Anyone who had witnessed Whitham Thoroughbreds’ BURNHAM SQUARE win his maiden on Dec. 28 at Gulfstream Park would have thought the Liam’s Map (Unbridled’s Song) colt was a strong player in the Holy Bull Stakes (G3) on Feb. 1. Following his nine-length maiden win with first-time blinkers, Burnham Square, trained by Ian Wilkes, flew past his three-year-old rivals to take Saturday’s early Florida Derby prep by 1 3/4 lengths in 1:43.60 for 1 1/16 miles.

Fans of the Whitham Thoroughbreds homebred got 4-to-1 odds for the win if they bet the colt who was ridden smartly by Edgard Zayas.

“The key is the blinkers. I had to put the blinkers on because he wasn’t helping me at all. I had to help him,” winning trainer Ian Wilkes said. “He wouldn’t help the jockey. He wouldn’t start running in the race. He’d run away from horses, wouldn’t run into the dirt. He did everything wrong.”

Appearing somewhat anxious before the race, Burnham Square broke evenly and settled in fourth position as 13-1 longshot Kinetic Control quickly established command from his rail post and went in 23.42 seconds for the opening quarter-mile. Mucho Macho Man winner Guns Loaded pressed on his outside in second, with Ferocious – making his highly-anticipated season debut – racing third.

Guns Loaded took over the top spot as Kinetic Control began to retreat following a half-mile in 47.60 seconds, with Ferocious holding third and million-dollar yearling and 8-5 favorite Tappan Street gaining ground into fourth. Tappan Street inherited the lead after going six furlongs in 1:11.69, but Zayas was following his move around the far turn on Burnham Square, setting his sights on the leader.

Burnham Square straightened for home with full momentum and surged past Tappan Street, digging in to hit the wire 1 ¾ lengths in front. It was another 9 ¼ lengths back to Burning Glory in third, followed by Ferocious, Canadian-owned and -trained He’s Not Joking, Kinetic Control and Guns Loaded.

“This horse doesn’t get tired, and that’s an asset you saw today,” Wilkes said. “He overcame a lot of adversity today and still won.”

Wilkes spent many years as an exercise rider and assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Carl Nafzger, who won the first Holy Bull with Home At Last in 1990 when it was known as the Preview Stakes. Nafzger was in attendance Saturday.

Next up on Gulfstream’s stakes schedule for three-year-olds on dirt is the $415,000 Fountain of Youth (G2) March 1, also going 1 1/16 miles.

“That’s a strong possibility. First, I’m going to enjoy the night,” Wilkes said. “I’ll talk to Mrs. [Janis] Whitham and [her son and racing manager] Clay after this.”

Burnham Square is from the Scat Daddy mare LINDA, who won the Mrs Revere stakes (G2) in her career. Linda has produced four foals to race, all winners.

Champion Citizen Bull returns a winner

Citizen Bull (Into Mischief), last year’s champion two-year-old male, got the 2025 season off to a successful start Saturday when winning the Grade III $200,000 Robert B. Lewis Stakes for three-year-olds going a mile at Santa Anita.

Trained by Bob Baffert, who was winning his seventh straight Lewis Stakes, Citizen Bull (4-5) scored by 3 ¾ lengths under Martin Garcia in what was his first start since winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 1 at Del Mar. Rodriguez (7-5) was second followed by Madaket Road (5-1), both also trained by Baffert, with Clock Tower (12-1) and Valentines Candy (49-1) completing the order of finish.

The top three colts are all Baffert trainees for virtually the same ownership group.

Citizen Bull bobbled out of the gate, but quickly went to the lead while racing on the inside. Rodriguez, making his first start versus winners, raced on Citizen Bull’s flank with Clock Tower further to the outside in third through fractions of 23.27 and 47.06 for the opening half mile.

“He was fresh,” Garcia said explaining Citizen Bull’s bobble at the start. “When I was warming him up, he just wanted to go and you could see that he was ready. When the gates opened it was like the ground broke underneath him. He just broke too fast. But right away he recovered.”

Near the three-eighths pole, Citizen Bull continued to motor on the lead, but Rodriguez had fallen back to fourth behind Clock Tower and Madaket Road. Rodriguez, with Juan Hernandez aboard, then re-engaged around the turn and moved up to second, but by then it was too late to catch the leader. Citizen Bull reached the quarter pole in 1:10.99 with a 1 ½-length lead and extended his advantage through the stretch to win in a final time of 1:36.71.

“The champ is back,” Baffert said from the Winner’s Circle. “The ‘Bull’ looked good coming down (the stretch). It’s funny, you see him and you don’t realize that he has those gears. He won’t show you that in the morning, but he does have gears.”

As an official prep for the Kentucky Derby, Citizen Bull earned 20 qualifying points towards this year’s Run for the Roses. Rodriguez collected 10 points and Madaket Road earned six points, Clock Tower, trained by Wesley Ward, got four points and Valentines Candy, trained by Jesus Mendoza, earned two points.

Citizen Bull is from the Distorted Humour mare No Joke, who has produced two other foals to race that did not win.