When Think Big showed a positive response to cutting back in distance and switching to turf, trainer Michael Stidham and Godolphin thought they had an opportunity to take advantage of their gelding's youth in graded company.
The theory proved correct as a second consecutive grade 2 win May 3 in the $569,600 Twin Spires Turf Sprint Stakes (G2T) at Churchill Downs has elevated him from a new shooter in the division to one of its leaders.
"Once we got him on the grass sprinting, he's improved leaps and bounds," said Godolphin USA's director of bloodstock Michael Banahan. "The great thing about him is his ceiling is a lot higher than the rest of them. A lot of the other horses in there have run 20, 30, 40 times."
Think Big was making his ninth career start Saturday, picking up his fifth win and increasing career earnings to $709,785. On turf, the Twirling Candy 4-year-old is 4-for-4, each victory at 5 1/2 furlongs with Ben Curtis in the saddle. To Banahan's point, six of his nine rivals have started more 20 times.
One of those nine was Coppola, who set opening fractions of :22.86 and :44.86 on the turf course rated good. Curtis found a comfortable stalking position in fourth a few lengths behind.
Boss Sully and Luis Saez, who prompted the pace, got a jump on Think Big and kicked away from the field. However, Think Big was just getting started and the Godolphin homebred rallied up to win by three-quarters of a length in the shadow of the wire. Unconquerable Keen was third.
"(Boss Sully) actually quickened very well at the quarter pole. He took a few lengths out of me," Curtis said. "(Think Big) is a fast stayer, he's a very strong stayer at that distance. The further we went down the straight I thought we'd get him. It took us a bit longer to get him, but we got there when it mattered."
Curtis praised the gelding's versatility and development for his recent string of success.
"He doesn't have a certain style. Tactics-wise he's very versatile," the rider said. "He hasn't always been, he's hard work. That horse has a lot of character. He used to get very warm, he can pull very hard. (Stidham's team) have him in a great place where he's taken everything the right way.
"He's one of the best sprinters in the country at the moment."
That improvement was most evident in the final time of 1:02.35, the fastest of his four 5 1/2-furlong turf sprints by nearly two full seconds. He paid $6.84 to win as the favorite.
"You see from (his winter races at) Fair Grounds how much he's matured each and every race," Banahan said. "I think we'll have a lot of fun with him over the next year or so."
Banahan expressed interest in trying the gelding longer, potentially up to a mile. However, the plan for now is to keep sprinting and potentially target the June 7 Jaipur Stakes (G1T) at Saratoga Race Course.
"I think we keep doing what we're doing until he can't do it or doesn't do it and we have to change," Banahan said.
Out of Godolphin's stakes-winning Street Sense mare Always Thinking, Think Big tallied a third graded stakes win this year for Twirling Candy, who stands at Lane's End near Versailles, Ky., for a $60,000 fee in 2025.
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