Cellist towers over Colonial Cup rivals

Calumet Farm Cellist a winner of the Louisville Handicap (G3T) game, appears to be the class of an atypical champ gathered on July 27 for the $150,000 Colonial Cup Stakes at Colonial stockings.

A belated bloomer who only broke his maiden in February last year, the George Arnold-trained cellist won his first stakes in the Audubon Stakes at Churchill Falls and picked up the first graduated stakes win on May 21 in Louisville. The 4-year-old son of the 2015 Eclipse champion grass horse big blue kitten always showed a penchant for road racing throughout his career, managing the 1 1/2 mile Colonial Cup in Louisville and placing third in the 1 1/4 mile Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes (G1T) and 1 5/16-mile Big Ass Fans Dueling Grounds Derby at 3.

Julien Leparoux retains the mounts on Violoncelliste. The pair will come off the 8 post in the field of 11.

In addition to Cellist, the field includes Team Block’s another mystery a recent winner against State Breeders in the June 3 Black Tie Affair Handicap at Hawthorne Racecourseand Trinity Farm’s red knight , a Grade 3 winner at this distance who has had no wins in his last six starts but has twice finished in graded stakes, including the 2021 Louisville Stakes. Red Knight, an 8-year-old gelding son of Pure Prize, will make his first start in 11 months for new coach Mike Maker on Wednesday. Jareth Loveberry has the mount on Another Mystery, while Horacio Karamanos will be aboard Red Knight.

Joining the fray are two obstacle chasers, Hasty decision and The Happy Giant . Snap Decision, a former Phipps Stable flag bearer, was ranked on the flat before becoming a star over hurdles for trainer Jack Fisher and Bruton Street-US. The hard spun The gelding hasn’t competed on the flat in 3½ years, but is entering the Colonial Cup after a 7 1/4 length win on May 14 in the Calvin Houghland Iroquois Hurdle Stakes (NSA-G1) at Percy Warner. Snap Decision will be ridden by Forest Boyce and will come off post 2.