Fresh off a nose victory over 2024 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mystik Dan in the May 3 Lake Ouachita Stakes at Oaklawn Park, FMQ Stables' grade 1 winner Saudi Crown pursues a second consecutive stakes victory in the $300,000 Hanshin Stakes June 29 at Churchill Downs.
Saudi Crown, a Brad Cox-trained 5-year-old son of 2017 Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming, battles seven other horses in the one-mile Hanshin, one of five stakes on the card. Sunday is closing day of Churchill Downs' spring meet.
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Although the Hanshin is ungraded, it drew a field of graded caliber. Besides Saudi Crown, an earner of $3.4 million who took the 2023 Pennsylvania Derby (G1), the Hanshin lured fellow millionaire Banishing, who beat Saudi Crown by a length in the Oaklawn Mile Stakes (G3) in late March; Judge Miller, a Southern California invader who has hit the board in all six starts; graded stakes winners Best Actor, Tumbarumba, and Extra Anejo; plus Cagliostro, who defeated Tumbarumba and Extra Anejo in capturing the 2024 Hanshin Stakes.
Wathnan Racing owns both Tumbarumba and Cagliostro. The two milers are trained by Brian Lynch and Cherie DeVaux, respectively. The latter returns from a layoff in the Hanshin after racing twice this winter in Dubai, where he ran third and fourth in a pair of group 3s.
Carded after the Bashford Manor Stakes and Debutante Stakes, each for juveniles, the Hanshin is the eighth race Sunday with an expected post time of 4:23 p.m. ET.
Churchill Downs, Sunday, June 29, 2025, Race 8Entries: Hanshin S. Presented by JRA
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Banishing (KY) Jose L. Ortiz 120 David Jacobson 2/1 2 2Judge Miller (KY) Antonio Fresu 118 Mark Glatt 6/1 3 3Best Actor (KY) Mario Gutierrez 118 Ed Moger, Jr. 20/1 4 4Saudi Crown (KY) Florent Geroux 120 Brad H. Cox 9/5 5 5Tumbarumba (LA) Luis Saez 118 Brian A. Lynch 10/1 6 6Extra Anejo (KY) Flavien Prat 120 Steven M. Asmussen 6/1 7 7Will Take It (KY) Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr. 118 Dallas Stewart 10/1 8 8Cagliostro (FL) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 118 Cherie DeVaux 10/1
Pin Up Betty, Charlene's Dream Meet Again in Anchorage
Following the Hanshin is the $175,000 Anchorage Overnight Stakes, a nine-horse race for older fillies and mares which features a rematch on grass between Pin Up Betty and Charlene's Dream, the 1-2 finishers from the June 1 Mint Julep Stakes (G3T) at Churchill Downs.
The Anchorage Overnight Stakes is a sixteenth of a mile longer than the 1 1/16-mile Mint Julep—a 1 1/8-mile distance over which Three Diamonds Farm's Pin Up Betty twice won over the Churchill Downs grass course last year. Those victories came over a good course in a maiden race and over firm ground in the Regret Stakes (G3T).
Like Pin Up Betty, Domeyko Taylor's Charlene's Dream is also a graded stakes winner and proven over damp ground, having won the Gallorette Stakes (G3T) over good turf at Pimlico Race Course May 17.
Churchill Downs, Sunday, June 29, 2025, Race 9Entries: Anchorage Overnight S.
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Faith Understood (KY) Gabriel Saez 118 Dana Hancock 30/1 2 2Sparkle Blue (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 120 H. Graham Motion 6/1 3 3Duvet Day (IRE) Flavien Prat 120 Michael W. McCarthy 5/1 4 4Generous Lover (OH) Jose L. Ortiz 118 Joe Sharp 10/1 5 5Long Ago (GB) Ben Curtis 118 William E. Morey 6/1 6 6Everland (KY) Luan Machado 118 Eric N. Foster 20/1 7 7Pin Up Betty (KY) Luis Saez 123 Michael J. Maker 8/5 8 8Charlene's Dream (TX) Rafael Bejarano 123 Ed Moger, Jr. 3/1 9 9Adrasteia (KY) Joseph D. Ramos 118 Fergus Bogle 20/1
Captain Cook, Flood Zone cut back in distance for seven-furlong maxfield
The $250,000 Maxfield Stakes, a seven-furlong dash for 3-year-olds, wraps up the stakes action as the 10th race on the 11-race card, headlined by a pair of horses who won stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack earlier this year when competing on the Road to the Kentucky Derby series.
St. Elias Stable's Captain Cook, trained by Rick Dutrow, took the Feb. 1 Withers Stakes before running fourth in the April 5 Wood Memorial Stakes (G2) and third in the May 10 Peter Pan Stakes (G3), also at Aqueduct.
Wathnan Racing's Flood Zone, trained by Cox, took the one-mile Gotham Stakes (G3) March 1 before traveling to Dubai and disappointing with a seventh-place finish in the 1 3/16-mile UAE Derby April 5 at Meydan Racecourse.
Other noteworthy Maxfield entrants include Retribution, Smoken Wicked, Speed King, and Verifire, victorious in each of his two starts.
Churchill Downs, Sunday, June 29, 2025, Race 10Entries: Maxfield S.
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Ancient World (KY) Luis Saez 118 Joe Sharp 12/1 2 2Captain Cook (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 120 Richard E. Dutrow, Jr. 9/2 3 3Normandy Coast (KY) Ben Curtis 120 Eddie Kenneally 15/1 4 4Perfect Force (KY) Nik Juarez 118 D. Wayne Lukas 20/1 5 5Retribution (KY) Jose L. Ortiz 120 Cherie DeVaux 8/1 6 6Smoken Wicked (LA) Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr. 120 Dallas Stewart 10/1 7 7Speed King (KY) Junior Alvarado 120 Ron Moquett 5/1 8 8Flood Zone (FL) Florent Geroux 120 Brad H. Cox 4/1 9 9Max Got Excited (LA) Gabriel Saez 120 Aaron Shorter 30/1 10 10Verifire (KY) Flavien Prat 118 Brad H. Cox 5/1 11 11Kale's Angel (KY) Ramon A. Vazquez 120 Peter Miller 20/1 12 12Dreaminblue (KY) Cristian A. Torres 118 Randy L. Morse 30/1 13 13Furio (KY) Jaime A. Torres 118 Joe Sharp 8/1
