Collected Romps in G3 Lexington, Earns 10 Points Towards Kentucky Derby

LEXINGTON, KY (April 16, 2016) –Collected added $90,000 to his bankroll and also picked up 10 points toward the Kentucky Derby with his four-length victory over One More Round in the G3 Lexington. Collected has 21 points on the Road to the Derby.

The Derby is limited to the top 20 point earners entered and going into Saturday, the cut line was 32 points.

Trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Javier Castellano, Collected covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.33. It was the second win in the race for Castellano, who won in 2005 on Coin Silver.

One More Round, ridden by Jose Lezcano, took the lead out of the gate from his inside post position with Collected angling over from the outside 10 post position to track as his closest pursuer through fractions of :23.57, :47.47 and 1:11.73.

At the head of the stretch, Collected roared past One More Round and never was threatened the rest of the way in winning for the fourth time in six starts.

A Keeneland sales graduate, Collected is a 3-year-old Kentucky-bred son of City Zip out of the Johannesburg mare Helena Bay (GB). It was the second Grade 3 victory for Collected, who boosted his earnings to $433,700.

Collected returned $6.40, $4 and $3. One More Round, the lone maiden in the race, paid $28.40 and $13.80 with Synchrony, ridden by Shaun Bridgmohan, finishing a half-length back in third and paying $5 to show.

Direct Message was another three-quarters of a length back in fourth and was followed in order by Yo Carm, favored Swipe, Lomcevak, Riker, Call the Colonel and Big Squeeze.

Quotes from the $150,000 Lexington (G3)

Peter Fluor (partner in Speedway Stables, winning owner of Collected)
“I was very impressed with (the effort). (Trainer) Bob (Baffert) did a very good job getting him ready. Lot of good horses in the race.”

On whether the Preakness (G1) might be an option for the colt
“I think that would be the most logical step, given the distance. We’ll see how he comes out (of this race), but that would be a thrill for us.”

Javier Castellano (winning rider)
“What an impressive horse. I really liked the way he did it. He broke well out of the gate, and he wanted to dictate the pace today. I tried to sit a little bit behind the pacemaker. Turning for home, I really like the way he accelerated. When I asked, he really responded. I was really satisfied today.”

On whether Collected might like longer distances
“I think so. The way he galloped out past the wire, I was very impressed.”

Jose Lezcano (rider of runner-up One More Round)
“It was a perfect trip. He sprinted to the front and gave me a good race (but) the other horse (chased) me the whole way around. The fractions were very comfortable. He gave me a good race.”

Shaun Bridgmohan (rider of third-place finisher Synchrony)
“I had good position all the way. I thought he ran good today. This horse, he has it in him. He’s only going to get better from here on. That was a very positive race. I think he’s a very nice horse. He made up some ground and came flying. He was trying and just got beat for second.”

Luis Saez (rider of fourth-place finisher Direct Message)
“I had a good trip. He was perfect, in very good position. But when we came to the half-mile (pole), the winner and the (second-place finisher) kept going and we couldn’t compete with them. He ran big though.”

Flavien Prat (rider of sixth-place finisher and beaten favorite Swipe)
“It was a comfortable trip. I don’t know, that’s the first time I rode him but he was making noise on the backside and after that he wasn’t the same horse.”

Keeneland