Next stop for Arazi: Churchill Downs.
Arazi made his long-awaited 3-year-old debut on Tuesday and breezed to a five-length victory in the Prix Omnium II, a 1,600-meter turf race run counter-clockwise on the grass.
The victory, five months after his smashing triumph in the Breeders` Cup Juvenile, meant that the colt will be the one to beat in the Kentucky Derby on May 2.
Co-owner Allen Paulson said Arazi wasn`t even in top form Tuesday.
”If he is just about 60 percent now, what will he be like at 100 percent?” Paulson said. ”He`ll be awesome, a super, super horse.”
Arazi`s much-anticipated return to the track marked the first time he ran since undergoing surgery in Kentucky to remove microscopic chips in both knees.
Ridden by Steve Cauthen, Arazi`s regular jockey in Europe, the colt had an easy time against seven challengers and covered the distance in a medicore 1:48 over a soft track after overnight rains.
The Kentucky-bred colt, part of trainer Francois Boutin`s three-horse entry that went off at 1-10, will not race again until the Derby, in which he will be ridden by Patrick Valenzuela.
