Keyboard Courage Storms Home in the Long Island Classic

Original article written by Jack Meyer posted 10 years 2 weeks ago

Art Vandalay had high hopes entering the Triple Crown Trail, he had superstar Dizzy going in the fillies division, but his most prized possession was his 3YO colt out of Harry Potter, Keyboard Courage. After a gallant effort in the Louisville Derby, in which he finished 3rd, Art decided to rest his brilliant colt, and get him ready for the mile and a half Long Island Classic on 3 full weeks of rest. There was a small field for the Classic with many of the heavy hitters from the Trail absent, most notably Derby winner Are Lions Real, but the field was still very talented and included 7 million dollar purchase Horcrux, and Baltimore Crown winner Hogwarts to name a few, let’s see what fate held for this promising group of 3YO’s.

Hogwarts enjoyed a nice gate to wire win in the Crown, and Horcruz knew this couldn’t happen again if he had any chance of getting one of the three jewels of the Triple Crown and decided to try and outgun the speedy Baltimore Crown winner to the front. Horcrux got his wish, and pretty much ended Hogwarts chances right at the start of the race, as he couldn’t match strides with the more seasoned vet this time.

Vanquish and The Art Of Racing were both “A” typical stalker horses, who either needed the pace to be slow enough for them to force the lead, or fast enough for them to save ground and stalk the leaders until the far turn, on Friday night, the former happened, and they just couldn’t wear down the wear down Horcrux, and pretty much got lost in the shuffle settling for a small piece of the purse, or none at all.

The wild card in the bunch was Anointed who was nearly perfect entering the Triple Crown, and got caught behind a wall of horses in the Derby still managing to close to run 4th, so he was really the one horse that no one knew what he was going to do. Keyboard Courage was going to run his race, whether it was good enough to win or not, he wasn’t going to change his style to fit the others in the race, he was going to show his hand and let the cards fall where they will.

Horcrux was on the top of his game in the Classic, turning away Crown winner Hogwarts early, and disposing of Vanquish and The Art Of Racing without much of a fight, if he was going to lose the race, it was going to be lost late. Anointed and Keyboard Courage were revving up the engines by the time they hit the far turn, with Keyboard Courage getting the jump on his rival.

Horcrux thought he was home free once they got to the top of the stretch with a commanding 2 length lead, with no signs of retreat from the son of Harry Potter. Before he knew what hit him, a flashing light zipped by Horcrux in the form of Keyboard Courage, who was going so fast, I don’t think the jockey knew what to do with him. Anointed was making a late run also, but lost sight of the leader, and was trying to steal 2nd away from pace setting Horcrux.

Under the wire Keyboard Courage was all courage, posing for the crowd to the tune of a 5 length victory, giving Art Vandalay his Classic win, and catapulting himself back to the top of the dirt router division. Horcrux gave a game effort for owner Danny Derby, it just wasn’t enough on that day, but there is no shame in the way he ran, he left his heart out on the track and gave it his all. Anointed came up short in his effort to crack the top 2, finishing a neck behind Horcrux in 3rd, followed by Vanquish, Hogwarts, The Art Of Racing, and Terror Time.

This was Keyboard Courage’s coming out party, his 5 length victory earned him an astounding 94 Speed Figure, and marked the biggest margin of victory in the Long Island Classic since California won it way back in Year 17 by 7 ½ lengths. Congratulations to the connections, and I look forward to seeing more of these boys in the coming weeks, climaxing with a final showdown in the Steward’s Cup Classic if all goes right.

Jack Meyer

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