Bring on the BC Turf! Burnham Square takes Elkhorn by 9 3/4 lengths

2025 Toyota Blue Grass Winner Burnham Square Dominates
VisitLEX Elkhorn on Turf at Keeneland

Stars and Stripes waves proudly in Ben Ali victory

Click here for a replay of the race and the post-race interview with winning connections.

Edited Keeneland stakes recap. (Coady Media/Ashleigh Schlitt photo above of Burnham Square’s Elkhorn victory)

LEXINGTON, KY (April 18, 2026) – Whitham Thoroughbreds’ homebred Burnham Square — last year’s Grade 1 Toyota Blue Grass winner on dirt — romped to a stakes-record 9¾-length victory in the 41st running of the $400,000 VisitLEX Elkhorn (G2) on turf for 4-year-olds and up Saturday afternoon at Keeneland.

In the race preceding the VisitLEX Elkhorn, Frassetto Stables’ Stars and Stripes wore down stablemate Batten Down to win the 95th running of the $350,000 Ben Ali (G3) for 4-year-olds and up.

Trainer Ian Wilkes said afterward that he wasn’t surprised by Burnham Square’s explosive win under Brian Hernandez Jr.

“The horse gives you confidence,” he said. “You come into the race just full of confidence with this horse. I knew how good he was, and I knew how good he was doing.”

In the VisitLEX Elkhorn, 2025 race winner Utah Beach and Navy Seal (IRE) led the field through fractions of :24.49, :50.28 and 1:16.01 while Burnham Square raced near the back of the pack.

The top two leaders were unchanged after a mile in 1:41.78 but Brian Hernandez Jr. began picking his way through horses on Burnham Square. At the top of the stretch, Burnham Square swung five wide with a full head of steam, burst to the front at the three-sixteenths pole and drew off.

The previous largest margin of victory in the race was 4¾ lengths established in 2004 by Epicentre.

“We didn’t have the smoothest of trips,” Hernandez said. “Going around the first turn, I had to check and kind of got slammed into the rail a little bit. After that, I started to work out a really good trip under the wire the first time following (trainer) Todd (Pletcher)’s horse (Grand Sonata), thinking that he was going to be the horse to beat, but then when we got into the second turn, he ended up checking and getting slammed into the rail, so then we kind of had to reroute for the third time and work our way out from there.

“From the quarter pole home, when I tipped him out, you could tell he was the best horse. I knew he was the best horse, because anytime Ian legs me up and just tells me ‘good luck’ in the paddock, you better be ready to run big races. When I tipped him outside of Luis there and asked him for his run, he shot off. For a horse to go a mile and a half and then shoot off the last quarter like he did, I knew it was going to take something really, really impressive to run him down, just because of how quickly he picked it up.”

Burnham Square completed the mile and a half on a firm turf course in 2:32.55.

Burnham Square is a 4-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Liam’s Map out of the Scat Daddy mare Linda, reflecting generations of Whitham breeding. Now a three-time graded stakes winner, Burnham Square improved his record to 12-4-4-1 and his earnings to $1,988,645 with Saturday’s $229,400 check. Burnham Square also won last year’s Grade 3 Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park. After finishing sixth in the Kentucky Derby, the gelding was a good second in Churchill Downs’ Matt Winn (G3) before his dirt career concluded with a disappointing fifth in Monmouth Park’s Haskell (G1). He came flying to be second by a neck to British invader Wimbledon Hawk in Kentucky Downs’ $3.5 million Nashville Derby (G3) in his first start on turf. He returned to the races this February with a runner-up effort in a Gulfstream Park allowance race.

The major goal for Burnham Square now is the $5 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland on Oct. 31.

“I’ll get with the Whithams and work backwards from the Breeders’ Cup, and yeah, that’s my goal — my end goal is to come here and see if we can repeat that effort,” Wilkes said. “It’s unbelievable what he did on the dirt because that’s an outlier to his whole family. He’s just bred for grass, and the more distance, the better this horse gets.”

Favored in the field of 11, Burnham Square returned $4.56, $2.96 and $2.62. Desvio rallied from far back to get second under John Velazquez to pay $7.66 and $5.54 and finish three-quarters of a length in front of Navy Seal, who paid $13.02 to show under Gerardo Corrales.

“Very exciting,” said Clay Whitham. “We knew the horse had run well on the turf in his two previous turf starts, and he was always coming on at the end. So we had a lot of confidence that he would run good. But when you’re starting to root for them at the top of the stretch, and you say, ‘Come on!’ and they go right by? That works.”

While Burnham Square has a lot of turf in his pedigree, it’s difficult to switch surfaces with all the big purse money out there for 3-year-olds on dirt. Then came the Nashville Derby, whose purse for the Kentucky-bred gelding topped any 3-year-old races other than the $5 million Kentucky Derby.

“I have to tell you, those dollar signs at Kentucky Downs definitely get your attention,” Whitham said. “We saw that Nashville Derby sitting there, and where Ian trains out at Skylight (Training Center), it’s Polytrack, and he has always really loved that surface. A good percentage of Liam’s Map’s stakes winners are turf horses. I actually want to give a shout-out to a horse last year: (multiple Grade 1 turf winner) Deterministic, he’s a Liam’s Map, and we just saw how well he did on the turf. So that gave us confidence to try him on the turf.”

It was another 1¼ lengths back to Tawny Port with Truly Quality, Utah Beach, Anegada, Freedom’s Way, Fleetfoot (IRE), Presider and Grand Sonata following in order.

Stars and Stripes waves proudly in Ben Ali victory

In the Ben Ali, Stars and Stripes got a ground-saving trip from Luis Saez in the early going, swung four wide at the top of the stretch and surged past Batten Down at the sixteenth pole to capture his graded stakes debut.

Trained by Bill Mott, Stars and Stripes completed the mile and three-sixteenths in 1:58.34 over a fast main track. The victory is the second in the race for Saez, who won aboard Kingsbarns in 2024.

Batten Down led the field unopposed through fractions of :23.93, :48.78 and 1:13.09. Going into the far turn, British Isles, Rattle N Roll and Awesome Aaron closed in on the leader while Saez bided his time before moving off the inside.

Batten Down maintained his advantage to midstretch, where he was collared by Stars and Stripes. Stars and Stripes pushed by for good at the sixteenth pole.

A Keeneland sales graduate, Stars and Stripes is a 4-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Not This Time out of the Quality Road mare Pearl River. Stars and Stripes improved his record to 7-4-1-1 and improved his earnings to $429,533 with Saturday’s $208,863 check.

Sent off as the favorite in the field of eight, Stars and Stripes returned $5.30, $3.10 and $2.44. Batten Down, also trained by Mott and ridden by Flavien Prat, returned $4.24 and $3.16 and finished a length in front of San Siro, who paid $3.78 to show under Tyler Gaffalione.

It was another length back to Awesome Aaron, who was followed in order by Rattle N Roll, British Isles, Tennessee Lamb and Guns and Glory.

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Racing continues Sunday with a nine-race program beginning at 1 p.m. and featuring the $300,000 Palisades (L) for 3-year-olds going 5½ furlongs on the grass. Post time for the Palisades, the eighth of the afternoon, is 4:44 p.m.