Trendsetter Takes Charge With 32-1 Lexington Surprise

Just over a week after training Percy's Bar to upset Zany in the April 3 Ashland Stakes (G1) at Keeneland, trainer Ben Colebrook pulled off an even greater surprise April 11 when Trendsetter scored a 32-1 upset in the $398,750 Lexington Stakes (G3). "Somebody pinch me," he said, smiling. "You're never expecting this." The public wasn't. They let Trendsetter go off as the seventh choice in the field of nine 3-year-olds. After winning his first two starts, Midway Racing's Trendsetter had lost five consecutive races entering the Lexington, though with a couple of respectable minor stakes placings, such as a third in the March 21 Rushaway Stakes at Turfway Park. Colebrook and owner Midway Racing did not nominate Trendsetter to the Triple Crown when early nominations closed for $600 this winter, and later ones closed last week for $6,000. His race Saturday, coming over his home track at Keeneland, brought his performance to a higher level. He reeled in the leaders from fourth on the second turn with a powerful surge, and pulled away to score by 2 1/4 lengths over runner-up The Hell We Did, a half brother to 2024 Saudi Cup (G1) winner Senor Buscador. Pacesetting Corona de Oro, who set splits of :23.68, :47.92, and 1:12.12, held third. Trendsetter raced 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:44.51, the slowest time in the race since Tawny Port ran 1:45.24 in 2022. He paid $66.68 to win. "I think it's a big deal training at Keeneland year-round and to have a horse that knows this course and has been here," Colebrook said. Jockey Kazushi Kimura, who is based in California, appeared to misjudge the first-wire finish used for 1 1/16-mile races at Keeneland, keeping his mount in a drive toward the customary finish farther along in the stretch. It didn't matter. Trendsetter won with lengths to spare. I Did I Did ran fourth and favored Confessional was fifth. Though the Lexington offered limited points as the final prep as part of the Road to the Kentucky Derby series, distributed on a 20-10-6-4-2 scale to its top five finishers, it is unlikely to propel any horse into the Derby. Even if Trendsetter were supplemented to the Derby at a cost of $200,000, 20 qualifying points is below the current threshold for entry. Churchill Downs uses qualifying points as a preference system when the Derby is oversubscribed beyond its 20-horse maximum field size. None of those who chased him Saturday appear to be viable Derby possibilities, either. Trendsetter could become supplemented to the Triple Crown before the May 16 Preakness Stakes (G1) at Laurel Park, the second leg of the series, for $150,000. It costs $50,000 to do so before the third and final leg of the Triple Crown, the June 6 Belmont Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. Last year's Lexington winner, Gosger, ran second in the 2025 Preakness behind Journalism. "There's plenty of races for 3-year-olds, so I think we'll probably bypass it," Colebrook said of a Preakness try. "But we'll talk about it." The Preakness could be an option for runner-up The Hell We Did, who routed for the first time in the Lexington. Trendsetter is a 3-year-old bay gelding by Modernist out of the Astrology mare Suyapa. Davant Latham, who heads Midway Racing, purchased him for $130,000 as agent from the Grassroots Training and Sales consignment to the 2025 Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. He and Talk to Me Jimmy, a runaway winner of the Withers Stakes in February at Aqueduct Racetrack, are stakes winners for Modernist in 2026; Trendsetter is his first graded stakes winner. The second-crop stallion stands for $5,000 at Darby Dan Farm in Kentucky.