Nobody Listens had everyone’s attention Wednesday in the 26th running of the $100,000 Brickyard Stakes at Horseshoe Indianapolis in Shelbyville.
The flashy grey gelding, ridden by Joe Ramos, used a power move early and was on his way to his first career stakes win.
The outside post 11 didn’t deter Nobody Listens (photo) a bit. The four-year-old gelding rallied out of the gate on top from the extreme outside and had plenty of room to cross over to the lead. Trained by Marvin Johnson, the gelding kept up his momentum around the turn and in the stretch with nobody closing in. Nobody Listens hit another gear and pulled away from the field for the win by six lengths in 1:10.03.
Flowerpecker and Emmanuel Esquivel finished second over Meetmeinkingston and Romero Maragh for third.
Nobody Listens was the second choice on the board, paying $6 to win. He is owned by local residents Matt Kwiatkowski, Jason Kaylor and Roger Browning. Kwiatkowski and Browning have owned him since he began his racing career. It was the second stakes win this year for the Kaylor, Kwiatkowski and Browning partnership. Earlier this season, they connected with Too Bad Justice in the Sagamore Sired Stakes, also trained by Johnson and ridden by Ramos, who has been aboard Nobody Listens in 13 of his 14 career starts.
“It was a good post for us,” said Ramos. “We took the blinkers off a couple starts ago and it’s made a big difference. With the blinkers on he was confused about when to run. He came out of the gate well and when we were in the stretch, I checked where they (other horses) were, and I asked him. He took off just like he did out of the gate. He’s got a lot of speed and he can run all day. I want to thank the owners and Marvin (Johnson) for letting me ride him. Plus, my mom (Glory) was here today from Puerto Rico. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
Nobody Listens increased his career bankroll to more than $282,000. He is now two for four with two second place finishes in 2022. He has only finished off the board twice in his career.
