Upsets mark weekend horse racing, including Road to Kentucky Derby

Zulu Kingdom wins Friday's Grade I Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland. Photo courtesy of Keeneland March 13 (UPI) -- It was a weekend of upsets in American horse racing, including a shocker in the final stop on the "Road to the Kentucky Derby. " Things were a little better ordered on the global front, with action anchored by a popular win in the first leg of Japan's fillies Triple Crown.

The Road to the Roses Trendsetter's 32-1 upset victory in Saturday's $400,000 Grade III Stonestreet Lexington Stakes at Keeneland certainly confirmed the weekend's trend, but also ensured that the Lexington, final leg of the "Road to the Kentucky Derby," would not produce any changes in the Derby field. Trendsetter, a Modernist gelding trained by Ben Colebrook, raced midfield until about the three-sixteenths pole, kicked into gear and drew clear to win by 2 1/4 lengths over The Hell We Did. Claret Beret wins Saturday's Grade I Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park, a "Win and You're In" for the Breeders' Cup Distaff.

Photo courtesy of Oaklawn Park The favorite, Confessional, was the only horse in the field with even a remote chance of entering the Derby picture if he were to gain the 20 points awarded the winner. However, he finished fifth. "I wouldn't say I was surprised," Colebrook said of Trendsetter's effort.

"I thought he was going to run good. I definitely didn't think that kind of performance was there, but I thought we were going to see some improvement. And if he improved, then he was going to be kind of right there with these horses and get a piece of it.