Looking to build on an open-lengths allowance victory first off a December absence back on Feb. 11, Three Chimneys Farm's Igniter (Volatile) remained perfect at three with a popular victory in Saturday's $135,000 Jimmy Winkfield Stakes at Aqueduct.
Sent off as the 3-5 chalk, the homebred was the first to break the line, but was overtaken on the front end by chief market rival Easy Decision (Charlatan) through an opening quarter in :22.78. Joined to his outside by 8-1 Time To Roll (Not This Time), leaving him in a somewhat precarious spot between rivals nearing the stretch, Igniter boxed on bravely to carry a narrow advantage into the final eighth of a mile and refused to lay down from there, scoring by a length and a tail. Blue Forty Two (Audible), second in that Feb. 11 allowance, was on the scene late for third.
“I was pressing the two [Easy Decision], I knew that was the horse to follow,” winning jockey Manny Franco said. “I knew he'd be in front of me. I didn't want to let him go too far ahead because I was thinking he was the other horse to beat.”
Igniter is the eighth stakes winner for his Three Chimneys-based stallion and his GI Ruffian Handicap-winning dam is a half-sister to four-time graded winner and Grade I-placed Valid, a son of Volatile's grandsire Medaglia 'Oro.
Gun Runner plays a major role in the subsequent produce of Malibu Prayer, as the mare's current 2-year-old is a filly by GI Preakness Stakes winner Early Voting and her yearling is a colt by Gun Runner himself. Malibu Prayer was most recently bred to Gun Pilot.
Igniter was the subject of a Steve Sherack 'Second Chances' column last September. Click here to read.
JIMMY WINKFIELD S., $130,950, Aqueduct, 3-14, 3yo, 6f, 1:10.36, ft.
1–IGNITER, 121, c, 3, by Volatile
1st Dam: Malibu Prayer (GISW, $618,026),
by Malibu Moon
2nd Dam: Grand Prayer, by Grand Slam
3rd Dam: Lyrical Prayer, by The Minstrel
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O/B-Three Chimneys Farm, LLC (KY);
T-Richard E. Dutrow, Jr.; J-Manuel Franco. $74,250. Lifetime
Record: 5-3-0-1, $179,900.
2–Time to Roll, 121, c, 3, Not This Time–My Galina, by Medaglia
d'Oro. ($270,000 Ylg '24 SARAUG). 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Adelphi
Racing Club and Chief Horse Futures, LLC; B-Kingsport Farm
(NY); T-Horacio De Paz. $27,000.
3–Blue Forty Two, 119, g, 3, Audible–Evasive Storm, by Elusive
Quality. ($42,000 Ylg '24 KEESEP; $20,000 2yo '25 OBSMAR;
$95,000 RNA 2yo '25 FTDAUG). O-Thomas L. Kolschowsky;
B-Ernest C. Frohboese (KY); T-Rachel Sells. $16,200.
Margins: 1, HF, NO. Odds: 0.67, 8.08, 21.25.
Also Ran: Tiger Rocket, Easy Decision.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
🔥 IGNITER ($3.34) puts 'em away in the $135,000 Jimmy Winkfield Stakes at Aqueduct with @jockeyfranco in the irons for trainer Richard Dutrow, Jr. and owner and breeder @Three_Chimneys. Another winner by their stallion Volatile. pic.twitter.com/P8HQJAG8g9
— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) March 14, 2026
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