Toyota Blue Grass

Stakes (Grade 2)

FOLLOWING his mantra of thinking positively, O’Neill entered maiden Irap in the Grade 2 Toyota Blue Grass at Keeneland. Sent off 31/1, the son of Tiznow tracked the pace, engaged and brushed off Fountain of Youth runner-up Practical Joke and the previously unbeaten McCraken to earn his way into the Derby.

Owned by Reddam Racing and ridden by whip-waving Julien Leparoux, Irap scored by three-quarters-of a length.

Irap lost his first seven starts while testing out different styles of running, experimenting on the turf, with and without blinkers, from Santa Anita to Sunland Park.

Within those defeats, the bay colt hit the board in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity, the Grade 3 Robert Lewis and the Mine That Bird Derby and finished fourth in his previous start in the Grade 3 Sunland Park Derby.

Leparoux might have added another line to O’Neill’s repertoire with a four-word synopsis of the upset.

“It came to reality,” the French-born jockey said.

With two wins in the Derby – Nyquist and I’ll Have Another – O’Neill will try to follow the same plan with a horse who certainly has stamina on his side.

“He’s a son of Tiznow, and he has a ton of ability,” O’Neill said. “The fact he was still a maiden was kind of unfortunate, but he’s always been a talented horse. Julien gave him a great ride. Unbelievable.”

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