Ocelli has never stepped foot in the winner's circle, yet his photograph has appeared online more than all but two horses since May 2 thanks to finishing third in the Kentucky Derby (G1) by only a length.
Ocelli has never taken home the winner's share of the purse, yet he will enter the Laurel Park starting gate May 16 richer than any of his 13 Preakness Stakes (G1) rivals.
History does not support him. A maiden has not won the Preakness since Refund in 1888, the last of six horses to break their maidens in Maryland's feature race since its inception in 1873.
Even with the improbability of winning your first race in the Triple Crown, it's safe to say that win or lose, Ocelli has already been a winner for his connections despite his empty win column.
That could be a surprising statement to make when you look at the surface level: a $12,000 horse who has never won a race in seven starts. However, diving deeper, Ocelli's story is one of accomplished success and the potential of future success for all the parties involved.
Trainer Whit Beckman certainly has the pedigree of a top trainer, having worked as an assistant for Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher and five-time Eclipse Award winner Chad Brown. Going off on his own in 2021, he has kept one goal in mind which he is reminded of by his phone's background photo every time he receives a message or checks the time: the Kentucky Derby trophy.
For a moment, Beckman felt the world around him fall silent when Ocelli took the lead in the Derby at the sixteenth pole. Although that moment was short lived as the son of Connect was passed at the end by Golden Tempo and Renegade to finish third by a length, that taste of victory will drive the Louisville, Ky., native to push even more at achieving that lifelong dream.
Many questioned the decision to run a maiden in the Derby, but Ocelli proved the doubters wrong with a career-best performance, becoming the first maiden to hit the board since at least 1937 (the era which Churchill Downs has complete past performances for all the Derby runners) and possibly since Brokers Tip won the Derby as a maiden in 1933.
"It's one thing if you're running the horse in over his head, but at no point did we get the indication that he was in too deep of water," Beckman said on the May 11 episode of BloodHorse Monday. "It's not a matter of purchase price and pedigree or any of these things, it's just about the individual and being able to recognize at a certain point that you have something capable.
"One thing I learned from Todd and Chad is managing these horses correctly. Sometimes, maybe on the outside, it doesn't look like everything is going right, but the main focus for me is development and trying to get them to respond on that day. Sometimes it goes perfectly and sometimes it blows up in your face."
The result was near perfect, but even in defeat Ocelli gave Beckman a win. His Derby run marked three consecutive years that Beckman had a Derby starter (Honor Marie in 2024 and Flying Mohawk in 2025). That consistency at reaching the peak of the sport, and nearly winning it with a 70-1 longshot who cost just $12,000, will help attract more business from his current and potential clients.
"Public relations and marketing, you can't really do better than that," Beckman said. "You can go out and tell everybody we're this stable, we can do this and do that. But when you show people, especially owners looking to place their horses, that we can consistently do this, it's definitely helped with our existing owners and getting them more motivation to buy into these 3-year-olds."
Ocelli a Winner for Legion Bloodstock, Partners
A key part to that success is with the team of Travis Durr, Kristian Villante, and Kyle Zorn that make up Legion Bloodstock. All three of Beckman's Derby runners and his 2025 Kentucky Oaks (G1) runner-up Drexel Hill were purchased by Legion for a combined total of $174,000.
Ocelli took the lead right in front of the box that held his connections, leading to "pandemonium" as they all cheered and screamed while jumping around.
"We kind of lost it," Zorn said. "Someone has said if the horse is in front at the sixteenth pole, it's an out-of-body experience. I can tell you that's a for-sure fact."
With three experienced horsemen scouring the sales ground, it's not easy for a horse to slip through the cracks. Although Ocelli appeared to do that for many, he didn't get past Legion. Although Legion had no clients lined up for the horse, they didn't want to let him get away and decided to bid first and find interested clients later.
"The best part about the clients we have is these guys trust us," Zorn said. "We've got guys that wait and see what we come away with at the sale and they'll jump in afterward. If we believe in a horse, especially a horse like Ocelli, it's just a couple phone calls usually."
One of those phone calls was placed to Kevin Page of Front Page Equestrian a few months after the 2024 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale once Ocelli began training at Durr's training center in St. Matthews, S.C.
"(Durr) called me and said, 'Hey, I've got one that I want you to be a part of,'" Page recalled. "(Ocelli) was a big strong colt that had the opportunity to do some things, so we pulled the trigger."
Page said that there was no concern over the low auction price of $12,000, saying that once he looked at and had the horse vetted himself, he checked all the boxes he looks for.
"People give up on horses they shouldn't give up on," Page said. "I thought the horse was incredibly stout and probably fast. When you're a big horse like that and you can move like that, that's what we're looking for."
