It was the second race at Saratoga Race Course on August 20, and jockey Cornelio Velasquez was waiting for a hole to open up on the inside.

When he couldn’t wait any longer, Velasquez decided to swing his mount, Relatively Ready, off the rail, which was already out 18 feet on the Mellon Turf Course, as they came around the far turn. The dark bay colt was forced to go six wide, and Velasquez really didn’t know much about his horse. He had ridden him once before, in the slop at Belmont Park, and Relatively Ready’s distant last-place finish was hardly enough to build confidence that he could rally to reach front runner, Umbra, before the wire.

But Relatively Ready was game. He found another gear and roared down the lane to win by more than a length.

But he couldn’t see the fans cheering for him as he crossed the wire.

That’s because he is missing his right eye, a result of having been accidentally kicked by his dam when he was a foal.

“I knew that when Relatively Ready was about three or four weeks old, his mare kicked him and he lost his right eye,” said David Donk, who trains the two-year-old son of More Than Ready-Relative for John Behrendt, William Bloom, and Charles Marquis.

Despite the injury, Relatively Ready managed to continue on the path toward becoming a racehorse. As a yearling, he was shipped to Ocala, Fla., where he was broken by J.J. Pletcher, father of the Spa’s current leading trainer, Todd Pletcher. Relatively Ready trained consistently well throughout the winter and spring, and soon enough was ready to come to New York for the start his career.

Despite the disability, Donk trained him just as he would any other horse.

“He was ready early, maybe too early,” Donk said. “His career debut was at Belmont Park last May over a sloppy five furlongs. He just got buried in it. He got mud in his face, which of course he resented since he only has one eye.”

His trainer refused to get down on his horse even after that disappointing first start, knowing all along that he was bred for the grass.

For his second start, Relatively Ready got his chance on the turf.

“I was anxious to run him and see how much horse we really had,” Donk said.

Even before the race, Relatively Ready handled himself like a professional. The paddock at Saratoga Race Course is full of other horses, people, noises, and movement. It is a stressful environment for any young horse, but Relatively Ready remained cool, calm, and collected despite only seeing half of what he could hear.

Clearly, Relatively Ready has adapted well to his disability, performing beautifully on the track and off. Donk recounts a horse he had about six or seven years ago that lost its sight over time.

“I think it’s more difficult losing it,” Donk said. “It’s easier if it’s all he knows. Relatively Ready is a good feeling colt, but everyone is aware and everybody takes notice. Sometimes, when he hears something to his right, he has to cock his head to see it. So everyone knows to let him move his head around.”

As with any promising two-year-old, Relatively Ready’s connections are rightfully excited about the recent demonstration of his talent. He is pointed toward the Grade 3 Pilgrim at a mile and a sixteenth at Belmont Park on September 28, where a strong showing could even land him in the inaugural $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at a mile at Santa Anita on October 25.

That is not an unrealistic goal.

In recent history, others have overcome partial blindness to become legitimate racehorses.

Storm in May, a gray Tiger Ridge colt who was partially blind, won the Sunshine Millions Dash and ran in the 2007 Kentucky Derby. Pollard’s Vision, whose namesake was Seabiscuit’s jockey, John “Red” Pollard, who was also blind in one eye, was the winner of the Grade 2 Illinois Derby and a contender in the 2004 Kentucky Derby.

All of whom are proof that it’s not a horse’s eyes that win races, but its heart.