Burnham Square runs away with Arlington Million, becomes dual-surface G1 winner
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With his win in the Grade 1 Arlington Million Stakes on Saturday at Colonial Downs, Burnham Square cemented himself as more than a dual-surface Grade 1 winner, or arguably the foremost turf runner in the United States, or a future Breeders’ Cup Turf contender. Trainer Ian Wilkes sees a potential future for his 4-year-old gelding that would carry more weight than any immediate label. He’s always getting closer to it.
“This is my John Henry,” Wilkes said. “That's what I’ve always said. Now, I've won the Arlington Million.”
John Henry, who won the Arlington Million in 1981 and 1984, raced until age 9 and became the most popular horse of his era, winning 16 Grade 1 races, 13 on turf and three on dirt, in 83 career starts. He was twice named the American Horse of the Year.
It is almost impossible for any horse in modern racing to attain that success, and besides, Burnham Square is not a perfect match. John Henry was once a claiming horse, around the same point in his career that Burnham Square won the Grade 1 Blue Grass and finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby. For now, the Wilkes-trained star is a former dirt runner fully committed to the grass, while John Henry was known to switch back to the dirt for races like the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap. Beyond the comparison to Burnham Square, there may never be another 9-year-old to be named Horse of the Year.
Yet, there are echoes. A Grade 1 winner on the dirt last year, Burnham Square discovered the turf late in his 3-year-old season and has now won four straight stakes while going longer on the surface. His specialty, like John Henry, has become 1 1/2-mile turf marathons. Both runners cut back to 1 1/4 miles when they won their first Arlington Million.
“I really felt this was the race that would be hard to win, shortening back up and coming from the mile and a half, mile and three eighths, back to two turns,” Wilkes said. “That’s a different type of race, and I’m happy with the way he did it.”
As a gelding, Burnham Square’s ability to “run forever,” as Wilkes put it, takes on a second meaning, just as it did for John Henry. Trainers Ron McAnally and Victor “Lefty” Nickerson followed their folk hero around the world for the better part of a decade, and Wilkes clearly intends on following Burnham Square to the last.
“It's not work,” Wilkes said. “It’s him. It's all him. I can only do what the horse can do running. It's all about the horse. That's one thing we can't forget, is the horse. I'm fortunate enough to train for great owners that sent me the horse. As Carl Nafzger always told me, ‘You get a good horse, stay out of his way.’ ”
In jockey Brian Hernandez Jr.’s first Arlington Million victory, he took the shorter 1 1/4-mile distance and a slow early pace into consideration. Last time out, the jockey was propelled into a pacesetting role, which nearly cost Burnham Square his third straight victory in the $225,000 Chorleywood at Churchill Downs.
This time, Hernandez sat well off the pace, while the 67-1 longshot Layabout loped ahead into the first turn through an opening quarter-mile in 24.18 seconds.
Gran Oriente and Dresden Row stalked behind and settled into strong positions on the backstretch through a half-mile in 48.85. When Gran Oriente began to advance on the fading pacesetter entering the far turn, Hernandez urged the 4-5 favorite forward from sixth.
“With the slower pace, we were [moving earlier],” Hernandez said. “But at the same time, in the Chorleywood last time, when he got on the lead, he got a little aggressive. Today, I wanted to get him covered up a bit and get him in a nice rhythm.”
Swinging wide outside of Integration, who briefly vied for command before fading to last, Burnham Square made his charge down the center. Gran Oriente, a last-out listed stakes winner at Gulfstream Park for Saffie Joseph Jr., was a difficult target with plenty left, having found the perfect stalking trip under Paco Lopez.
Hernandez was actively riding against the shape of the race — Fort Washington and Test Score, the other closers, both failed to fire and finished fifth and sixth. He had the horse, however, and with gritty determination, Burnham Square cut into Gran Oriente’s lead with every step.
“He was always there for me,” Hernandez said. “I was following Integration, and then Integration didn’t sprint on like I thought he would. [Burnham Square] shot off pretty good from there and I thought he’d grind [Grand Oriente] out, which he did.”
Joseph’s 8-1 outsider dug in on the rail and the Todd Pletcher-trained outsider Dresden Row re-rallied after getting left behind on the far turn, but Burnham Square took the lead in midstretch and was never going to relinquish it. He prevailed by a half-length, completing the 1 1/4-mile distance in 2:00.80 and paying $3.60 to win.
Gran Oriente, game to the end, held second by a nose over Dresden Row, who finished a neck ahead of the stubborn longshot Layabout.
This year’s 12-race Arlington Million Day card set a handle record of $10.79 million at Colonial, breaking the record set on Arlington Million Day last year, when the track brought in $10.46 million.
Owned and bred in Kentucky by Whitham Thoroughbreds, Burnham Square has won the Chorleywood, Grade 3 Louisville, and Grade 2 Elkhorn in successive starts this year. The 107 Beyer Speed Figure he earned in the Elkhorn remains tied for the highest figure earned on the turf this year. He is now a five-times graded stakes winner. With more maturity, Wilkes has found that Burnham Square may no longer need three-quarter-cup blinkers.
“I may take the three quarters off him and just put a little cheater on him now,” Wilkes said. “I think he's matured enough to have that, and he may just relax and switch off a little more.”
The Arlington Million was Burnham Square’s first victory outside Kentucky in more than a year. It is unlikely he will leave his home state again in 2026, as Wilkes said he plans to target the Grade 2, $2 million Kentucky Downs Turf Cup in September and then the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland in October. He earned an automatic bid in the latter race by winning the Arlington Million.
“He’ll have two more races and then get turned out for the year,” Wilkes said. “He'll go to the paddock and have a break. He's a gelding and we’ll bring him back next year.”
John Henry never had the chance to run in the Breeders’ Cup, just missing the inaugural event in 1984 with a career-ending ligament strain. If his spiritual successor makes it to the race, he will be up against it.
In the past 10 years, only one American horse has won the Breeders’ Cup Turf, when the Chad Brown-trained horse Bricks and Mortar won in 2019. That achievement was enough for the turf star to be named that year’s American Horse of the Year. If Burnham Square pulls it off, it would be a start for Wilkes.
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