Meadow Stable Handicap
Whenigettoheaven and Paco Lopez had to bide their time on the inside in the $100,000 Meadow Stable Handicap on Saturday, but as soon as a lane cleared the 7-year-old gelding easily kicked through to win by three-quarters of a length.
“Paco stayed patient with him and had a seam up the rail open up, got a dream run through the rail,” trainer Nolan Ramsey said. “Very happy with the horse, even happier with the ride.”
In six career starts at Colonial, Whenigettoheaven has won three times and has never finished out of the money. He won last year’s edition of the Virginia-certified Meadow Stable over Determined Kingdom and took down that Michael Trombetta-trained rival again in the 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint on Saturday.
Coming off two impressive victories at Saratoga and Colonial, Determined Kingdom earned 6-5 favoritism and set the early pace under Paco Lopez. The 7-year-old gelding completed the opening quarter-mile in 21.94 seconds and ripped through the half-mile in 44.17.
“I talked to Paco before the race and I left it up to him,” Ramsey said. “We had the inside draw. We knew Determined Kingdom was quick. So I just told Paco that if he wanted to vie for the lead, I was fine with that. If he wanted to take back and try and get first run on him, I was okay with that, too.”
Spirited Sol, a last-out synthetic allowance winner trained by Kimberly Depasquale, stalked in second and had the clearest path to attack the leader and stayed in the mix late. Whenigettoheaven had more momentum, but he was just behind Determined Kingdom and briefly had nowhere to go.
Determined Kingdom, slightly tired and caught defending against two rivals, swung out slightly at the top of the stretch, giving Whenigettoheaven everything he needed to complete the ground-saving trip. He wrested command away with energy left and completed the 5 1/2-furlong distance in 1:01.70.
Coming off a close third in the $100,000 Ben’s Cat at Laurel Park last month, bettors were slightly hesitant to support the Ramsey trainee over the red-hot Determined Kingdom. He went off at 2-1 and paid $6.80 to win.
“I was disappointed in the Ben’s Cat,” Ramsey said. “I thought we were coming in that race very strong. I thought the race set up for us very well. I thought it was pretty simple. Unfortunately, I made the decision to take back and try to stalk the pace, and I think that ultimately cost us the race. To see him run today against Determined Kingdom and really show up is really what we needed to see.”
Spirited Sol, along for the ride near the front the entire way, easily held for third, finishing a half-length behind Determined Kingdom.
Last year, Whenigettoheaven went from the Ben’s Cat to the Meadow Stable to the $100,000 Maryland Million Turf Sprint at Laurel in October. There is nothing preventing the Maryland-bred from taking the same path in 2026, though Ramsey said he could consider a start in between. /Write DRF