Heading into the latest edition of the $300,000 West Virginia Breeders’ Classic, the feature on the annual West Virginia Breeders’ Classic card that highlights the best state-breds in training, much of the focus was on the speedy Teachintherelease, the 1-5 favorite despite the presence of defending champion Runaldo.

Sixteen months ago, owner Robert Cole, Jr. and trainer Stephen Murdock reached in to fetch Teachintherelease for $20,000 out of an allowance/optional claiming event. The five-year-old Windsor Castle gelding had since won seven races, now including four state-bred stakes. Last fall he finished second in the WVBC Onion Juice but capped his campaign with a handy score in the Randy Funkhouser Memorial at the same, three-turn distance of nine furlongs and that was when the plan for 2025 came into motion.

Riding a three-race win streak heading into the Classic, including a sharp score in the $75,000 Frank Gall Memorial when he led throughout despite racing against a serious closers’ bias on the Charles Town Classic and Charles Town Oaks undercard, Teachintherelease (Carlos Lopez) would easily live up to his role as the odds-on choice in the Classic although even his connections admitted that they were surprised by the ease in which her prevailed.

Away well from post eight to gain command entering the far turn the first time, Teachintherelease shook loose of brief pressure passing the finish line the first time as well and coasted through early splits of 24.33, 48.18 flat and 1:14.17 through the first three calls and gradually disposed of his rivals. In fact, Teachintherelease widened his advantage under very little urging from Lopez on the far turn and romped home 14 ¼ clear while stopping the timer in 1:52.67 for the nine furlongs.

“When he made the front so easily, I just let him cruise along,” Lopez said. “I never really had to get after him. I thought there would be some pressure at some point, but every time I looked over there was no one close. He started to draw clear going into the far turn and I never really set him down. He was just much the best.”

Teachintherelease, who now owns four wins from five seasonal outings, also boasts a 14-10-1 slate and over $550,000 banked from 32 career outings. Both were nearly left speechless by his performance on Saturday night and his owner expects the Windsor Castle gelding to have several more successful years on tap.

“This is the second-biggest purse that I’ve won,” Cole said. “I once won a $500,000 graded stakes about 20 years ago, but this is the second biggest purse. He’s got so much natural early speed that he makes it easy on himself. I knew when he got to the front in 48 and 1:14 they were never going to go by him. He’s only five and he’s sound, so I think he’ll be good through his seven- or eight-year-old season.”

“I thought there would be a little more speed in there to go with him, but I thought he could get the lead,” Murdock said. “I didn’t think he would be able to get away that easily on the front. It probably helped that Coastal Mission was not in there. You have to respect that horse and he decided to skip the race and that helped. But he was really good. He was better than I ever expected him to be.”