Abrumar victorious in the Colonel Liam (Coglianese)
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla.— Jockey Paco Lopez controlled the pace from start to finish and Abrumar, owned by Ken Ramsey and trained by Championship Meet leader Saffie Joseph Jr., won Saturday’s $200,000 Colonel Liam at Gulfstream Park.
The one-mile Colonel Liam for 3-year-olds on the grass was the first of nine stakes, eight graded, worth $1.85 million in purses on a blockbuster 14-race program headlined by the $400,000 Coolmore Fountain of Youth (G2).
After forcing his door open in the starting gate before the break, which caused a slight delay, Abrumar settled down and Lopez made the lead and set pokey fractions of 25.52 seconds for the quarter, 50.86 for the half and 1:15.15.
Sent off as the 3-1 co-favorite, Abrumar came into the stretch with a narrow lead over Silent Heart and jockey John Velazquez and Cugino and Javier Castellano. Neither rival could get by and Abrumar prevailed by a neck. The final time was 1:37.11.
This was the third consecutive win for Abrumar, a son of Divisidero. He won an allowance at Gulfstream on Jan. 13 at 1 1/16 miles going gate-to-wire on the grass. He broke his maiden at a mile on the grass on Dec. 23, also at Gulfstream.
Abrumar returned $8, $3.10 and $2.80. Favored Cugino edged Silent Heart by a head for second in the field of nine.
$200,000 Colonel Liam Quotes
Winning jockey Paco Lopez (Abrumar): “My horse, he was a little nervous. He opened the gate before the race. I know he’s a little difficult, a little nervous horse. There was a lot of speed in the race, and I thought I was going to come from behind. I thought I’d be third or fourth, something like that. Nobody was taking the lead, so I took it and they let me go in 25 and 50 [seconds]. Everybody was afraid to take the lead because there was so much speed in the race. I know [Silent Heart] has a lot of heart and when he came up my horse kept going.”
