Closing with a huge run, 79-1 shot Informative upset the $160,000 Salvator Mile Stakes (G3) June 12 at Monmouth Park, leaving grade 1-placed Ny Traffic in his wake for a one-length score.
Although Informative came in with just two prior wins from 24 starts, trainer Uriah St. Lewis said he anticipated a strong effort from the 4-year-old son of Bodemeister on the heels of a solid runner-up effort in a $35,000 allowance optional claiming event May 15 at Pimlico Race Course.
"I expected this because this horse has been training so good," said St. Lewis, who campaigns Informative under his family's Tri-Brook Stables. "The last race he ran at Pimlico he got blocked, checked, and stopped and ran a huge number. I said to myself, `If he can run that number again he can win.' And he did."
Informative returned $161.60 on a $2 win ticket while collecting his first graded victory.
In part due to Informative's stunning victory, there is a June 13 carryover at Monmouth of $90,932 for the early Pick 4, a carryover of $67,939 for the early Pick 5, and a carryover of $29,974 for the Jersey Shore Pick 6.
Bumped at the start from post 5 under Jose Ferrer, the dark bay or brown colt raced last in a 10-horse field as graded stakes winner Green Light Go showed the way through early fractions of :23.98 and :47.27, with 9-10 favorite Ny Traffic pressing the pace. Informative moved up to seventh as three-quarters went in 1:11.55, but still had plenty of ground to make up on Ny Traffic, who had taken the lead.
"I've ridden horses like this before that looked like they were hopeless and they just pick it up for you," said Ferrer. "Everything opened up for me in the stretch. It was wide open to come through. I knew I had saved ground coming into the lane and I was thinking 'Let's see what this horse has now.' Then I saw (Ny Traffic) drifting out and I said 'Man. I'm going to get him. I'm going to win this race.'
"The horse can't read the board, so he didn't know (his odds). I've always said you don't have a chance if you stay in the jockeys' room, and this is proof of that."
We caught up with Jockey Jose Ferrer following his victory aboard Informative in the G3 Salvator Mile S. at Monmouth! Hear what he had to say about the stretch with @TVGJoaquin: pic.twitter.com/uRdUzHD8hv
— TVG (@TVG) June 12, 2021
Ny Traffic held for second, 1 1/2 lengths ahead of Galerio . The order of finish was completed by West Will Power , War Stopper , 2020 Salvator Mile winner Pirate's Punch , Basin , Bal Harbour , Green Light Go, and Croatian . The winning time was 1:37.01
"We were not intimidated by this field. That's why we entered him. We thought he could win it," St. Lewis said. "When they went down the backside I thought I had no chance. But when we got to the top of the stretch and everything opened for him I said, 'Our lucky day is coming.' All he had to do was finish strong and he finished strong. This feels good. …Everyone is happy."
Informative was bred in Kentucky by Rose Hill Farm and John Trumbulovic and is one of just two reported North American-born foals out of the winning Hard Spun mare Lucky Black , who was sold privately and shipped to Jamaica in 2018, according to Tony Ocampo of Rose Hill Farm. Tri-Brook purchased the colt for $25,000 from Brick City Thoroughbreds' consignment to the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. He was pinhooked into that sale after going through the ring as a $15,000 short yearling at the 2018 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale, where he was purchased by Three Rivers Stables from Paramount Sales' consignment.