$2.6 million Gun It 'still green, but he's fast'; stakes next?

Gun It sat nicely off pace setters who figured to come back to him when beginning Wednesday’s allowance feature at Churchill Downs. Positioned in the clear, he also had room to run — but then needed much of it.

At the top of the stretch, the $2.6 million yearling took command, though the work was hardly done for Ricardo Santana Jr.

“He’s still green, but he’s fast,” said Doug Cauthen, vice chairman of Three Chimneys Farm, which campaigns the 3-year-old son of Tapit in partnership with Mandy Pope’s Whisper Hill Farm.

As earlier in his career, Gun It insisted upon cocking his head toward the stand side of the track, proving tough to handle for his jockey. Despite some zigging and zagging, he distanced well clear, completing the one turn mile in 1:35.88 and 5 3/4 lengths clear of second place.

Cauthen said the performance should make Gun It a candidate to return to stakes company.

“It was a good comeback race for sure,” he said.

The topper to Keeneland’s 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Gun It won his second race from six starts, adding to a maiden win last Dec. 22 at Fair Grounds. Since then, he ran third in allowance company but never factored in the Risen Star (G2), finishing 12th.

After a fifth at Keeneland on April 5, Gun It went to the sidelines. Now, “Physically, he’s very much different — a lot stronger, more muscle, chiseled muscle as compared to a baby,” Cauthen said. “Hopefully he can use (Wednesday’s) win as a launching point for the winter.”

With trainer Steve Asmussen wintering at New Orleans’ Fair Grounds, the $75,000 Tenacious Stakes appears to be an option. For 3-year-olds and up, it runs Dec. 21 at a mile and 70 yards.

Three Chimneys has stakes in a number of other runners to watch in upcoming stakes.

Cauthen said Restless Rider, the Grade 1-winning 3-year-old filly, scratched from her intended comeback in Keeneland’s Raven Run (G2) last month due to a quarter crack.

“She’s back galloping and training, but it made her miss that race,” he said, adding that trainer Kenny McPeek’s “just taking his time letting that grow out.”

Another Grade 1 winner for Three Chimneys, Guarana, is 30 to 45 days out from returning to trainer Chad Brown. Her 2-year-old sister, stakes winner Magic Dance, is another Asmussen trainee.

“She’s back with Steve — just got back the first of the month — and she just looks awesome,” Cauthen said.

Another 3-year-old to keep an eye on is Much Better. The Bob Baffert trainee has run on dirt and turf and spent the spring in New York, where he often showed early zip and placed in the Bay Shore (G3).

A son of Pioneerof the Nile, Much Better shows three straight bullet works at Santa Anita Park, where on Friday he breezed 5/8 in 59 seconds flat.

“He had a setback and got some time in the summer,” Cauthen said. “He’s been getting entered and hasn’t yet gotten in a race. We’re hoping he’s going to have some stakes potential as well.”