As the sun set on the fall meet at Keeneland Oct. 29, Balnikhov made every second count with a captivating effort past Wit and Classic Causeway in the $271,088 Bryan Station Stakes (G3T) to earn his first win at that level.
The 3-year-old gelded son of Adaay trailed the majority of the 12-horse field from the start in 11th through fractions of :23.05 and :46.72.
Classic Causeway showed the way early on with Fuerteventura and Play Action Pass behind in second and third, respectively.
As the final turn approached in 1:11.87, Wit, who ran in fifth, began his bid for the front and got a head in front at the stretch. Axthelm had stayed comfortably in fourth until running up to second behind Wit under encouragement from Luis Saez.
Nearing the wire, it was Balnikhov who blazed clear six wide from the rest of the field in 1:23.65 to challenge front-runner Wit up until the final moments and eventually got a neck in front to win the one-mile turf event in 1:35.48.
Under jockey Tyler Gaffalione, who rode to his sixth graded stakes score of the meet, Balnikhov ($15.28) improved his record to 5-3-2 from 14 starts and increased his earnings to $398,343 for owners Little Red Feather Racing, Madaket Stables, and Old Bones Racing Stable.
Wit was second and Axthelm was a half-length back for third.
"It was an insane trip, how Tyler Gaffalione did that, he's a magician," said Billy Koch of Little Red Feather Racing. "Credit to Sol (Kumin) from Madaket and John Panagot. They picked this race, they really wanted the distance, and they thought he'd run well here at Keeneland.
"They get a lot of credit for that decision and credit to the horse and to Phil D'Amato who is a sultan of sod."
Coming up against several proven horses, Koch said the group was not deterred to run the gelding.
"We had a lot of confidence in this horse and when you have confidence in your own horse, you go into it and obviously you have great respect for the competition and those are really nice horses, but we knew we had a really nice horse coming in. It felt good," Koch said.
Gaffalione, who ends the Keeneland meet with six graded stakes wins and 20 overall, was just one win shy of earning the title of leading jockey which went to Saez with 21.
The jockey says he enjoyed the ride on the gelding who came to the Bryan Station off a fourth-place finish at Del Mar in the Sept. 3 Caesars Sportsbook Del Mar Derby (G2T).
"I want to thank the connections for this opportunity. That was a lot of fun to ride. Also Umberto Rispoli (who rode Balnikhov at Del Mar in his previous two races)—he helped me out a lot, telling me how to ride the horse. It worked out well," Gaffalione said.
"Man, he's got some turn of foot. All I had to do was find space. I was wanting to get out but they were fanning out. A spot opened up inside and I followed Joel (Rosario on Ready to Purrform) and I was able to find some room."
Balnikhov was a $31,899 purchase by Oceanic Bloodstock from the Ellon consignment to the 2020 Arqana Deauville September Yearling Sale. He was bred in Ireland by T. de La Heronnierre and Gestut Zur Kuste AG out of the First Defence mare Leeward who also has a 2-year-old Sioux Nation colt and a yearling El Kabeir filly.
