But for the fact he came up a head short in a $3.5 million race, Burnham Square did everything his connections could have hoped making his turf debut Aug. 30 in the Nashville Derby.
Rallying strongly from seventh and showing the turn of foot one wants to see from a grass horse, Burnham Square headed eventual winner Wimbledon Hawkeye in the final furlong of the Nashville Derby. His trainer, Ian Wilkes, urges a viewing of the head-on replay, where one sees Frankie Dettori on Wimbledon Hawkeye herding Brian Hernandez and Burnham Square in the last half-furlong.
“He came across and intimidated my horse a little. He didn’t do anything wrong. It was brilliant riding, because if he stayed in, I’m going by,” Wilkes said.
Burnham Square finished a troubled sixth in the Kentucky Derby after winning the Grade 1 Blue Grass in April, but after a flat fifth on July 19 in the Haskell Stakes, Wilkes and the gelding’s owner and breeder, Janis Whitham’s Whitham Thoroughbreds, decided to switch surfaces. Wilkes trained Burnham’s Square’s dam, Linda, a turf horse through and through. The gelding’s sire, Liam’s Map, has evolved into a solid grass sire.
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Wilkes plans to keep Burnham Square on turf, but that will come next year. Burnham Square is headed to Lambholm South Farm in Reddick, Fla., where he was broken and where he’ll now get a period of rest and relaxation following an arduous run of racing and training.
“If you look at what he’s done, he started in October last year. It’s August. He’s run 10 times and hasn’t missed a beat,” Wilkes said.
Wilkes said he has no interest in trying to make the Pegasus World Cup Turf in January. His focus will be on a campaign spanning April through November.
“He’s a gelding. I want him to be running when he’s 8. I hope this is my John Henry,” said Wilkes.
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