Upsets mark weekend horse racing, including Road to Kentucky Derby

Zulu Kingdom wins Friday's Grade I Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland. Photo courtesy of Keeneland

March 13 (UPI) -- It was a weekend of upsets in American horse racing, including a shocker in the final stop on the "Road to the Kentucky Derby."

Things were a little better ordered on the global front, with action anchored by a popular win in the first leg of Japan's fillies Triple Crown.

The Road to the Roses

Trendsetter's 32-1 upset victory in Saturday's $400,000 Grade III Stonestreet Lexington Stakes at Keeneland certainly confirmed the weekend's trend, but also ensured that the Lexington, final leg of the "Road to the Kentucky Derby," would not produce any changes in the Derby field.

Trendsetter, a Modernist gelding trained by Ben Colebrook, raced midfield until about the three-sixteenths pole, kicked into gear and drew clear to win by 2 1/4 lengths over The Hell We Did.

Claret Beret wins Saturday's Grade I Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park, a "Win and You're In" for the Breeders' Cup Distaff. Photo courtesy of Oaklawn Park

The favorite, Confessional, was the only horse in the field with even a remote chance of entering the Derby picture if he were to gain the 20 points awarded the winner. However, he finished fifth.

"I wouldn't say I was surprised," Colebrook said of Trendsetter's effort. "I thought he was going to run good. I definitely didn't think that kind of performance was there, but I thought we were going to see some improvement. And if he improved, then he was going to be kind of right there with these horses and get a piece of it."

Mad House wins Saturday's Grade III Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn Park. Photo courtesy of Oaklawn Park

Turf

The weekend of upsets started early, as Irish-bred Zulu Kingdom took the lead right out of the gate in Friday's $650,000 Grade I Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland and held it to the finish, winning by 3/4 length over South African-bred One Stripe.

Star Anise wins Sunday's Grade 1 Oka Sho or Japanese 1,000 Guineas at Hanshin Racecourse. Photo by and courtesy of Katsumi Saito

Rhetorical was third and Godolphin's Irish-bred Notable Speech, the nearly even-money favorite, reported fourth after being blocked and checked in the stretch run.

Zulu Kingdom, a 4-year-old Ten Sovereigns ridgling, ran 1 mile on firm turf in 1:34.90 with Flavien Prat up, winning for the seventh time in nine starts. For trainer Chad Brown, it was win No. 3,000.

"The boss was very happy," Brown assistant Baldo Hernandez said Saturday morning. "And Zulu Kingdom, he is very good this morning."

Hernandez said Zulu Kingdom's next stop likely is the $300,000 Grade III Poker on June 7 at Saratoga.

Filly & mare turf

It took a dead heat to avert another upset, albeit a minor one, in Saturday's $650,000 Grade I Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland. Expensive Queen and the favorite, Segesta, put their noses on the wire together after a stretch duel.

Segesta, a 5-year-old Ghostzapper mare, has three wins and two seconds from her last five starts, all Grade I and Grade II races. Expensive Queen, a 5-year-old, Irish-bred daughter of Lope de Vega, notched her fourth win from five starts in America.

"I turned around and said, 'Aarrgh. We got beat,'" Garrett O'Rourke said of Sagesa's owners, Juddmonte. "And then everyone said, 'No. It's a dead heat.' So, up and down emotions."

Expensive Queen's trainer, Brendan Walsh, added, "When you end up in this [winner's] circle, it's never too bad."

Distaff

Claret Beret got first run to the lead in the stretch in Saturday's $1.25 million Grade I Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park and opened up to win by 4 1/2 lengths over the odds-on favorite, Nitrogen. It was another 3 3/4 lengths back to Majestic Oops in third.

Claret Beret, a 5-year-old Not This Time mare trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., ran 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:42.21 under Micah Husbands.

She backed up a Valentine's Day win in the Grade III Royal Delta Stakes at Gulfstream Park and earned a "Win and You're In" spot in the Breeders' Cup Distaff on Halloween at Keeneland.

Joseph said he'd figured Claret Beret wrong earlier and finally saw the light after the two-turn Royal Delta.

"Once she won that, we realized that, 'Hey, we were wrong. She needs to go two turns.' Today, obviously, she justified that, that she's definitely much better at two turns."

Sprint

Sprinters weren't immune from the upset bug, either. Mad House, a 9-1 shot, held a tenuous lead over the favorite, Roll On Big Joe, though most of Saturday's $500,000 Grade III Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn Park, and then inched ahead to win by 1/2 length over that one.

With Paco Lopez up for trainer David Van Winkle, Mad House ran 6 furlongs in 1:08.93. The 4-year-old Vekoma gelding has won six of his last seven starts, with the only loss in that string a 14th-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Sprint.

Turf sprint

The upsets continued in the turf sprint division as Slay the Day dueled favorite Cy Fair into submission early in Friday's $350,000 Grade III Fan Duel Limestone Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Keeneland, then outfinished fellow long shot Sapphire Beach for the win.

Slay the Day, a daughter of Into Mischief and competing in her first stakes race, ran 5 1/2 furlongs on the firm going in 1:01.99 with John Velazquez up for trainer Brian Lynch.

And on Sunday at Keeneland, In Our Time came from just off the pace just in time to win the $400,000 Grade II Giant's Causeway Stakes for fillies and mares by 1 3/4 lengths over Creed's Gold.

The 5-year-old Not This Time mare was clocked in 1:02.17 with Flavien Prat in the irons for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. The favorite, Shining Star, led but faded to finish ninth.

Around the world, around the clock

On the global scene, the favorite won the weekend feature in Japan -- but only one of the four Group 1 events in Australia.

Japan

Star Anise charged up the stretch with authority to win Sunday's Grade 1 Oka Sho, or Japanese 1,000 Guineas, at Hanshin Racecourse by 2 1/2 lengths over Garavogue.

A Drefong filly, Star Anise had not raced since winning the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies on Dec. 14 -- a victory that earned her the season's 2-year-old filly crown.

The Oka Sho is the first leg of the Japanese filly Triple Crown, and Star Anise's performance puts her in the picture to pursue that dream -- but with a caveat.

The next leg of the series, the Grade 1 Yushun Himba or Japanese Oaks, is run at 2,400 meters, a full quarter-mile longer than the Oka Sho. Star Anise's pedigree in strongly tilted toward speed rather than stamina. Still, jockey Kohei Matsuyama said the filly's future in bright.

"I am not certain what plan awaits her after this race," Matsuyama said. "But I think that she has a great future to look forward to."

Australia

Ohope Wins, the 8-5 favorite, won a four-way photo at the end of the Group 1 Asahi Dray Australian Oaks. The New Zealand-bred filly improved on her fourth-place finish March 28 in the Vinery Stud Stakes at Rosehill Gardens.

After that, it was all downhill for the chalk players. Sir Delius took a late lead in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes and ran on to win by 2 1/4 lengths over Lindermann with the odds-on favorite, Autumn Glow, who was third.

Idle Flyer dealt the favorite, Lady Shenandoah, a 3/4-length defeat in the Moet & Chandon Queen of the Turf Stakes.

And Changingoftheguard, at odds of 50-1, captured the 2-mile Schweppes Sydney Cup by 3/4 length from Soul of Spain.