Eisaman Equine training grad Embellishing Bob got a well-earned victory in Saturday's $176,700 Derby Trial (G3) on the opening night at Churchill Downs, the first stakes win for the 3-year-old Martin Cherry's homebred.

Battling with odds-on favorite Bayern for the lead the entire one-mile trip, Embellishing Bob and Bayern exchanged plenty of contact in deep stretch, with Bayern drifting out significantly. The two hit the wire right together, with Myositis Dan, who closed from last, just another nose back in third.

Bayern got the favorable head bob to finish first, but the stewards reduced the order of finish after watching the replay.

Trained by Steve Margolis and ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., Embellishing Bob finished the race  in 1:36.73 over a fast main track.

The victory was worth $106,267 to Embellishing Bob and boosted his earnings to $143,017 with a record of 4-2-1-1.
"We were happy with his last race at the Fair Grounds,” said Margolis. “And it was like Mr. (Martin) Cherry said, let's take a shot. He's been doing really good and I knew the one-turn mile wasn't out of his reach."

Margolis was weighing his options for Embellishing Bob's next start. "There's the Woody Stephens (G2, $500,000) on Belmont Day (June 7). We'll just have to kick it around but he's a nice colt and he's run good every time we've run him. He did get bumped legitimately by Bob's (Baffert's) horse (Bayern) with his hind end and so we dug in and ran a big race."