Colonia (FR) Rallies to Give Motion Third Pin Oak Valley View Victory in Four Years

By Amy Owens —-

LEXINGTON, KY (Oct. 19, 2018) – Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, Maurice Lagasse, Haras d’Etreham and Bethlehem Stables’ Colonia (FR) collared pacesetting Cool Beans in deep stretch and then held off a bid from 70-1 longshot Get Explicit by a half-length to win the 28th running of the $150,000 Pin Oak Valley View (G3) for 3-year-old fillies before a Friday afternoon crowd of 16,096.
Trained by Graham Motion and ridden by Joe Bravo, Colonia covered the 1 1/16 miles on a firm turf course in 1:45.98.
It is the third victory in the race in the past four runnings for Motion, who won in 2015 with Tiger Ride and 2016 with Quidura (GB). For Bravo, it was his second win in the race having triumphed aboard Mingling Glances in 1997.
Cool Beans set an uncontested pace and led the field of 13 through fractions of :24.35, :50.06 and 1:15.48 as Colonia raced near the back of the pack.
Turning for home, Cool Beans disposed of her early pursuers only to have Daddy Is a Legend make a bid for the lead on the inside. The two raced as a team until just before the sixteenth pole when Daddy Is a Legend ducked through the inner Mawsafe safety rail. (She was uninjured.)
At that point, Bravo was angling Colonia between horses for clear running, catching Cool Beans late and then staving off Get Expicit.
Colonia, who began her career in France, is a daughter of Champs Elysees (GB) out of the Muhtathir mare Clara Luna (IRE). It is her first graded stakes victory in the U.S., and the winner’s share of $90,000 increased her earnings to $227,014 with a record of 9-3-0-3.
Colonia returned $16.60, $8.80 and $6.40. Get Explicit, ridden by Shaun Bridgmohan, returned $50.20 and $23 and finished a head in front of Cool Beans, who paid $7.60 to show under Florent Geroux.
It was another neck back to Mighty Scarlett, who was followed in order by Reversethedecision, Kabella, Goodthingstaketime (IRE), High Tech, Beach Waltz, Sirenusa, favored Poetic Charm (GB) and More Fun Again. Daddy Is a Legend was uninjured as she walked off the track.
Racing continues Saturday with a 10-race program beginning at 1:05 p.m. ET that is highlighted by the 20th running of the $250,000 Lexus Raven Run (G2) for 3-year-old fillies going 7 furlongs on the main track. Post time for the Lexus Raven Run, the ninth race, is 5:30 p.m.

Quotes from the $150,000 Pin Oak Valley View (G3)

Daddy Is a Legend was UNINJURED

Click here for a replay of the race and the post-race interview with the winning connections

Graham Motion (winning trainer of Colonia [FR])
“I was worried when they went a half in :50. I thought she had a lot to do. She has a tremendous turn of foot. Joe (Bravo) gave her a great ride. He was very patient.
“It’s a shame what happened in the stretch (when Daddy Is a Legend went through the inner Mawsafe safety rail just before the sixteenth pole and was uninjured) but looks like everyone’s OK. That’s the main thing.”
“(Colonia) really hasn’t done much wrong. She got left with a lot to do in California (in the Del Mar Oaks-G1 in August), where they really ran away from her early. It was hard to make up that kind of ground. She’s very consistent. I think she’s an improving filly.”
Joe Bravo (winning rider)
“The race really set up nice for us. It was just really unfortunate this (incident) happened in the last eighth. This filly is just so focused at the finish line that it didn’t bother her a bit. She stayed focused all the way throughout.
“Graham’s always been excited about this horse coming along. That was a pretty nice move to go through everybody, weave her way through. She’s going to be special. I can’t wait to see what she does in the future. Thank you, Graham.”
Shaun Bridgmohan (rider of runner-up Get Explicit)
“I thought she had a good trip. There was not much pace. When she broke I kind of went left just to try to get her covered up. She was in the bridle and I had to go wide on the second turn, but she was trying. I was way on the outside. I thought (Get Explicit) ran her eyeballs out; she’s a pretty nice filly.”
Florent Geroux (rider of third-place finisher Cool Beans)
“Manny (Franco on Daddy Is a Legend) was in tight and looked like he was going to win the race, but then his filly went through the fence. I guess (Cool Beans) got scared. Once my filly saw her jumping the fence, she just put the brakes on. She got scared, too.”
Manny Franco (rider of Daddy Is a Legend, who went through the inner rail just before the sixteenth pole and was injured)
“My filly got a little bit tight there, but I had the (opening). She just got close to the rail and tried to jump it.”