Vicar's in Trouble

Vicar's in Trouble finished a respectable third in his career debut on the synthetic surface at Keeneland Race Course in October 2013 but came back two months later and streaked to a 13-length romp on the dirt at Fair Grounds. He jumped from an 81 Equibase Speed Figure to a 100, a significant spike that indicated he learned plenty from his first start and probably prefers racing on dirt. The big hurdle in the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes was whether Vicar’s in Trouble could handle stretching out in distance to a two-turn race. It was pretty clear entering the stretch that Vicar’s in Trouble was not purely a sprinter as he left his challengers reeling in his wake.

After a dull third-place finish in the Risen Star Stakes, Vicar's in Trouble bounced back in a big way in the Louisiana Derby. He rolled to a 3 1/2-length runaway win under Rosie Napravnik to cement his spot in the starting gate for the Kentucky Derby.

Vicar’s in Trouble is from the second crop of Into Mischief, who ranked third on the freshman sire list in 2012 and fifth on the second-crop sire list in 2013. Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and Santa Anita Derby winner Goldencents came out of Into Mischief’s first crop as did graded stakes winner Vyjack. Goldencents and Vyjack finished 17^th and 18^th, respectively, in the 2013 Kentucky Derby.

Vicar’s in Trouble is out of the winning Vicar mare Vibrant, who won five races at distances ranging from six to seven furlongs and is a half-sister ([same dam [mother], different sire [father]) to graded-stakes-winning sprinter True Direction. Vicar won the Florida Derby in 1999 and finished third in the Blue Grass Stakes but was unplaced in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. Vicar’s in Trouble is Vibrant’s first stakes winner.