Wellabled Speeds to Victory in the Forego at Turfway

Carolyn Wilson's Wellabled once again showed his affinity for synthetic surfaces with a runaway score in the $50,000 Forego Stakes Jan. 19 at Turfway Park.

The speedy 4-year-old Shackleford  colt trained by Larry Rivelli has claimed all five of his victories over synthetic main tracks, and impressively kicked away from a full field Friday night to win the 6 1/2-furlong Forego by seven lengths.

Wellabled first outsprinted Hollywood Talent to the lead under jockey Rodney Prescott and set fractions of :22.68 and :45.48 through a half-mile. Then he allowed closing threats Lanier and Crewman to get within a length, but opened up without much asking as they entered the stretch and glided away with ease to stop the clock in 1:16.82. Lanier held second, a length ahead of Crewman.

"He broke sharp and that was it," Prescott said. "I never even uncocked my stick. He ran a big race."

The Forego was the third stakes score for Wellabled, following the Arlington-Washington Futurity (G3) at Arlington International Racecourse and the Fritz Dixon Jr. Memorial Juvenile Stakes at Presque Isle Downs, both in 2016. After a fourth-place run in the Swynford Stakes at Woodbine to close his 2-year-old campaign, Wellabled returned off a nearly year-long layoff to finish fourth in the Steel Valley Sprint Stakes on dirt at Mahoning Valley Race Course.

Back on his preferred synthetic, however, he scored an optional-claiming allowance victory at Turfway Dec. 16 to prep for the Forego.

"He had all kinds of trouble after the (grade 1) Breeders' Cup (Juvenile Turf in 2016)," Rivelli said. "Things just came at him back-to-back, so we had no choice but to stop on him, and we let him get ready on his own. It turned out to be a year.

"He's an unbelievable athlete. He's probably the most athletic, agile horse I've ever trained. He loves the synthetic tracks."

Bred in Kentucky by PTS Ranch, out of the In Excess mare Expressive Diva, Wellabled now has a 5-1-0 record from nine starts and $214,856 in earnings. He was a $340,000 purchase by Wilson out of the Ocala Breeders' Sales April sale of 2-year-olds in training in 2016.