Unconquerable Keen © Benoit Photo
Making his first start in almost seven months, the bay gelding Unconquerable Keen found a race and a course he both liked and was quite familiar with and fired in the lane to register his third straight tally in the Stormy Liberal Stakes at Del Mar Sunday.
The Irish-bred 6-year-old by Clodovil proved best by a neck in a typical turf blanket finish under Umberto Rispoli, whose victory in the five-furlong test may have sewn up the fall riding title at the shore oval for the veteran Italian reinsman.
The winning trainer was Phil D’Amato, a conditioner known for doing especially well with European horses on the turf in Southern California.
Final time for the dash was :56.10 and the winner returned $21.60 for $2.
Finishing second in the $100 grander for 3-year-old and up was Joe Navarro’s Zio Jo, who had a head on CYBT, Gevertz or Nentwig, et al’s Sorrento Sky.
Unconquerable Keen won his eighth race in his 24th start and earned a first prize of $60,000 for his efforts. He now has purse earnings of $449,129.
UMBERTO RISPOLI (Unconquerable Keen - Winner) - “He’s a nice horse to ride. He used to be a really run off horse. We spent a lot of time to teach him how to settle and relax. I won this race last year with him, coming way back like today. And he is the kind of horse where you see more encouragement in him when he is behind horses and he likes to split. He gives you the opportunity to ride a stalking race. When the rail is down (the turf) is always a beautiful place to ride. He’s that type of horse you can ride in whatever you wants. It was good for us to have pace on, I told Phil (D’Amato) that I was going to ride him exactly like I did last year. He gets a lot of encouragement when he is behind horses, that’s the way he can finish strong.”
PHILIP D’AMATO (Unconquerable Keen, winner) – “Weaving in and out in between horses that’s Umberto’s (Rispoli) move. He loved this horse and he gave him the right trip and got the job done. We shipped him around earlier on in the year and after that Kentucky stake he needed a little time off. He came back really well. It’s really fun (winning this race for a third year in a row). These horses are cool and if we manage him the right way maybe we can do it again next year.”