English Bee earns first graded stakes win in Virginia Derby

Calumet Farm homebred English Bee pressed a dawdling pace and held off the late rally of Jais's Solitude by about a head on the wire to win the Grade 3, $250,000 Virginia Derby on Saturday at Colonial Downs.

Ridden by Jorge Vargas, English Bee hounded Credit Swap through fractions of :26.40, :52.66 and 1:18.26 for six furlongs before finally overtaking that stubborn rival in mid-stretch. There remained one final challenge, as rallying on the outside came Jais's Solitute, who steadily made up ground but could not get to the winner in time. 

Favored English Bee completed 1 1/8 miles in 1:52.94 and paid $6 to win. Jais's Solitude finished about a half-length clear of Credit Swap for second.  

Trained by Graham Motion, English Bee appreciated a bit of class relief as he was off the board in the Belmont Derby (G1) and the Hall of Fame Stakes (G2) in his previous two starts. Prior to that, he won the James W. Murphy at Pimlico for his only other stakes score. 

By English Channel out of Evil Kitten, by Kitten's Joy, English Bee improved his record to 9: 4-1-1. The $150,000 winner's share more than doubled his earnings to $282,150.

“I’ve had a couple of tough beats (in this race) over the years,” Motion said. “This is a tough little horse. He’s really deserving. He always shows up. It’s great to be here with a big crowd on an exciting night. Great racing. He’s had a long season. He tries so hard. We might get one more race into him before the end of the year. He ran huge tonight.”

The Virginia Derby moved back to Colonial Downs this season to coincide with the New Kent County, Va., track's reopening. In the interim, it had run at Maryland's Laurel Park as the Commonwealth Derby.