The Ian Wilkes-trained Burnham Square placed post 8 in an overflow field of 16 in the eighth race, which is for older horses at 1 1/16 miles on grass. Edgard Zayas has been named to drive.
‘It’s been a long year. You want to get it going again,” Wilkes said. “It’s probably a little faster than I wanted, but sometimes you have to play the hand you’re dealt.”
Zayas was Burnham Square’s regular driver at Gulfstream last winter, running all three of his races, each at 1 1/16 miles. The Liam’s card The gelding broke his maiden by 9 lengths for the third time in December 2024 and then rallied to beat the eventual winner of the Florida Derby (G1) Tappanstraat in the Holy Bull Stakes (G3).
After a fourth-place finish in the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) last year, Burnham Square left South Florida for Kentucky, where he won the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) at Keeneland through a nose. He would remain in sixth place Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby (G1).
From then on he was beaten half a length as he finished second in the Matt Winn Stakes (G3). Churchill Downsran fifth in the Haskell Stakes (G1). Monmouth Parkand fell a head short at odds of 13-1 in the Nashville Derby Invitational Stakes (G3T), going 1 5/16 miles over the undulating grass field Kentucky downs.
“Very happy with his year last year,” Wilkes said. “He was a Class 1 winner on dirt, which I don’t think he was bred for. I think he was bred more for grass. He lost a $3.5 million race by a head. He had a great year.”
Wilkes will have a number of starters on Saturday: Omaha Bay in the $225,000 Davona Dale Stakes (G2) for 3-year-old fillies on dirt and Just sunbathe in the $175,000 The Very One Stakes (G3T).
Jim Gladden’s Omaha Bay enters the Davona Dale with one start, a front-running three-quarter debut triumph sprinting 6 furlongs on December 28 at Gulfstream.
The Davona Dale offers 105 qualifying points at the May 1 Kentucky Oaks (G1) to the top five finishers on a 50-25-15-10-5 basis.
Andrew Schwarz and Wendy Schwarz Gilder’s Just Basking, meanwhile, won the 2024 Iowa Oaks and finished a distant third in the 2024 Alabama Stakes (G1), both on dirt, the latter in what would be her 2024 season finale. Last year she made one start and finished seventh as favorite in an optional claimer for an allowance on the Fair Grounds Race Track and Slot Machines on the turf in mid-March and is back on the turf after finishing third in a similar spot on the Gulfstream main circuit on Jan. 15.
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
#Burnham #Square #begins #fouryear #campaign #Gulfstream