six furlongs in 1:10.63, Art Collector remained the primary challenger for Swiss Skydiver. He ranged up alongside the filly in mid stretch after a mile in 1:35.31, then gradually pulled away in the final sixteenth.
Art Collector, produced from the Distorted Humor mare Distorted Legacy, broke his maiden on turf at Kentucky Downs in his second start when under the care of Joe Sharp. After a seventh-place finish on turf in the G3 Bourbon Stakes, Sharp moved Art Collector to dirt, where the colt finished sixth and then first in two races at Churchill Downs last November. He was disqualified from the win for a medication violation and Lunsford subsequently moved the horse to Drury's care.
Art Collector won a May 17 allowance sprint at Churchill Downs, coming from off the pace, then wired a four-horse field on June 13, his final start before the Blue Grass.
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