Scoobie Quando | Horse Racing Free Tips

Colebrook Sends Two Runners to Blue Grass Debut

Five weeks ago, Ben Colebrook had to jump through quite a few hoops to make sure he could see both of his top 3-year-old colts make the starting gate on the road to the Kentucky Derby. Without so much as pausing to get his picture taken after Raise Cain's (Violence) victory in the GIII Gotham S., the conditioner hopped on a plane bound for Kentucky to saddle Scoobie Quando (Uncle Mo) ahead of a runner-up effort in the John Battaglia Memorial S. at Turfway just over four hours later.

This time around, Colebrook decided to avoid the tumultuous travel schedule altogether, ensuring that he would be on-site to watch both of his stable stars perform, as the pair of colts are pointed for Saturday's $1 million GI Toyota Blue Grass S.

While Colebrook said it would have been ideal to keep the two sophomores–who are both campaigned by Andrew and Rania Warren–separate for their final Kentucky Derby preps, he opted against shipping Raise Cain back to Aqueduct for the GII Wood Memorial S. and ultimately decided it would be best to remain at their home track.

Raise Cain has already proven himself at Keeneland. The son of Violence broke his maiden and ran third in the Bowman Mill S. there last fall and then trained at the Lexington oval throughout the winter. Following his 7 1/2-length score in the Gotham, where he earned a career-high 90 Beyer Speed Figure going from eleventh to first over a muddy Aqueduct track, the bay has put in two works at Keeneland, most recently going four furlongs in :47.80 on Mar. 30.

“He came out of the Gotham in good shape and he's had two nice works here,” Colebrook explained. “He's familiar with the surroundings and he's won here before, so he's coming into the race really well.”

Entering his first Grade I contest as the third choice with morning-line odds of 9/2, Raise Cain will break from post 10 in an 11-horse field with Joel Rosario aboard. Colebrook explained why he believes the race–and the post position–will favor the colt's closing running style.

“On paper it looks like there will be some pace and hopefully from that outside post [he can] just get over and work out a trip like he did in the Gotham where he can make that one run and sustain it. We're just looking for a good race and something to build off of to hopefully go on to Churchill.”

While Raise Cain has already secured 54 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, his stablemate Scoobie Quando will need a breakthrough performance on Saturday for a chance at making it to the Derby starting gate.

Unraced at two, Scoobie Quando was confidently placed for his winning debut in the Turfway Prevue S. in January. He ran second in his next two starts at Turfway, getting lost in the pack and making late moves in both races.

“He went all the way back to last at the top of the stretch and then he flew home,” Colebrook said of the colt's second-place effort 3 ½ lengths behind Congruent (Tapit) in the John Battaglia last time out. “Nothing against the winner, who ran a great race, but I think the margin would have been closer and it would have been a horse race had we gotten out earlier.”

Scoobie Quando was initially slated for the GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks on Mar. 25, but a minor skin issue the morning of the race forced him to scratch. While Colebrook considered running the son of Uncle Mo in the GIII Lexington S. on April 15, he ultimately decided that the timing of the Blue Grass would be the ideal setup for a Derby bid.

That initial setback from the Jeff Ruby scratch may have proven to be a blessing in disguise as Colebrook said that Scoobie Quando seems to have taken to the main track as he prepares for his dirt debut. The colt breezed a sharp five furlongs in :59.80 (1/13) over the Keeneland main track on Mar. 30.

“We worked him very aggressive on the dirt and he worked really, really well,” Colebrook noted. “[Jockey] Luan Machado was on him and thought he got over the dirt surface better than the Tapeta. So Scoobie over the dirt is a little bit of an unknown, but in the mornings he certainly seems like he really relishes the track.”

'Scoobie' may be the less experienced of Colebrook's two Blue Grass contender, but the trainer spoke highly of both horses.

“They're both very quality horses,” he said. “I think Scoobie has always shown a little bit more brilliance in his works. Raise Cain has always been kind of workman-like and does everything you ask of him. He was one that when you ran him first time, he didn't even know what was going on because he was so relaxed. He's just very reliable. Scoobie has certainly done nothing wrong so far, but he's just a little more inexperienced at this stage because he got a later start.”

