Caledonian rallies from last for Jimmy Winkfield Upset

By Heather Pettinger —-

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Curragh Stables’ Caledonian got up just in time as the longest shot on the board to get a nose in front in a competitive edition of the $100,000 Jimmy Winkfield for 3-year-olds at six furlongs on Monday’s President’s Day card at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Caledonian, under jockey Eric Cancel, broke last in the field of five as Bavaro seized the early lead, taking his rivals through an opening quarter-mile in 22.90 seconds with Shoe Loves Shoe close in second. Caledonian picked off rivals along the rail as the field reached the turn.

Sal the Turtle made a bid for the lead as the field turned for home, overtaking the pacesetter after a half-mile in 46.80. Near the eighth pole, Caledonian found a seam between Sal the Turtle and a fading Shoe Loves Shoe and dug in along the rail to hit the wire a nose in front of Even Thunder, who launched a furious bid from the center of the track.

The final time was 1:12.19.

“I knew I had some horse, I just had to get after him to force him to give me more,” said Cancel. “I’m real happy with the result. I thought I got beat because by the angle I had, he [Even Thunder] looked in front. But thankfully we ended up with a victory.”

Caledonian, sent off at 10-1, returned $23 for the win. Winner of the Lost in the Fog on January 1, the New York-bred colt by Concord Point picked up his third victory for career earnings of $156,565.

“We missed a couple of breezes with him coming in, so we thought he might be a little bit short for this,” said winning trainer John Terranova. “But he had such a great breeze the other day working against a really nice horse of ours we have in the barn, and did it well so we felt very confident coming in.

“We thought he was going to run a big race, we just weren’t sure if he was fine-tuned enough to get it done, but he’s just been an honest horse…tough, gutsy and tries hard. We got the pace setup we wanted. I told Eric to just sit back and wait for it and hopefully they’ll set a good pace up front and we’ll close into it. He gets up. He worked hard for it and kept on fighting.”

Even Thunder finished 1 ½ lengths ahead of Sal the Turtle in third. Shoe Loves Shoe and Bavaro round out the order of finish.