Burnham Square

Whitham Thoroughbreds LLC's Burnham Square (Liam's Map), who won the GIII Holy Bull Stakes Feb. 1 but finished fourth Saturday as the 9-5 choice in the GII Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park, will most likely skip Gulfstream's GI Florida Derby Mar. 29 and instead ship to Keeneland for the GI Blue Grass Stakes Apr. 5. "He'll probably go to the Blue Grass," said trainer Ian Wilkes. "I've got to ship sometime." Wilkes also noted the extra week between the Florida Derby and the Blue Grass "won't hurt him."...

Godolphin's Sovereignty (Into Mischief), who closed from last to first to capture Saturday's Coolmore GII Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park, emerged as an exciting Triple Crown prospect in the first start of his 3-year-old season. "We were sort of hoping that was the way the race would pan out," Godolphin USA's director of bloodstock Michael Banahan said Sunday. "We didn't really know if he'd have enough ground to actually catch the horses on the lead with his running style, especially with the way the track seems to play for...

Godolphin homebred Sovereignty (Into Mischief) kicked off his sophomore campaign in style with a dramatic, last-to-first victory in Saturday's GII Coolmore Fountain of Youth S. at Gulfstream Park, good for 50 points on the road to the GI Kentucky Derby. Last of six and urged along by Junior Alvarado to keep pace through a half mile in :47.07, Sovereignty began to get going with a four-wide blitz on the far turn. Still with his work cut out for him in third as they straightened, the 3-1 third choice leveled off...

As the calendar turns to March, Derby fever kicks into high gear with no fewer than six races awarding points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby or the Kentucky Oaks respectively this weekend. Saturday features the return of the undefeated GII San Vincente Stakes winner Barnes (Into Mischief) for trainer Bob Baffert as one of a six-horse field in the GII DK Horse San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita. The $3.2m FTSAUG grad lines up with a pair of well-regarded stablemates in Mellencamp (Constitution) and 'TDN Rising Star' Rodriguez...

The GII Coolmore Fountain of Youth, the final prep for the GI Curlin Florida Derby held March 29, will headline a program laden with nine stakes, of which eight are graded, worth $2.15 million in purses next Saturday. The 79th running of the Fountain of Youth offers qualifying points for the GI Kentucky Derby on a 50-25-15-10-5 scale. Burnham Square, the GIII Holy Bull winner, is scheduled to clash with seven other 3-year-olds entered for next Saturday's feature. Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher is represented in the Fountain of...

Whitham Thoroughbreds LLC's Burnham Square (Liam's Map), who last captured the GIII Holy Bull Stakes Feb. 1, breezed five furlongs in 1:01.05 (2/13) Saturday morning at Palm Meadows in preparation for next Saturday's GII Coolmore Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park. The Ian Wilkes-trained colt finished the workout at Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County on even terms with stablemate Into Champagne (Into Mischief), who finished second in the GII Davona Dale Stakes and third in the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks last year, before galloping out with energy....

Whitham Thoroughbreds LLC's Burnham Square (Liam's Map) breezed an easy half-mile at Palm Meadows Training Center Saturday morning in preparation for a scheduled start in the GII Fountain of Youth Mar. 1 at Gulfstream Park. He was timed in :50.05 (49/82) in his first official workout since scoring a 1 3/4-length victory in the GIII Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Feb. 1. "He worked this morning, just a nice maintenance work, galloped out good," trainer Ian Wilkes said. "I'm very happy." Wilkes continued, "He just went by himself. I didn't...

Ian Wilkes doesn't rush his young horses. You won't seem them running in 4 1/2-furlong races at Keeneland in the spring and they may not peak until late in their 3-year-old year or even early in their 4-year-old year. That's probably why he's had only one starter in the GI Kentucky Derby, McCraken (Ghostzapper), who finished eighth in the 2017 GI Kentucky Derby. But this time it's different. Wilkes has come up with a horse that has forced his way into the Derby picture. That was evident when the Wilkes-trained...

Trainer Ian Wilkes joins the TDN Writers' Room to discuss his stable star Burnham Square, who is now on the Derby trail after winning the GIII Holy Bull. Randy Moss and Bill Finley also review the rest of last weekend's Derby prep races and discuss Baffert's domination of the California stakes races.

Whether you consider it just a random squeaking of the hamster wheel, or evidence of some latent order awaiting our discovery, these Thoroughbreds certainly know how to make us stop and think about the strange operation of life. Last Friday it was announced that Miss Macy Sue (Trippi) had died at 22. The very next day, her son Liam's Map produced a Derby contender in GIII Holy Bull Stakes winner Burnham Square. The 20 starting points banked there, moreover, matched those earned two weeks previously in the GIII Lecomte Stakes...

We're inside the 13-week mark to the GI Kentucky Derby with no seismic changes to the running order at this early stage of the season. The rankings are fairly evenly distributed among contenders based on both coasts and in Kentucky, Arkansas and Louisiana. 1) FIRST RESORT (c, Uncle Mo-Fair Maiden, by Street Boss). O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-Eoin G. Harty. Lifetime record GSW, 4-2-1-0, $338,671. Last start: WON Nov. 30 GII Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes. First Resort's 6-1 win in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes Nov. 30 rated as the most visually...

The first Saturdays in February, March and April are stacked with points-awarding prep races for the GI Kentucky Derby. It's unusual, though, for all of the coast-to-coast stakes on any one of those weekends to yield three emphatic or impactful performances. But the trio of preps on Feb. 1 produced three intriguing winners who all figure to be "horses of interest" moving forward. The victories Saturday by Citizen Bull (Into Mischief) in the GIII Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita, 'TDN Rising Star' Captain Cook (Practical Joke) in the...