A native of Central Kentucky, Colebrook grew up attending the Keeneland race meet with his father. The horseman is now in his eleventh year of training and Keeneland has become the setting for some of his best achievements. He saddled his first winner there in 2013, scored his first graded stakes win with Sparking Review in the GIII Pin Oak Valley View (Lemon Drop Kid) a year later, and celebrated his first career Grade I victory with Knicks Go (Paynter) in the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity in 2018. This weekend, he hopes to add another 'first' to the list as he saddles his first two runners for the famed track's premier Derby prep race.

“This will be my first time with a runner in the Blue Grass and to have two in it is crazier,” he said. “It's a dream come true just to have a horse that's good enough to run in the Blue Grass because I grew up watching the Blue Grass as a kid. It's one of the biggest preps for the Derby and it's here at our home track so it's a big deal to even be in the race. We're super proud of that and hopefully they both can give a good account of themselves, which I think they will.”

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Warren Riding High on Derby Trail

Andrew Warren has been building his racing stable from the ground up for four years, but after an initial stretch of limited success, the pieces recently fell into place for him to have, as he puts it, “the best week I've ever had in racing.”

Last week two of his horses ran in the money on Wednesday, then another made it to the winner's circle on Thursday, and on Saturday he and his wife Rania celebrated their first graded stakes win with Raise Cain (Violence) in the GIII Gotham S. The weekend wrapped up with a pair of runner-up efforts from Scoobie Quando (Uncle Mo) in the John Battaglia Memorial S. at Turfway and Wizard of Westwood (Tu Brutus {Chi}) in the Baffle S. on the turf at Santa Anita.

All this from someone who got into racing with the intention of owning just one horse.

Warren grew up attending the races with his parents William and Suzanne Warren, who have campaigned a number of graded stakes winners led by GI Breeders' Cup Classic victor and 2005 Horse of the Year Saint Liam and 2018 GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner City of Light.

When City of Light retired to stud, Warren started to think about getting involved in the sport himself.

“I was intrigued by the breeding aspect of the game and how horses could sell for astronomical prices at the sales,” Warren said. “I wanted to buy one filly, race her, and then breed her to City of Light and get a really nice foal.”

After enlisting the help of City of Light's trainer Michael McCarthy, Warren attended the 2019 OBS March Sale wielding a list of sires that might nick well with the new stallion. But buying one filly quickly led to the purchase of another, and six months later he was at the Keeneland September Sale looking at colts.

“The plan changed a bit and I ended up buying a few more horses than I anticipated,” he said with a laugh. “I became intrigued with the talent selection process and with trying to find that needle in the haystack.”

Warren wasn't too far into his foray in the industry when he landed on what would eventually become that first graded stakes winner. He picked out a Violence colt from the Warrendale Sales consignment for $180,000.

“I've had a handful of horses by Violence and they've shown good flashes of ability for me,” Warren said. “On his female side, having Unrivaled Belle (Unbridled's Song) in there is pretty impressive. I have advisors helping me look at them and after you vet them if they still look good, you feel pretty good. All the stars have to align for you to want to be spending money on a horse because you're gambling at a high stakes.”

The Warren family | courtesy Andrew Warren

As Raise Cain was training as a 2-year-old with Eisaman Equine, Warren was starting to feel disheartened when his first few purchases hadn't turned out to be as productive on the racetrack as hoped. He decided to send a few of his 2-year-olds through the ring at the OBS June Sale.

“I was weary about how maybe I needed to cut down on how much I was into this,” Warren recalled. “I didn't go in with the mindset to pinhook, but when I've felt like my stable has gotten too big, I've tried to reduce at the 2-year-old sales to come back with the appropriate amount of risk that I want to be taking.”

Despite improving steadily at a juvenile, Raise Cain went through the ring unsold for $65,000. Warren decided to stick with his original plan and he sent the colt on to Ben Colebrook.

