Coach Inge Outruns V. E. Day in Brooklyn
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Repole Stable's Coach Inge and jockey John Velazquez outran 2014 Travers Stakes (gr. I) winner V. E. Day for a game neck victory in the Brooklyn Invitational (gr. II) on the Belmont Stakes presented by DraftKings (gr. I) June 6 card .
Coach Inge, who provided trainer Todd Pletcher with his first stakes win on the card, was always forwardly placed, battling early with longshot Call Me George, as the large field went through the mile in 1:38.80, with Sky Kingdom and jockey Victor Espinoza tracking in third.
Rounding the second turn in the 1 1/2-mile test over a fast main track, Coach Inge, Call Me George, and Sky Kingdom were closely bunched, as V. E. Day made a strong move on the outside. Those four battled into the top of the stretch before Coach Inge and V. E. Day pulled away from the rest of the field. Coach Inge led throughout the length of the stretch, with V. E. Day pressing all the way, but eventually prevailed.
"For a horse that went all the way around, kind of head-and-head with (Call Me George) in the backstretch, he put in a good fight, and he put in another fight down the lane," Velazquez said. "That's a lot of guts."
Coach Inge, coming off a 12 1/2-length romp in allowance optional claiming company, completed the distance in 2:27.17. He paid $7.90, $4.30, and $3.20. V. E. Day, trained by Jimmy Jerkens, was worth $5.00 and $3.60, while Sky Kingdom, trained by Bob Baffert, was another 5 1/2 lengths back and paid $3.10. The top two combined for a $39 exacta.
The Brooklyn marked the stakes debut for Coach Inge, who was making his 10th start. It took the gelded son of Big Brown five attempts to break his maiden and he has subsequently had three victories.
"He came in off a very powerful allowance race and we just kind of had a feeling he'd handle the mile and a half, so we've kinda been targeting this for a while," Pletcher said. "I'll tell you, it was a heck of a horse race."
The winner's purse of $220,000 improved his bankroll to $376,177.
Coach Inge was bred in Kentucky by Paul Pompa, Jr. and was a $150,000 purchase at the 2013 Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s March sale of 2-year-olds in training.