Coltimus Prime to face older horses in Fayette Stakes

By: SPORTS NETWORK

Lexington, KY (SportsNetwork.com) - Coltimus Prime, one of the top Canadian 3-year-olds this year, will take on older horses for the first time Saturday in the $200,000 Fayette Stakes at Keeneland.

Trained by Justin Nixon, Coltimus Prime will be the only 3-year-old among the eight-horse field going 1 1/8 miles on Keeneland's new dirt main track. Local jockey James Graham will be aboard the colt for the first time and start from post 4.

"We decided the first week of October to come here," Nixon said. "We thought we would give him one more try on dirt. He ran well in the Ontario Derby and came out of the race in good order, so we thought we would stop here and then go straight to Florida for the winter."

Owned by Cabernet Racing, Coltimus Prime won the Price of Wales Stakes, the second jewel of Canada's Triple Crown, by 3 1/2 lengths at Fort Erie on July 29. He had finished ninth behind Lexie Lou in the Queen's Plate on July 6.

"That race was our goal when we were here in the spring," Nixon said. "In the Queen's Plate, the pace was a bit quicker than we thought it would be and he was a little close to it. And the mile and a quarter may be a little bit further than he wants."

Coltimus Prime finished fifth in April's Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland over a Polytrack surface after finishing a distant ninth in the Tampa Bay Derby. The colt has three wins and three seconds from 10 career starts for $436,583.

Here is the field for the Fayette from the rail out: Pick of the Litter, Corey Lanerie; Departing, Robby Albarado; Stephanoatsee, Julien Leparoux; Coltimus Prime, James Graham; Call Me George, Stewart Elliott; Mister Marti Gras, Florent Geroux; Long River, Rosie Napravnik and Code West, Shaun Bridgmohan.

The Fayette will have an approximate 5:13 p.m. ET post time.