Raise Cain broke his maiden last fall at Keeneland and then placed in two stakes as a juvenile.

Warren was cheering from his home in Oklahoma as Raise Cain closed down the stretch in the Gotham to win by 7 ½ lengths at odds of 23-1, earning 50 points on the Kentucky Derby trail.

“I had kind of pushed for this race, for him to get into a stake, and when he was 30-1 morning line I knew we were in the deep end of the pool,” he admitted. “I knew he had a lot of ability and I knew it was within him to perform like that, but I didn't want to get too high on him because you can get humbled pretty quickly in this game.”

While Warren said he was disappointed that he couldn't make the race in person, he explained that it was just as meaningful to watch the victory at home with his father. The younger Warren works alongside his father in their family's Tulsa-based oil and gas exploration and production company.

Warren echoed what Colebrook has already indicated concerning Raise Cain's next start. The GI Blue Grass S. at his home track or the GII Wood Memorial S. back at Aqueduct are their top two considerations.

Meanwhile, Warren has another potential Kentucky Derby contender in Scoobie Quando. The son of Uncle Mo graduated on debut early this year in the Turfway Preview S. and made his third career start in the John Battaglia Memorial S. last Saturday. After getting stuck behind a wall of horses, Scoobie Quando was able to make a late run to finish second, earning eight points on the Derby trail.

Purchased by Warren for $160,000 as a yearling, Scoobie Quando was yet another OBS June pinhook attempt, but the colt failed to reach his reserve at $125,000.

“He had value and was a nice horse, but had some chips that needed to be removed,” Warren recalled. “People at the 2-year-old sales weren't giving money for horses that would probably need surgery, so we thought we would do the surgery and see how it works out.”

Now with two good shots at making it to the Kentucky Derby with horses that went through the ring unsold as juveniles, Warren said the colts' achievements this year have been reassurance that he is taking the right steps in the game.

“I was pretty excited just to have the two horses in those races last weekend,” he noted. “It's definitely incredibly fortunate that they have both developed this way and have come along like they have because I've had quite a few over the past couple of years that didn't develop and go the way I wanted them to go. To be able to finally have a little fruit from the labor is pretty unbelievable.”

While the majority of the horses in Warren's 30-some strong stable are with Ben Colebrook, he also has horses in California with Michael McCarthy and several others with Bret Calhoun, Anthony Farrior and Barbara Minshall.

Warren said the most exciting part of his journey in racing so far has been enjoying the ride with his family. He shared that his wife, Rania, follows their stable as much as he does, and now that their daughter has turned three, they hope to be able to travel and attend more races in person.

Warren has been to the Kentucky Derby twice to cheer on his parents' horses. In 2008 their colt Denis of Cork (Harlan's Holiday) finished third.

“I remember going both times that they had a horse running and it was an unbelievable experience,” Warren said. “To be able to go to the Derby would be beyond exciting, very emotional, and a thrill for everyone. It would be incredible to share the experience with my friends and family, but to be able to share it with my dad would be very special.”

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Gotham Runners Look Ahead

Andrew and Rania Warren's Raise Cain (Violence) exited his 7 1/2-length victory in Saturday's GIII Gotham S. in fine shape, according to trainer Ben Colebrook. The colt, who earned 50 qualifying points for the GI Kentucky Derby with his win in the Gotham, could return to New York for the Apr. 8 GII Wood Memorial or run in the GI Toyota Blue Grass S. at Colebrook's home base at Keeneland that same day.

“We're based at Keeneland and if it wasn't for that, the Wood would be circled. I guess we'll just sit back and see how the nominations are,” Colebrook said. “If one is significantly easier than the other, that would change our thinking. If you don't have to ship, why do it? But the Blue Grass could come up significantly tougher. In which case, we would go to the Wood.”

Colebrook had a quick turnaround Saturday. The Gotham field left the gate at 5:01 p.m. and the trainer was back in Kentucky in time to saddle Scoobie Quando (Uncle Mo)–owned by the same connections–to a runner-up effort in the $150,000 John Battaglia Memorial at Turfway Park, which went off at 9:29 p.m.

