Kentucky Derby Horse Profile: Un Ojo
Mar 02, 2022
Cypress Creek Equine’s Un Ojo earned 50 points on the 2022 Road to the Kentucky Derby challenge series following his half-length score in the $1 million Rebel S. (G2) at Oaklawn Park on February 26. Trained by Ricky Courville, the 75-1 longest shot on the board clocked 1 1/16 miles over the fast surface in 1:45.69 with Ramon Vazquez in the silks. He currently sits in second place on the leaderboard with 54 total points.
Un Ojo notched his first career stakes race to improve his lifetime line to 6-2-2-0, $776,321. The son of Laoban was a non-factor in his first showing on October 9 at Keeneland, but he improved in a big way when going last-to-first en route to a 4 1/4-length victory at Delta Downs on November 5.
The gelding came home in fourth in the subsequent Jean Lafitte S. on the same track, and he followed that assignment up with a close runner-up showing in the New York Stallion Series S. at Aqueduct in his juvenile finale. He kicked off his sophomore season with a late-running second in the recent Withers S. (G3).
Un Ojo was bred in New York by Southern Equine Stables, and he is the first black-type winner out of the stakes-placed A. P. Indy mare Risk a Chance. This is the same female line as millionaire Antespend, who won a trio of Grade 1 races in 1996: the Las Virgenes and Santa Anita Oaks on dirt, and the Del Mar Oaks on the turf.
The sophomore has registered improving Brisnet Speed figures of 50-72-77-82-86-92 from his six lifetime races to date. He has steadily moved forward as the distances have increased, and with an abundance of stamina through his dam’s family, Un Ojo seems to possess the pedigree to thrive at a classic distance. I don’t envision his Rebel tally to be a fluke despite his long odds, and I fully expect the talented gelding to be a presence in his next assignment.
Un Ojo will likely make his next start in either the $1 million Blue Grass S. (G1) at Keeneland on April 9, or the $1.25 million Arkansas Derby (G1) on April 2.
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