Desvio grinds way to $70 shocker in Sycamore Stakes
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Desvio went off a 34-1 shot in the Sycamore Stakes on Friday at Keeneland. Passing the half-mile pole, bending into the third turn and going to the three-furlong marker, you might not have played him at 134-1.
The gelding’s jockey, John Velazquez, niggled him along, but Desvio churned in place, seven rivals ahead of him, two even longer shots behind. At the five-sixteenths pole, Desvio suddenly had a, “Hey, let’s do this!” moment.
By the quarter pole, he’d gotten himself into the race. At the three-sixteenths, Velazquez steered Desvio off the fence and into the clear, at the eighth pole the horse was rolling, and seven strides before the finish he tagged Safe Trip Home to pull a major upset in the Grade 2, $400,000 Sycamore. The win helped produce a $408,657 pick six carryover at Keeneland on Saturday.
For Velazquez, the Sycamore, a 1 1/2-mile grass race, marked the continuation of a spectacular Keeneland meet. His ninth winner through six racing days tied him atop the jockey standings with Irad Ortiz Jr. Five of Velazquez’s wins have come in stakes.
Maryland-based trainer Madison Meyers surely found this Sycamore even more memorable. A Lexington, Ky., native, Meyers held several racing-related jobs before she began training a horse or two starting in 2014. She got more serious beginning in 2019, and over the last two years Meyers has significantly increased her level of participation. Her 18th winner of 2025 gave Meyers her first graded stakes.
Desuvio, winless since the Kent Stakes in July 2024, occupies the other end of the spectrum from a push-button horse. His grinding chug Friday into the last of three Sycamore turns didn’t surprise Velazquez.
“Madison told me, when you need to get going, you’re going to have to ride him. Once I got to the five-eighths pole, I started knocking on him, knocking on him,” Velazquez said.
There’s no knocking the result. Desvio at the finish had a half-length on Safe Trip Home, who had loomed a 9-1 winner a half-furlong from the finish. Utah Beach, the surprising pacesetter in a paceless race, finished third, 1 1/2 lengths out of second and one length in front of fourth-place Ohana Honor, the 9-5 favorite who came up empty after a pressing trip.
Clocked in 2:29.16 over a good course, Desvio paid $70.90 to those bold enough to back him.
Meyers trains Desvio for Stonelea Stable and Bonnie Rye Stable. The gelding was bred by Eliza St. George and Lee Mauberret.
Meyers, who works with her husband, Kieran Norris, made a bold move entering Desvio in the Sycamore. A 4-year-old by Yoshida out of Fitzrovia, by Uncle Mo, Desvio went on a little run from July through September of his 3-year-old season, winning a first-level allowance and the Kent, and finishing third in the Virginia Derby.
He took a step back his next two starts, got the winter off, and in his second outing this year turned in a solid showing when third in the Grade 3 Dinner Party at Pimlico. That, however, led only to a pair of sixth-place finishes before Desvio showed spark coming home second behind easy winner Safe Trip Home in the 1 1/2-mile Colonial Cup.
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“He’s just been training better than he has in a while,” Meyer said. “A couple weeks ago, I’m looking for long races and I’m trying to figure out where to go this time of year.”
Meyers said she grew up going to Keeneland, where she’d never run a horse as a head trainer before Friday afternoon. You might not have thought so at the half-mile pole, but she went to the right place.
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