Could he have won? At least finished in the top 4? No one ever will know how Burnham Square would have fared in the Kentucky Derby had he not been checked hard before the far turn, dropping back from a favorable spot on the rail to an impossible spot back on his heels before rallying again – gamely, after all chance had been lost – for sixth.
“He was in a great position. Brian [Hernandez Jr.] was ready to let him ease into the race. He said he only had one horse to go around. We may have been on the lead turning for home. . .” trainer Ian Wilkes recalled.
Wilkes can’t love looking back on Burnham Square’s Derby, but the gelding’s willing finish validated his victory the month before in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes and left Wilkes feeling ready to tackle the top of the 3-year-old division again. Just not right away.
Burnham Square obviously isn’t in the Preakness, but Wilkes said he’ll also bypass the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga and aim Burnham Square at the $400,000 Matt Winn on June 8 at Churchill.
“If I won the Derby, I’d be going to the Preakness. Now, I’ve got a gelding I’m looking to keep around for multiple years. I’ve got to refill his tank somewhere,” Wilkes said. “My idea is to run him in the Matt Winn, then have a crack at them again maybe in the Haskell or the Travers.”
Burnham Square, a Whitham Thoroughbreds homebred by Liam’s Map, doesn’t carry a lot of flesh but as was the case with the Blue Grass, came out of the Derby in good shape.
“No problems. His constitution is unbelievable,” Wilkes said.
Wilkes also hopes to jump back into Grade 1 competition later in the summer with the 5-year-old mare Positano Sunset, who won the Grade 1 Madison in April at Keeneland but was just sixth over sloppy going in the Derby City Distaff. In the nearer term, Positano Sunset will start next June 21 at Churchill in the $300,000 Chicago Stakes.
No plans yet for East Avenue
Trainer Brendan Walsh sees no reason not to push forward with East Avenue following the colt’s eighth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, but he and owner-breeder Godolphin have yet to determine where and when.
Grade 1 winner East Avenue, rebounding from a dud of a 2025 debut in the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds, set a strong pace and nearly held off victorious Burnham Square in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland. In the Derby, he stalked the pace and went evenly while racing over a sloppy track Walsh doesn’t think his horse liked.
“Down the backside his action was kind of all over the place. But he didn’t quit again. I know a lot of people thought he quit in the Risen Star,” Walsh said.
Walsh said East Avenue had taken his Derby well enough.
“I think we get him back to the races pretty soon. There are a lot of options,” Walsh said.
Speed galore in feature
On paper, there’s too much speed in the featured seventh race Thursday at Churchill Downs for a front-runner to come out atop this first-level turf sprint allowance for older fillies and mares. Rojo Rita, Perfect Figure, and Blackfoot Daisy all have TimeformUS early pace figures well over 100. And that doesn’t even account for Stellar Asset, who notched a fifth-start maiden win going straight to the front and setting a strong pace last out in a Tampa Bay Downs turf sprint.
So, why not an off-the-pace horse trying a turf sprint for the first time? Atomic City won her career debut at age 2, then struggled to make much of an impact in four juvenile dirt stakes last season. Trainer Eddie Kenneally brought her back from a winter break in a turf race, a route allowance last month at Keeneland, where Atomic City stalked the pace and ran out of gas in the homestretch. Her sire, Twirling Candy, is aces with turf sprinters, and Atomic City looks as good a guess as many.
First post for this card is 5 p.m. Eastern, a welcome twilight card on what’s forecast to be a 90-degree day in Louisville.
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