Navajo Warrior dominates Cornhusker Handicap
Navajo Warrior scored his second consecutive graded stakes win with a dominant performance in the Grade 3, $300,000 Cornhusker Handicap, and J J Grey continued his own consistent campaign with a win in the $250,000 Iowa Derby to highlight Saturday night's card at Prairie Meadows.
Four stakes on Saturday at Prairie Meadows, with Booth and Waggley also scoring key wins, capped off the Iowa Festival of Racing. Saturday's action was preceded by four stakes on the Friday card [https://www.drf.com/news/good-cheer-gets-back-beam-iowa-distaff], with the stakes purses worth a combined $1.275 million.
Navajo Warrior ($5.20) won the Grade 3 Pimlico Special by 2 3/4 lengths in May after taking initiative on the front end, and again showed the way in the Cornhusker for a 3 1/2-length victory, with jockey Micah Husbands patting the gelding on his shoulder as they sailed under the line together.
Navajo Warrior broke alertly from post 7 of the eight starters and quickly cleared the field to find the inside into the first turn, already leading by four lengths through the opening quarter of 23.52 seconds on a track rated fast. He continued alone down the backstretch, looking on the muscle but not unrateable, through the half in 46.82. Bullard was the closest in second, another two lengths clear of defending Cornhusker winner Cornishman in third.
Around the far turn, Husbands still had a loop in his reins, his mount running easily, but Bullard tried to begin closing the gap, coming to the quarter pole still nearly five lengths behind the leader. Husbands set his mount down for the drive, striking him left-handed just a few times, and there was no catching Navajo Warrior. He stopped the clock in 1:48.07 for the 1 1/8 miles.
Bullard easily held second, 4 1/2 lengths clear of Gigante.
Navajo Warrior has now won six of eight starts since being privately purchased and shifted to Saffie Joseph Jr. last summer. The Pimlico Special was the graded stakes debut for the gelding, who races for the partnership of BAG Racing Stables, Miller Racing, Dr. Derek Paul, Mathis Stable, Paul Braverman, and Timothy Pinch.
Joseph had said after the Pimlico Special that last summer, the then-new connections quickly "realized that the horse was going to become a graded stakes-level [horse], and we just waited for our time to try it. Here he is."
Here he is, indeed, with two such victories.
One race earlier, J J Grey ($5) took advantage of an ideal trip on the lead and his affinity for the track for a 1 3/4-length victory in the Iowa Derby, easily holding off a stretch bid from Triple Crown alum The Hell We Did.
The complexion of the Iowa Derby changed out of the gate when Desert Gate, a multi-time front-running stakes winner this year, was bounced around between horses and did not make his preferred position on the lead. Florent Geroux hustled him hard in the run toward the first turn in an attempt to emerge from the pack and join the top group, but was forced to tap the brakes when it became apparent such a trip would not materialize.
Meanwhile, J J Grey, who broke from post 4 in the field of nine, comfortably cleared and made the lead through an honest opening quarter of 23.84 seconds. Despite the presence of Bricklin tracking on his outside, he was able to relax beautifully through the half in 47.95. Meanwhile, Desert Gate was behind the top two and between horses in fifth, and not entirely comfortable.
As J J Grey and a ridden-along Bricklin began to get some separation headed toward the far turn, Desert Gate tipped out to try to go around those two, but had no real punch. J J Grey, however, had more in the tank, shook off the fading Bricklin to open more than two lengths in the stretch, and continued on well to the wire. He stopped the clock for the 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.17.
The Hell We Did, making his first start since finishing seventh in the Preakness Stakes, finished well to be second-best, holding off Maximum Effort, who closed from last, by three-quarters of a length. It was another length back to Desert Gate in fourth.
J J Grey, who races for Shamrock Stables, MJM Racing, and the McPeek family's Magdalena Racing, has now won three straight races, and four of his six starts this year - his only aberrations coming on Tapeta and turf. He came in to the Iowa Derby off a victory in a local prep, the Prairie Mile on June 13.
"That never hurts to be familiar with your surface," assistant trainer Mike Kleier said. "This is one cool dude. He is a pleasure to be around. This is one horse that he just is happy to be there."
In the other races:
The accomplished Booth, perhaps one of the better sprinters in the nation in the first half of 2025, got back in the winner's circle after a long time between trips, with a 2 1/4-length victory in the $100,000 Iowa Sprint in which jockey Mike Smith never had to go to the whip.
"It looked like the old Booth showed up," Darren Fleming, assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen, said.Booth ($6.60), who races for William and Corrine Heiligbrodt, Jackpot Farm, and Whispering Oaks Farm, became a millionaire with this, his fifth career stakes win. He won the other four in succession in early 2025, taking the Commodore, Grade 3 Whitmore, and Grade 3 Count Fleet at Oaklawn Park, and then the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint at Pimlico. Booth then finished fourth in the Grade 3 Kelly's Landing at Churchill and second in the Jeff Hall Memorial last July, his final start of the season.
Booth had made five starts this year prior to heading to Iowa - most recently finishing ninth in the Grand Prairie Turf Sprint on June 27. Excluding that turf start, he was on the board in three of his other four outings this year, showing consistency.
Saturday, he broke back into the win column. Booth was away extremely quickly from the rail, but was quickly joined by Champlin and Surveillance through an opening quarter of 22.34 seconds. Booth shrugged off that pressure heading into the far turn with Smith not yet asking for his best, and through the half-mile in 44.74. When Smith stepped on the gas, Booth continued to stride out to the wire, despite continuing to run on his left lead. Itsmybirthday rallied mildly up the inside for a clear second, three lengths clear of the rest.
The final time for the six furlongs was 1:08.69.
Waggley remained unbeaten and scored the second stakes win of her young career by defeating males - again - in the $100,000 Prairie Gold Juvenile, leading throughout for a 4 3/4-length score.
Waggley ($5.80), from the first crop of Life Is Good, is trained by Wesley Ward for Ten Broeck Farm. Ward unveiled her in April at Keeneland, where he is known for his prowess with juveniles, and she delivered at first asking. She went on to win the Kentucky Juvenile on April 29 at Churchill Downs - defeating colts, as she did again Saturday night under Yedsit Hazlewood, finishing the 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:04.57.
Hazlewood, the standout teenage rider, moved his tack to Kentucky this summer to base at Ellis Park, and with Ward among his biggest backers, took the call in Iowa this weekend.
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