Burnham Square in Blue Grass; Kentucky Derby Field Takes Shape

The field for the 151st KENTUCKY DERBY (G1) on May 3 is almost set.

There are just 25 days until the Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs and on Tuesday, April 8, the $1.25 million Blue Grass Stakes (G1) at Keeneland, re-scheduled from last Saturday, got BURNHAM SQUARE into the field.

The stretch-running bay gelding, who had won the Holy Bull Stakes over eventual Florida Derby (G1) winner Tappan Street, was a flat fourth in the Fountain of Youth (G2) in his most recent start, but had a sizzling pace to target at Keeneland. Owned by Whitham Thoroughbreds (Janis and Clay Whitham), trained by Ian Wilkes and ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., Burnham Square was last of the field of seven by almost a dozen lengths while Luan Machado hustled East Avenue to the lead out of the gate and raced off to an uncontested lead through fractions of :22.95, :46.95 and 1:11.96.

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East Avenue, a Godolphin colt trained by Brendan Walsh who won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland last year but had been drubbed in two races since, hung tough, but he was pipped right on the wire. The time was 1:51.33 and the winner received a lifetime best 96 Beyer Speed Figure.

Burham Square, a fourth generation Whitham-bred, collected 100 Derby points and is at the top of the list (see below). East Avenue picked up 50 points and third-place finisher River Thames earned 25 points

The Kentucky Derby is limited to the top 17 point earners plus invitees that pass the entry box.

Burham Square began his career in a $150,000 maiden claiming race at Keeneland and he finished a close second. He was a close third in a maiden race at Churchill at 1 1/16 miles before a maiden win by nine lengths at Gulfstream on Dec. 28.

Wilkes, who combined with Whitham and Hernandez to win the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) with Fort Larned, said he thought he was a little easy on Burham Square before his Fountain of Youth fringe finish. Wilkes worked the son of Liam’s Map – Linda by Scat Daddy in a quick 59.60 at Churchill Downs on Mar. 29.

Liam’s Map (Unbridled’s Song) has five Grade 1 winners and he stands for $40,000. Burnham Square’s dam LINDA is a Whitham homebred who won the Mrs. Revere Stakes (G2) and she is a granddaughter of the great Canadian-bred SUNNY’S HALO, winner of the 1983 Kentucky Derby. Linda’s dam is $500,000 earner and Grade 2 stakes winner Beautiful Noise, one of Sunny’s Halo’s top offspring.

Beautiful Noise is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Listening, winner of the 1996 Hollywood Oaks.

KENTUCKY DERBY POINTS and more

Rank/Horse/Pts – Owner(s) – Trainer – Non-restricted earnings – Last 3 Beyer Speed Figures from DRF

1. Burnham Square 130 – Whitham Thoroughbreds LLC (Janis R. Whitham) – Ian Wilkes $927,425 96-91-90

2. Sandman 129 – D. J. Stable LLC (Leonard C. Green), St. Elias Stable (Vincent Viola), West Point Thoroughbreds (Terry Finley) & CJ Stables (Charles Sonson) – Mark Casse $1,117,99 99-89-92

3. Journalism 122.5 – Bridlewood Farm (Joan & Leslie Malone), Don Alberto Stable (Liliana Solari Falabella & sons Andrea & Carlos Heller), Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners (Aron Wellman), Elayne Stables 5 LLC & Robert V. LaPenta – Michael McCarthy $600,000 102-108-87

4. Rodriguez 121.25 – SF Racing LLC (Gavin Murphy), Starlight Racing (Jack Wolf), Madaket Stables LLC (Sol Kumin), Stonestreet Stables LLC (Barbara Banke), Dianne Bashor, Determined Stables (Matt Dorman), Robert E. Masterson, Tom J. Ryan, Waves Edge Capital LLC (W. Gregg Slager) & Catherine Donovan – Bob Baffert $476,000 101-90-91

5. Tiztastic 119 – Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC (Ron Winchell), Mrs. John Magnier, Michael B. Tabor & Derrick Smith – Steve Asmussen $1,395,800 95-81-89

