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By Sarah Mace
Following a six-month layoff, China Horse Club, Head of Plains Partners, Starlight Racing and WinStar Farm’s multiple graded stakes winner Audible (Into Mischief) returned to the races a winner Saturday with a confident victory in the $200,000 Cherokee Run Stakes at Churchill Downs on the Breeders’ Cup undercard.
Third behind Justify and Good Magic in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve on the first Saturday in May, Audible did not bounce back satisfactorily for trainer Todd Pletcher. The conditioner could not put his finger on any specific problem and had the horse checked out at the clinic. With no specific issue disclosed, Pletcher and ownership group turned Audible out at WinStar to regroup.
Audible thrived when he returned to training and signaled his readiness run earlier than expected. “The colt came around in his training quicker than Todd thought he might,” said Starlight founder Jack Wolf. “We’re excited about having him back.”
For a horse whose best performances have come in routes around two turns, Audible handled the turnback to seven furlongs like a professional.
Sent off as the odds-on favorite with a clear class edge over the field of 10, Audible settled toward the back of the group and well off the fence while Principe Guilherme set a strong and pressured pace up front. On the backstretch Audible picked off a horse or two under Javier Castellano.
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Still wide while navigating the turn, Audible spun out five-wide for drive. After making steady progress and passing horses in upper stretch, he collared Principe Guilherme a furlong out and drew off to post a two-length victory. Both the pace and final time were sharp. After fractions of 22:75, 45:69 and 1:09.98, Audible stopped the clock at 1:22.46. Honorable Treasure (20-1) got up for second and Principe Guilherme hung on for third.
Javier Castellano, who also rode Audible to victory in the Holy Bull and third in the Kentucky Derby, said, “He did everything like a professional today. The seven furlongs may have been a bit short, but he handled everything like a pro. We broke great and got into a great position with the pace up front. I think this race will set him up to have a great future.”
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The master plan for team Audible is to point the colt to the Harlan’s Holiday on December 15 at Gulfstream Park as a prep race for the Pegasus World Cup to be run on January 26.
One of the top 3-year-old contenders on the Derby trail this year, Audible won the Grade 2 Holy Bull Stakes by 5 1/2 lengths on February 3 and the Grade 1 Florida Derby by three lengths Gulfstream Park. From five win and two thirds, Audible has earned $1,203,200.
Bred by Richard Leahy’s Oak Bluff Stables, LLC and foaled at Berkshire Stud in Pine Plains, Audible is a graduate of the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred preferred yearling sale, where he was purchased from Winter Quarter Farm by 4H for $175,000. When presented to the world as a juvenile at the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale, China Horse Club and WinStar Farm had pay a premium price of $500,000 to take him home.
Audible’s dam Blue Devil Bel, who was bred and campaigned in New York by Leahy, is a multiple winner and six-figure earner by Gilded Time and a half-sister to multiple stakes winner and stakes producer Akilina, who is the dam of Rieno Tesoro, a group winner in Japan, and Governor Malibu, a stakes winner and multiple graded stakes-placed New York-bred runner. Blue Devil Bel’s most recent foal is a yearling filly by Lookin At Lucky.
Congratulations Richard Leahy and Oak Bluff Stables‼️