Kentucky Derby 2025: Wilkes confident he has Burnham Square peaking at the right time

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Having worked around Kentucky Derby winners Unbridled and Street Sense as well as race participants Vicar and McCraken, trainer Ian Wilkes knows there’s little margin for error to get to the world’s most famous horse race.

“You can’t have things go wrong, you have to keep the timing right,” Wilkes said.

With a week to go before Kentucky Derby 151, Wilkes believes the timing is right for Burnham Square to run his best race.

“He’s right where I want him,” Wilkes said.

Wilkes spoke after watching Burnham Square put in his final workout for the Derby, a five-furlong move in 59.13 seconds, according to Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch. Burnham Square, working by himself and without the blinkers he has and will continue to wear in the afternoon, galloped out six furlongs in 1:11.91 and seven furlongs in 1:26.32.

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Wilkes’ former boss, the Hall of Fame trainer Carl Nafzger watched the work and told Wilkes “he wanted to do more.”

“That’s a good sign,” said Wilkes, who worked for Nafzger when he won the Derby in 1990 with Unbridled and again in 2007 with Street Sense. “He worked well, galloped out strong, didn’t want to pull up.”

Wilkes said all winter that Burnham Square would benefit from more racing experience. He raced three times at Gulfstream, winning a maiden race by nine lengths and beating Tappan Street in the Grade 3 Holy Bull. Tappan Street came back to win the Grade 1 Florida Derby and was a major contender for the Kentucky Derby before he was injured Saturday morning and declared out of the race.

Burnham Square didn’t run quite as well in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, finishing fourth, three lengths behind Sovereignty, but bounced back with a gutsy nose victory over East Avenue in the Grade 1 Blue Grass at Keeneland on April 8.

“The track was wet and very heavy and it was a tiring track,” Wilkes said of the Blue Grass. “He gave me everything in that race, which is what I wanted. I had to get something out of it. He’s come out of that race very well. I don’t know when I’m going to get to the bottom of him, I haven’t gotten that far. He’s laughing at me what I’m doing with him.”

Though he wears blinkers in his races, Burnham Square doesn’t work in that equipment.

“He works so good without blinkers, but I need the blinkers to give him confidence in a race,” Wilkes said.

Wilkes is confident he will get the best race to date out of Burnham Square in the Kentucky Derby. It’s just a matter of whether he’s good enough to make the first Saturday in May his time to shine.

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Final Gambit has another impressive dirt work

While the news of Tappan Street’s injury in his final pre-Derby workout dampened the mood at trainer Brad Cox’s barn Saturday, the trainer and his staff could take some solace in how well their Derby longshot Final Gambit continues train

Right after Tappan Street breezed, Jeff Ruby Steaks winner Final Gambit went five furlongs in 1:00.94, getting a final quarter in 23.41 seconds, per DRF clocker Mike Welsch. Final Gambit punctuated the move with a monster gallop-out as jockey Luan Machodo had him go nearly the entire length of the backstretch.

“As soon as we crossed the wire, by the seven-eighths, I checked him a little bit to see how he’d respond and he did respond very well,” Machado said.

The big question surrounding Final Gambit will be how he handles racing on dirt for the first time. Final Gambit debuted on turf and then made three consecutive starts on the synthetic surface at Turfway Park including a last-to-first, 3 1/2-length victory in the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks. Final Gambit has worked four times over Churchill’s main track.

“Most of the people are saying never ran on dirt that could be a problem,” Machado said. “What if he likes it better? Being positive, it can happen. He is showing he’s comfortable on it. He’s working well maybe a little bit better than when he was working on Turfway.”

Animal Kingdom won the Kentucky Derby in 2011 making his first start on dirt and coming off a win in the Spiral (now Jeff Ruby Steaks) at Turfway. Rich Strike won the 2022 Kentucky Derby after making his three previous starts over including a third in the Jeff Ruby.

“There’s a question mark with the dirt, but he’s moving great, he seems to be getting over it well and Luan’s super pleased with him,” Cox said. “He’s in a good spot, he’s moving fantastic, his energy is through the roof in a positive way, not a cheap way. Love what we’ve seen from him since we moved him to Churchill.”

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