6. Tappan Street 110 – WinStar Farm LLC (Kenny Troutt), CHC Inc. (Kit Ng) & Cold Press Racing – Brad Cox $619,400 94-87-84

7. Sovereignty 110 – Godolphin LLC (Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum et al) – Bill Mott $548,800 92-95-87

8. Final Gambit 100 – Juddmonte (Fahad bin Khalid) – Brad Cox $446,400 90-63-65

9. Coal Battle 95 – Norman Stables LLC (Robbie Norman) – Lonnie Briley $1,169,500 88-91-84

10. Chunk of Gold 75 – Terry L. Stephens – Ethan West $324,400 92-92-74

11. Citizen Bull 71.25 – SF Racing LLC (Gavin Murphy), Starlight Racing (Jack Wolf), Madaket Stables LLC (Sol Kumin), Stonestreet Stables LLC (Barbara Banke), Dianne Bashor, Determined Stables (Matt Dorman), Robert E. Masterson, Tom J. Ryan, Waves Edge Capital LLC (W. Gregg Slager) & Catherine Donovan – Bob Baffert $1,436,000 87-98-96

~~X 12. Owen Almighty 65 – Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing LLC (Travis Boersma) – Brian Lynch $430,935 90-93-83~~

13. East Avenue 60 – Godolphin LLC (Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum et al) – Brendan Walsh $612,500 96-74-75

14. Publisher 60 – Gus King & Estate of Brereton C. Jones – Steve Asmussen $355,000 95-86-81

15. American Promise 55 – BC Stables LLC (John Bellinger & Brian Coelho) – Wayne Lukas $335,000 95-88-82

16. River Thames 50 – CHC Inc. (Kit Ng) & WinStar Farm LLC (Kenny Troutt) – Todd Pletcher $176,700

~~17. Flood Zone 50 – Wathnan Racing (Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani) – Brad Cox $174,993 94-95-92~~

18. Luxor Café Japan RTKD – Koichi Nishikawa – Noriyuki Hori $323,003 won 4 of 6

19. $-Admire Daytona (JPN) – Euro/ Mideast RTKD Junko Kondo – Yukihiro Kato $599,044 won UAE Derby

~~X 20. $-Heart of Honor (GB) – Euro/ Mideast RTKD Jim & Claire Limited – Jamie Osbourne $281,558 2nd UAE derby~~

$ – supplemented to Triple Crown, earned spot from UAE Derby

On the Also-Eligible List

IN: 21. Flying Mohawk 50 – Two Eight Racing (Jayson Werth), Berry Family Racing LLC (Jeff Berry) & Kaleta Racing (Shawn Kaleta) – Whit Beckman $156,800 84-82-79
IN: 22. Grande 50 – Repole Stable (Mike Repole) – Todd Pletcher $140,000 97-87-83
IN: 23. Madaket Road 46 – SF Racing LLC (Gavin Murphy), Starlight Racing (Jack Wolf), Madaket Stables LLC (Sol Kumin), Dianne Bashor, Determined Stables (Matt Dorman), Robert E. Masterson, Tom J. Ryan, Waves Edge Capital LLC (W. Gregg Slager) & Catherine Donovan – Bob Baffert $290,000 86-90-87

24. Built 45 – Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners (Aron Wellman) – Wayne Catalano $180,000 84-92-77
25. Neoequos 40 – C2 Racing Stable LLC (Clint & Mark Cornett), Ian Parsard, Shining Stables LLC & Stefania Farms LLC – Saffie Joseph Jr. $153,250
26. Render Judgment 39 – Baccari Racing Stable LLC (Chris Barccari), Dream Walkin Farms Inc. (Tonni Covel et al), MJM Racing (Michael J. Makin) & Rocket Ship Racing (Brook T. Smith) – Kenny McPeek $163,172 90-83-79
27. Baeza 37.5 – C R K Stable LLC (Lee & Susan Searing) & Grandview Estate – John Shirreffs $100,000