Kentucky Oaks: Five G shares connections with sire Vekoma

Vekoma claimed the 2024 freshman sire title in a photo finish. Now, his first-crop daughter Five G is bringing some of his connections back to the big stage.

New York-bred Five G was a game second in the Grade 3 Honeybee Stakes, then won the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks to emphatically punch her ticket to the Kentucky Oaks. The filly, trained like her sire by George Weaver, races as a homebred for Gatsas Stables. Gatsas co-owned Vekoma with R.A. Hill Stable during his racing career.

“She’s a game filly. She’s like her father, for sure,” owner Mike Gatsas said. “A lot of heart.”

Vekoma won 6 of 8 career starts. A winner of the Grade 3 Nashua at 2 and then the Grade 2 Blue Grass at 3, he later cut back to one turn and won all three starts as a 4-year-old in 2020. That included Grade 1 victories in the Carter Handicap and Metropolitan Handicap.

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Vekoma entered stud in 2021 at Spendthrift Farm. In one of the closest duels on any stallion list in 2024, he edged out McKinzie, of Gainesway, and Tiz the Law, based at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud, to claim the freshman sire earnings title. Vekoma had a class-high 39 winners from 84 starters on the season for progeny earnings of $2,763,960. McKinzie had 20 winners from 70 starters for $2,741,021, while Tiz the Law had 22 winners from 50 runners for $2,731,687. The earnings margin between the top three was less than $33,000.

Vekoma is now the sire of four graded stakes winners, led by Five G, a sweet success for his supporters.

“That makes it that much better that her father ran under my silks,” Gatsas said. “I’ve never had that happen. We’ve had a lot of good homebreds, but not a lot like her. We’ll see what happens in the big dance.”

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