Catching My Eye at Colonial Downs Week 5

So the main thing that Caught My Eye this past weekend was Tropical Storm Debby. It took away two of our race days last week and pushed the Festival of Racing to Sunday at Colonial Downs. Good thing is that Sunday left us with many exciting races and some good horses to keep an eye on moving forward. So let’s get into it! 

Charlottesapproval 

Any time a horse is purchased through a sale for seven figures, there’s going to be high expectations. Charlottesapproval went for a million bucks in August 2022 and debuted a year later at Ellis Park, finishing eighth by 20+-plus lengths. She followed it up with two more uninspiring efforts to finish her two-year-old campaign. 

She opened her three-year-old season at Colonial on Sunday and there were lots of new things for her to try: turf, Lasix, blinkers on, Antonio Gallardo riding, and at distance less than six furlongs. 

Not sure which of them was what helped the most, but she was a flashy winner in the third race Sunday. She had some traffic on the turn but when she got out in the midstretch, her burst of speed was palpable. She just took off and won so easily. It'll be exciting to see if she can build on that big win going forward. 

Ancient Rome

So of the Million (G1) runners, clearly Nations Pride was very much the best winner. The reason I point out Ancient Rome though is because he was acting up a lot before the race. 

I don’t follow racing overseas, so I’m not sure if this is his normal behavior. But he broke off from the post parade and every time I looked at him during my memorization of the horses, he looked like he was irritated. When he got to the gate, he was irritated again. 

There were questions whether he’d like a mile and a quarter since he’d been mostly a miler. But he put in a decent run and was close to keeping up with the top three finishers. I'm excited to see where he comes back. 

King Covee

Sometimes after the big races are done, it’s easy to kind of pack it in and call it a day. But I was so impressed three weeks ago with King Covee’s runner-up finish behind Determined Kingdom in a state-restricted stakes here that I was excited to see him show up in the Million Day closer. 

He was 3-1 and broke very poorly. I really didn’t notice much about his trip until I saw him starting to move up at the top of the stretch despite being at least six paths wide. 

He finished super full of run and this was with Jose Ortiz on board, who was in town for the big day; I’m sure he didn’t know anything about this horse other than what he got told in the paddock before the race. I’m really looking forward to King Covee's next start.