Burnham Square wins Louisville Stakes at record-low odds

Burnham Square continued his campaign as America's top long-distance grass horse with a comfortable 4 3/4-length win over Dancin in Da'nile in Saturday night's 89th running of the Grade 3, $235,000 Louisville Stakes at Churchill Downs in 2:26.80 for the 1 1/2-mile marathon over a Matt Winn Turf Course rated "good" following early evening showers.

Ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., Burnham Square relaxed in the clear in fifth early on as pacesetter Freedom's Way led the field of six older horses through early fractions of 48.80, 1:14.68 and 1:40.26. Burnham Square tugged his way into fourth midway down the backstretch, rolled into third around the final turn with a three-wide move and then powered past his overmatched rivals with three-sixteenths of a mile to the finish.

Geared down at the wire, Burnham Square's final time of 2:26.80 came 0.10 off Utah Beach's stakes record from a year ago and 0.30 off the final clocking Tikkanen posted in the 1994 Breeders' Cup Turf at Churchill Downs.

"Good horses like that make us look good," said Hernandez, who also won the 2015 Louisville aboard Xtra Luck for trainer Neil Howard. "All the credit goes to Burnham Square and the Wilkes team for getting him here. I was just a good passenger. He was well within himself the entire time and traveling well. With a horse like him, you really don't worry about the time the leaders are going, you just want to get him in a good rhythm. He did just that and responded when I asked him to go."

Ian Wilkes trained the winner for owner and breeder Janis R. Whitham.

"He was very professional again tonight," Wilkes said. "He's bred to do just this, go long on the grass. Distance is his forte."

The win was worth $152,760 and improved Burnham Square's career record to 13: 5-4-1 with earnings of $2,141,405. It marked his second straight stakes victory after a dominant 9 3/4-length triumph in the $400,000 Elkhorn (G2) at Keeneland on April 19.

As a 3-year-old, Burnham Square qualified to last year's Kentucky Derby where he finished sixth after winning the Holy Bull (G3) and Blue Grass Stakes (G1). He has run exclusively on turf in his last four starts and has the Breeders' Cup Turf at Keeneland in sight as his year-end goal. Stops at Colonial Downs for the Arlington Million (G1) in August and the lucrative Kentucky Downs Turf Cup (G2) in Franklin, Ky. are on the agenda, as well.

"We'll work backwards from the Breeders' Cup Turf and go to Kentucky Downs as well as the Arlington Million," Wilkes said.

Burnham Square returned $2.46, $2.10 and $2.10 as the odds-on 1-5 favorite. He was the shortest-priced winner in the storied history of the race.

Dancin in Da'nile, under Florent Geroux, paid $6.16 and $3.52 at odds of 16-1. Echo Lane, ridden by Sonny Leon as the 6-1 second betting choice, was another neck back in third and paid $2.60 to show.

Vote No finished fourth, followed by Freedom's Way and Anegada.

Burnham Square is a 4-year-old gelded son of Liam's Map out of the Scat Daddy mare Linda and was bred in Kentucky.