Wicked Strong colt breaks maiden on stretch out

Villainous made his first two-turn start a winning one during Friday’s opening-day card at Oaklawn Park, surging to the lead in the stretch to win the $85,000 maiden special weight race for 3-year-olds by 1 ¼-lengths.

The $100,000 Fasig-Tipton July purchase made one prior start going six furlongs at Aqueduct on Dec. 7, and made the leap to 1 1/16-miles with ease on Friday. Sitting in third most of the trip, he loomed up on the outside entering the homestretch and forged ahead late to seal the win over the muddy going (VIDEO).

Trained by Jeremiah Englehart for Harold Lerner LLC, Villainous was bred in Kentucky by Rosilyn Polan and is the first foal out of Hey Julie and from the family of Eclipse Champion Turf horse and former leading general sire Cozzene.

Wicked Strong, who is standing this year for $6,000 live foal, sired 26 winners from his first crop, just one off the top spot on the list, while his eight repeat winners tied him for the most on the Freshman Sire list.