Burnham Square in April 2025 won the Blue Grass Stakes, a Grade 1 dirt race at Keeneland. That was nothing compared to his first try over Keeneland’s grass course. Making just his second start since late last summer following a perfect allowance-race prep in Florida, Burnham Square not only hit his early-season target dead center, he looked something like the best 1 1/2-mile grass horse in North America winning the Grade 2, $400,000 Elkhorn Stakes by 9 1/4 lengths, a record margin of victory in the race. No one expects to win any race, much less a graded stakes, even less so a grass race, by that far. Yet the performance left Ian Wilkes, who trains Burnham Square for his breeder, Whitham Thoroughbreds, less than stunned. “The horse gives you confidence,” Wilkes said. “I knew how good he was, and I knew how good he was doing.” :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. By Liam’s Map out of Linda, by Scat Daddy, Burnham Square was gelded before he ever raced. He did not train like any sort of standout, and Wilkes debuted him two falls ago in a $150,000 maiden-claimer at Keeneland. He did not win, but he came close, and there would be no further claiming starts for Burnham Square. Following a third-out maiden win, Burnham Square jinked onto the Kentucky Derby trail winning the Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park, and in the Derby itself he checked in a very troubled sixth. A decent second in the Matt Winn Stakes, a worse fifth in the Grade 1 Haskell, and Wilkes put into play a plan he’d long considered. Burnham Square’s dam was a grass horse, and many of Liam’s Map’s better runners are turf horses. Wilkes ran Burnham Square in the $2.6 million Nashville Derby at all-turf Kentucky Downs, where Burnham Square came up a head short of victory, beaten by a good England-based colt named Wimbledon Hawkeye. Wilkes immediately pulled the plug on Burnham’s Square’s campaign. That had been his intention even before the race. The horse hadn’t gotten a break his entire career. He needed to mature, and Wilkes put him away for the fall with designs on having a high-level, long-distance 4-year-old grass horse. He has one. Burnham Square broke decently from post 5 and dropped over to the rail before the first of three turns, jockey Brian Hernandez was forced to steady early on the bend before getting into a rhythm and going past the finish for the first time with seven rivals ahead of him, two behind. Hernandez got onto the tail of Grand Sonata, who traveled decently before having to steady early on the second bend. Hernandez moved out one lane to follow Tawny Port, who raced between horses while in heavy traffic, Hernandez catching a break when Tawny Port swung to the No. 3 path and forged forward into the final turn. That gave Burnham Square more room to operate and cover going around the bend, and past the three-eighths pole the jockey looked comfortable and his mount looked loaded. Coming to the quarter pole and turning for home, Burnham Square had four still to run down while about six paths from the rail. Hernandez asked for run, and, boy, did Burnham Square give it to him. Having only made the lead at about the three-sixteenths marker, Burnham Square already had 4 1/4 lengths on his nearest pursuer with a furlong left to run. Hernandez eased up and Burnham Square still added another five lengths before hitting the line. “From the quarter-pole, when I tipped him out, he was the best horse, but we kind of already knew that,” Hernandez said. “For a horse to go a mile and a half, and to go the last quarter like that, really impressive.” Desvio, who closed from behind Burnham Square, got up for second in his first start since last fall. Navy Seal, a 35-1 shot who pressed a slow pace – 50.28 for the half, 1:16.01 for six furlongs – finished third, three-quarters of a length behind Desvio and 1 1/4 clear of fourth-place Tawny Port. Grand Sonata, the 6-1 second choice, was last of 11. Burnham Square clocked 2:32.55 racing over a course that remained firm despite rain beginning to fall before the race. Bet heavily from the start, he paid $4.56. It’s rare, rare stuff for a Grade 1 dirt horse to become a Grade 1 turf horse. Burnham Square hasn’t gotten there yet, but Wilkes has pulled all the right strings so far, and this is just an early-season 4-year-old. The Breeders’ Cup Turf will be contested over this same course in the autumn. “I’ll work backwards from the Breeders’ Cup – that’s my end goal to come back here,” Wilkes said. “We’ll see if we can repeat that effort.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.