Burnham Sqaure rolls to the front in the Elkhorn, Equisport Photo
Keeneland Press
Whitham Thoroughbreds’ homebred Burnham Square romped to a stakes-record 9¾-length victory in the 41st running of the $400,000 VisitLEX Elkhorn (G2) for 4-year-olds and up Saturday afternoon at Keeneland.
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.
Trained by Ian Wilkes, Burnham Square completed the mile and a half on a firm turf course in 2:32.55.
Winner of Keeneland’s Toyota Blue Grass (G1) on dirt last spring, Burnham Square is a 4-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Liam’s Map out of the Scat Daddy mare Linda. 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.
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.
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.
