Burnham Square put on a dazzling dash from last to first and edged a game East Avenue by a nose in the $1.25 million Blue Grass Stakes (G1) at Keeneland on Tuesday.
In the final major prep for the 2025 Kentucky Derby (G1) on May 3, Burnham Square picked up 100 qualifying points and finished atop the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 130 points – one point ahead of Arkansas Derby (G1) winner Sandman.
East Avenue, who also needed a big race to get into the 2025 Kentucky Derby, picked up 50 points to earn a spot in the 20-horse Run for the Roses with 60 points (13th on the leaderboard).
Even River Thames, the third-place finisher who picked up 25 points, doubled his total to 50 – good for 16th on the leaderboard.
Owen Almighty, who finished sixth in the field of seven, came into the 1 1/8-mile Blue Grass with 65 points (50 from his win in the Tampa Bay Derby) and finished 12th on the road the Kentucky Derby leaderboard.
East Avenue and Owen Almighty dueled for the lead early before East Avenue took charge through fractions of 22.95 seconds for the first quarter and 46.95 for the half. While jockey Luan Machado was urging on East Avenue around the far turn as Owen Almighty faded, Burnham Square launched his bid from way back under Brian Hernandez, Jr.
He blew past his rivals, gained on East Avenue with every stride down the stretch, and nailed him at the wire. It took several minutes to review the finish before the final order was posted.
“He’s an exciting horse to move forward with,’’ said Hernandez, who won the Kentucky Derby with Mystik Dan last year and the Kentucky Oaks (G1) with Thorpedo Anna. “When we turned for home, my horse had a full head of steam. I was pretty confident we were gonna run him down, so right at the wire I kind of had an idea we got a neck in front of him.”
Burnham Square, sent off at 4-1, returned $10.48 for a $2 win bet. The winning time was 1:51.33 for the race, which was initially set for Saturday but was rescheduled due to severe weather and flooding in central Kentucky.
Trained by Ian Wilkes, the son Liam’s Map showed his talent in winning the Holy Bull (G3) at Gulfstream Park in his 3-year-old debut, then ran fourth behind Sovereignty, River Thames, and Neoequos in the Fountain of Youth (G2).
Admiral Dennis was fourth, followed by Render Judgment, Owen Almighty, and Chancer McPatrick.
Wilkes said he may have gone a bit easy on Burnham Square for the Fountain of Youth.
“His Holy Bull was good. The Fountain of Youth, I had to go easy. He’s not a big, robust horse and I wasn’t as hard on him as I wanted. Then, I trained him a little more for here because I needed points. I couldn’t mess around.”
Brendan Walsh, who trains East Avenue, said the Kentucky Derby is the likely next stop.
“I loved how he battled. He looked at the head of the straight like he was going to fold, and he didn’t fold, and I think it’s a good sign for the future,’’ said Walsh. “I think he’s a horse that can still improve. It’s nice to see him run a race like that.”
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