“Luckily, it worked out. Going to JFK you pass the chute, so I got the Uber driver to stop and I watched them run down the backside,” Colebrook said. “I switched on to my phone and watched the rest of the race, so I got to the airport in plenty of time, luckily. The plane was on time, so I made it to Turfway as they were walking over to saddle, so everything worked out. I didn't really consider doing that until the overnights came out and they carded that race late at Turfway. So, I figured why not try it? I always really liked Scoobie, so I wanted to be there for that race.”

Scoobie Quando, who graduated on debut in the Jan. 7 Turfway Preview S. and was making his third lifetime start in the Battaglia, was behind a wall of horses late in the turn before angling out and rallying to finish second in the 1 1/16-mile test. He earned eight points on the Derby trail and could make his next start in the Mar. 25 GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks, which is a 100-40-30-20-10 Kentucky Derby qualifier.

“The timing isn't great, but he didn't really get to run last night. I don't think it was a tough race, so I'm leaning towards the Jeff Ruby,” Colebrook said. “If the race took a lot out of him, we would probably skip it and look for something on the dirt or the turf with him, eventually. When I had him on the main track at Keeneland, he worked really well on it. I still think the dirt is within his wheelhouse. But if not, we have synthetic and turf to fall back on. The way he ran last night, we have to at least consider the Ruby.”

Trainer Brad Cox said the Wood Memorial was the next likely start for Gotham runner-up Slip Mahoney (Arrogate). The gray colt, who was coming off a maiden-breaking score at Aqueduct Jan. 21, broke a step slow from post 10 in the 14-horse Gotham field and trailed in 13th through the first half-mile. He improved to eighth at the top of the stretch while racing eight wide in pursuit of stablemate Eyeing Clover (Lookin At Lucky) and Raise Cain, who made an inside rally from 11th and showed an impressive turn of foot down the center lane under Jose Lezcano. Slip Mahoney gained with each stride down the stretch and surged past Eyeing Clover, but could not collar Raise Cain.

“Overall, I thought for the first time facing winners, it was a positive race,” Cox said. “I never expected him to be that far back. Hopefully he gets a little better trip and a little better position in the Wood.”

Eyeing Clover, who came into his stakes debut off a dominant six-furlong optional-claiming victory at Fair Grounds Jan. 28, finished fourth in the Gotham.

“I'm not sure what we're going to do with him yet,” Cox said. “I'm not certain how far he wants to go, so we'll just regroup and come up with a game plan here in the near future.”

Imaginary Stables' Howgreatisnate (Speightster) arrived home to Fair Hill in good order after stumbling at the start of the Gotham. The bay gelding was unbeaten in four starts, including a win in the Future Stars S. at Parx in December, heading into the Gotham, but saw his streak end as the gates opened when he unseated jockey J.D. Acosta and completed the course before being collared by the outrider.

“He was fresh and a little too eager and he outbroke himself coming out of the gate. He pushed so hard, his front feet went underneath him and he just went down,” trainer Andrew Simoff said. “He came out OK. He got a little scrape on his pastern and we're keeping an eye on it, but other than that he looks good. If he's good in the next two or three days and there's no issues or inflammation, I'll look to run him right back.”

Of possible next starts for Howgreatisnate, Simoff said, “If he had run fifth or sixth yesterday, I could deal with it and say he's not what we thought. We were trying to get a line on him to see if he could compete with the bigger horses. Now that I didn't get that opportunity, it's hard to figure out what to do next. Had he run second or third, the Wood would be a no brainer.”

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Uncle Mo Has Three-Year-Old Mo-Mentum

When Golden Pal retired to Coolmore America for the 2023 season, he became the second son of Uncle Mo to join his sire at the farm, alongside Mo Town.

A 15-year-old stalwart of the Coolmore stallion roster, Uncle Mo is currently enjoying a bit of a hot streak with his group of 2023 three-year-olds.

