3rd-Keeneland, $120,000, Alw (NW1X), Opt. Clm ($100,000), 10-11, 2yo, 1 1/16m, 1:45.94, ft, 1/2 length.
RANCHO SANTA FE (c, 2, Tapit–Family Tree {MGSW & GISP, $733,387}, by Smart Strike) ran his record to two wins from as many trips to the races with a cozy success in a two-turn allowance Saturday afternoon at Keeneland.
A debut winner going the one-mile configuration at Ellis Park on Aug. 24 and thereby possessing a key experience advantage over favored Infiltrate (Oscar Performance), who was trying a route of ground for the first time, the 23-10 second pick was bustled along soon after the break by Florent Geroux to take up a forward position and was forced a bit wide into the first turn by a wayward rival to his inside.
Trapped out four off the inside passing the five-eighths, the homebred advanced a few positions and was at the hind quarters of Infiltrate entering the second turn. Rancho Santa Fe drifted out to his right at the quarter pole, forcing Geroux to go to the crop, and was vigorously ridden as the chalk clung to the lead turning for home, but he was kept to his task and had a margin of about 3/4 of a length at the line.
A half-brother to Heroic Move (Quality Road), GSW-USA, SP-Can, $941,381, the Feb. 19 foal is one of three winners from three to race out of Family Tree, winner of the GII Indiana Oaks and GIII Iowa Oaks and third in the GI Alabama Stakes in 2016. The stakes-winning second dam Giant Mover (Giant's Causeway) also produced Grade II-winning juvenile filly Liora (Candy Ride {Arg}), subsequently runner-up in the 2019 GI Kentucky Oaks. The colt's third dam is MGSW & MGISP Gold Mover (Gold Fever).
Family Tree has a yearling Medaglia d'Oro colt and was most recently bred to Practical Joke. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $130,707. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O-Gary & Mary West; B-Gary & Mary West Stables Inc (KY); T-Brad H Cox.
RANCHO SANTA FE ($6.60) is 2 for 2 after after taking Race 3 at @keenelandracing under @flothejock. The son of Tapit (@Gainesway) is trained by @bradcoxracing and owned by Gary and Mary West.
Watch live coverage from Keeneland on @FanDuelTV, presented by @TMStallions. pic.twitter.com/12VaVzjRz8
— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) October 11, 2025
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