Catching My Eye at Colonial Downs Week 2

Welcome to Week 2 of Catching My Eye for Colonial Downs. We were met with some weather obstacles again this week as we had our final four races wash off the turf Saturday. Friday was easily the best weather day we’ve had and the first night under the lights was truly enjoyable. Racing under the lights is more fun in my opinion. So here are some things that caught my eye here for week 2 in Virginia. 

Bandits Heart and Xavier Perez

Going to lead this week with a couple of performances from riders that I thought really stood out. First in Thursday's sixth race, Bandit’s Heart was a hard fought 7-1 winner under jockey Xavier Perez. Breaking from post 8, the “X Man” managed to get his mount all the way to the rail and into a beautiful tracking spot within about a furlong of the race. He saved all the ground and was able to swing out and just narrowly overtake one of the favorites to spring the small upset. I rarely comment on moves riders make in races, but this one just jumped out live and with the end result, I think you can argue that it made the difference between winning and losing. Xavier doesn’t come down to Colonial much, but when he does there’s usually a reason for it. He was 1-for-1 last season and 2-for-4 back in 2022. Worth noting if he does show up here instead of Laurel where he’s based. 

Trevor McCarthy

Big week for the multiple Colonial Downs riding champ as he went from zero to five wins in the second week of the meet to jump atop the standings. The wins were great, but what caught my eye, and another horseplayer I talked to on social media, was how hard he rode for minor placings. Thursday's card saw Trevor riding as hard as he could for third in races 7 and 11. Both races he grabbed that show spot by a razor thin margin. I see a lot of riders who when they can’t win they often just kind of put it away because there isn’t that much financial difference for them running third or fourth. Which I’ve never understood because the difference can be big for owners and monumental for bettors. I thought it was noteworthy that both myself and another horseplayer saw the same effort from Trevor for those minor placings in different races. 

Brittany Russell

The Brittany Russell barn is off to a very strong start this meet, which isn’t a surprise to many. She’s perennially a high percentage trainer and last year catapulted into the top 20 nationwide in earnings and wins for the year. But her history at Colonial has been one filled with streaks. I’m very curious how her barn continues because she’s been streaky here before, both good and bad. In 2021, she went 0-for-10. In 2022, she got off to a fast start winning with three of her first five starters. However she went 0-for-8 after that. Last season she started out 1-for-15 and her horses typically take a lot of money. But she finished with six wins from her final 24 starts to wind up a solid 18% for the season. Maybe the real truth with these numbers is that these are small samples and there’s going to be ups and downs for any barn. I think short term trainer stats often get blown out of proportion.