Arabian Knight is the #1 ranked horse on the TDN's Derby Top Contenders off one start-the first race on the Breeders' Cup Saturday card–indicating just how impressive that race was. The $2.3-million sales topper at OBS April was named a `TDN Rising Star' and won by 7 1/4 lengths. He was Uncle Mo's 13th TDN Rising Star.

In the first two weeks of the year, Kingsbarns, an $800,000 Fasig-Tipton March 2yo, broke his maiden in his first start in an $84,000 allowance as the favorite at Gulfstream Park Jan. 14, and Scoobie Quando won the Turfway Prevue S. in his career debut Jan. 7 at Turfway.

This comes, of course, after the year in which he had his second Classic winner with Mo Donegal in the Belmont (joining Nyquist's Derby win).

As the breeding sheds prepare to open, Eddie Rosen, General Manager for Mike Repole's Repole Stables, who campaigned the champion two-year-old, agrees with the `hot' assessment, but takes a bit of umbrage that it's a current phenomenon. “He's very hot right now. But it's important to remember that he has been hot for a very long time. Consistently.”

The industry, he points out, is too often consumed with the shiny new toy. “So often, the concentration is placed on breeding to young stallions, new stallions that have been recently retired. But very few, if any stallions have succeeded like Uncle Mo from the beginning to the current time. He started out with a Derby winner and his very first crop in Nyquist, and he has continued year after year with stakes winners of all kinds.”

In fact, Nyquist leads the list of Uncle Mo's fairly staggering 24 sons at stud, topping the list with a stud fee of $55,000 at Darley. Golden Pal and Yaupon (at Spendthrift) are next at $30,000 each. An informal survey finds only Speightstown and Tapit, who each have 25 sons at stud standing in the U.S., with more.

But while Tapit turns 22 this year, and Speightstown 25, Uncle Mo is far younger.

“Uncle Mo is now 15, and he's on an incredible run,” said Coolmore America's Adrian Wallace. “He's been with us at Ashford Stud now for all of his stallion career. We're privileged to have him. He's been a horse that obviously as a racehorse left no doubt as to how good he was when trained by Todd Pletcher for Repole Stable to be Champion two-year-old. He's imparted a lot of that precocity on his stock but his run continues to flourish.”

Wallace points out that Uncle Mo's recent Grade I winners ranged from Golden Pal at 5 furlongs in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint to Mo Donegal over the Belmont's 12 furlongs on the dirt. “It's a great depth and breadth of winners he has had, siring a Belmont Stakes winner in Mo Donegal and a very fast champion sprinter-elect on the turf in Golden Pal. I think the horse is definitely going from strength to strength every single year. He has horses running in all the best races, but the great thing is they do it short, long, dirt, and turf in this country on and all around the Northern Hemisphere.”

Arabian Knight wins in his Keeneland debut | Coady photo

But right now, it's Arabian Knight capturing everyone's attention.

“Arabian Night is obviously very much at the forefront of everyone's imagination being at the top of the TDN's leading Derby contenders for 2023,” said Wallace. “His much-anticipated debut here on the Breeders Cup undercard at Keeneland was highly, highly professional and brilliant. Hopefully, he will be seen to good effect in the in the Santa Anita Derby.”

Arabian Knight worked five furlongs in 59.60 at Santa Anita, but trainer Bob Baffert-who told jockey John Velazquez to ride him like he was Uncle Mo– said that he had not picked out the colt's second start yet, and would take his time with him.

“But there's not just one,” said Wallace. “I think Scoobie Quando made a very impressive debut for Ben Colebrook winning the Turfway Prevue as a maiden in a stakes race. So, we think the future is very bright hopefully throughout this classic season for Uncle Mo.”

But then again, Rosen will tell you that his future has always been bright. “He doesn't have peaks and valleys,” he said. “He's consistently coming up with stakes winner after stakes winner. He continues to make the front pages of the TDN. He's emerging as a sire of sires. He is emerging as a top broodmare sire, which proves to continue on his legacy as a great sire. I feel like every night, something good happens that's worthy of mention.”

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