Front Page has the minority ownership among the three partners—Durr's wife, Ashley, being majority owner and Anthony Tate next. However, Page still received the honor of having Ocelli complete the iconic 1 1/4-mile Derby in his silks.
Page only entered racing about 1 1/2 years ago after meeting his fianceé, Lisa Shirley, who is a showjumper. Within that short time, he has now owned a third-place finisher of the 2025 Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) with Regaled and Kentucky Derby with Ocelli.
Spending about three decades as a medical distributor and an avid golfer, Page is now all in on racing. In addition to its five showjumping horses, Front Page Equestrian also now has a dozen Thoroughbred racehorses.
"I just parlayed it," Page said of his early success. "You win a little bit and you start putting back in. We have 12 racehorses, and I'll put my barn up against anybody.
"When you win, it let's you do more. We've concentrated on not settling, we're buying premier bloodlines. It's all because of Legion Bloodstock. (Villante) is one of the best horse scouts there is."
That scouting led Legion to Ocelli. Despite the lack of interest in other buyers, he fit exactly what Legion looks for.
"First and foremost, he had an athletic walk to him," Zorn said. "That's the biggest thing we look for when we buy horses. It's not always based on pedigree.
"(Travis Durr) has 150-200 horses coming through every year (at his training center). Not only does he see every shape and size, but he sees every sire line and everything you can think of in between. I think we learned what we can live with. I think a lot of people are scared off if a horse toes in or has an awkward gait to him. To us, if the horse looks athletic and passes everything that we look for, we're going to take that shot."
That shot led to the $12,000 horse entering the Preakness with earnings of $609,800—a nearly 5,000% return on investment from the sale price.
Ocelli a Winner for Breeder Weiss
There weren't many willing to take that shot when Ocelli was a yearling, something that breeder Rafael Weiss was told throughout the lead-up to the Fasig-Tipton sale.
The sale came at a difficult time in Weiss' life as his father, Jeff, had died in January 2024. The pair got into the game as Rosedown Racing Stables, winning the 2013 With Anticipation Stakes (G2T) and reaching that year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T) with their first horse Bashart.
Jeff Weiss, a real estate CEO based in Boca Raton, Fla., was the one running the day to day of Rosedown, so when he died, Rafael debated getting out of the sport. He was expecting the bidding to go higher than $12,000, as did Legion, but was willing to part with Ocelli given his father's death.
"I kind of liked (Ocelli) at the time, I remember telling them I like the Connect colt," Weiss said. "Everyone told me the horse is turned out, don't keep him, don't do anything with him. I thought he looked pretty good but, at that time, I was just ready to dump everything.
"It was me and my dad's thing. I didn't know how I was feeling about it. Eventually, I just decided to keep it going as a breeder and not race much at all."
With Ocelli now becoming a classic-placed runner, there of course are wishes that he had brought more in the ring, but Weiss has celebrated the thrill of being involved with a horse of such quality, especially given the connection to his dad. When Ocelli took the lead, Weiss lost his voice screaming him home at Churchill Downs.
That thrill has Weiss considering once again getting more involved on the racing side of things. With his decision to stick with breeding—currently with 12 broodmares—the update on Ocelli's page will prove huge for Weiss as he still has the mare Zalia.
"It's incredible, it's a total game changer for the family," Weiss said. "I'm getting offers from all types of people and it's changed everything for Zalia and the family."
Weiss and his father purchased the daughter of Scat Daddy privately after she was a $490,000 RNA at the 2018 Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. She won one in her four starts before sustaining an injury when flipping over in her stall.
Her first foal, a Violence colt named Red Thorn, made four starts last year before having an operation to correct a throat problem. He is back in training now with Jose D'Angelo preparing for his 4-year-old debut.
"He was a monster horse," Weiss said. "Now he can finally breathe, and I think he's going to be a world beater."
After Ocelli, the next foal fared much better at auction. The Early Voting colt now named Outcomes Based was purchased for $475,000 out of the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment by Belladonna Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds, and Woodford Racing at the 2025 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and is in training with Cherie DeVaux, who ironically beat Ocelli in the Derby with Golden Tempo.
Weiss also owns Zalia's yearling son of Mitole . Should Ocelli win the Preakness, it will create an even bigger debate for Weiss on whether or not to race the colt himself or test his new added value at auction.
Weiss will be watching to see if he becomes a Triple Crown race-winning breeder from an airplane taking him from his home in Florida to a conference in Las Vegas, but he has seen enough from Ocelli to feel confident about his chances.
"The craziest part about him is he's durable," Weiss said. "He has not really taken much time off and he's fine. I can't believe how stout he is, that's the real shocking part to me.
"From 70-1 in the Derby to 6-1 (morning line) in the Preakness is crazy. He's a good horse, no doubt about it. He came out of nowhere, the true underdog story."
