Whitham Thoroughbreds’ homebred Burnham Square made a Tuesday edition of the $1.3 million Blue Grass Stakes (G1) at Keeneland one to remember with a hard-driving last-to-first win over East Avenue by a head.
Burnham Square is a 3-year-old gelded son of Liam’s Map , who is trained by Iam Wilkes and was ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr. The gelding, a winner of the Holy Bull Stakes (G3) earlier this year, stamped his ticket to the Kentucky Derby (G1), by earning 100 qualifying points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. The Blue Grass delivers 100-50-25-15-10 points to the top five finishers.
East Avenue did all the early running, setting fractions of :22.95, :46.95, and 1:11.96. He still held the lead into the stretch but could not hold off the momentum from Burnham Square. River Thames finished third.
Burnham Square ($10.48) completed the 1 1/8 miles in 1:51.33.
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