Maxfield won the 2019 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland in his second start for owner-breeder Godolphin and trainer Brendan Walsh and headed west as one of the favorites for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita Park.

But he was scratched from the race and underwent surgery for an ankle chip a couple of weeks later, costing himself a championship opportunity.

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Five years later, it might be time for a California do-over for these same connections — they have another talented colt in East Avenue, who scored a front-running victory in the $594,063 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity Oct. 5 at Keeneland Race Course, improving to 2-for-2 after an initial maiden win in Kentucky.

Though those elements are the same, how East Avenue won was different. While Maxfield scored from off the pace, East Avenue busted out to the lead to secure position in Saturday’s 1 1/16-mile race, shed rivals in a rough run to the first turn, and cruised home as a 5 1/4-length winner over favored Ferocious.

The drama would come after the race, when Luis Saez, rider of Ferocious, claimed foul against East Avenue, alleging interference into the first turn as several runners tried to secure position. Stewards never posted the inquiry sign but reviewed replays for over five minutes following the objection. They made no change to the order of finish.

“He was much the best. It would have been robbery if he had been taken down,” said winning trainer Brendan Walsh, adding that he believed it was Optical, who was later outrun, that made early contact with Ferocious.

Saez disagreed, saying East Avenue, under Tyler Gaffalione, “came down and bumped us pretty hard.”

It was quite an eventful few minutes for Ferocious, the Hopeful Stakes runner-up, who reared in the starting gate, unseating Saez. He was backed out from the inside post position of the starting gate, examined by a track veterinarian, and reloaded. After being shuttled back approaching the first turn, he stalked the pace inside, taking dirt in his face before grabbing second.

East Avenue winning Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Filoso was a well-beaten third.

The Breeders’ Futurity was part of a rewarding afternoon for Gaffalione, who a half-hour later piloted Carl Spackler to a front-running victory in the $1,065,625 Coolmore Turf Mile Stakes.

East Avenue completed 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:43.17 after setting quarter-mile splits of :23.18, :46.76, and 1:11.20. He paid $7.56 to win as the second favorite.

“I had plenty of horse left,” Gaffalione said.

The Breeders’ Futurity also capped a successful opening two days of racing at Keeneland for the Godolphin, who won the Darley Alcibiades Stakes a day before with the Brad Cox-trained Immersive.

“An unbelievable weekend, winning the two Grade 1s at Keeneland, our home track,” Godolphin USA director of bloodstock Michael Banahan said.

Godolphin’s Darley stallion division is in Central Kentucky. Maxfield stands at stud there, as does the Cox-trained Essential Quality, who gave Godolphin a second Breeders’ Futurity victory in 2020. So, too, does East Avenue’s sire, 25-year-old Medaglia d’Oro, the sire of 27 Grade 1 winners. The latter stood for $75,000 this past breeding season.

East Avenue is out of the Ghostzapper mare Dance Music , a half-sister to Godolphin’s 2023 Horse of the Year and Darley stallion Cody’s Wish.

As part of the Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series, East Avenue earned a paid, automatic berth in the Nov. 1 FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile presented by TAA at Del Mar. The top five finishers from the Breeders’ Futurity also earned 2025 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve points on a 10-5-3-2-1 scale.

Six Breeders’ Futurity winners have gone on to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile: Tasso (1985), Boston Harbor (1996), Favorite Trick (1997), Classic Empire (2016), Essential Quality (2020), and Forte (2022).

A Perfect Swing From Carl Spackler in Coolmore Turf Mile

While the Europeans are always difficult to beat in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, Team USA will be represented by a formidable contingent come Championship weekend. Carl Spackler, a gate-to-wire victor of the Coolmore Turf Mile Stakes, will be one of the Americans leading the home team charge.

Carl Spackler has always been a special horse to jockey Tyler Gaffalione. The son of Lope de Vega has carried the rider to five graded stakes wins, including two Grade 1s, but is also owned by Bob Edwards, Gaffalione’s father-in-law.

“We try not to mix too much business with family but this one kind of fell into place,” Gaffalione said. “It’s always special [to win for the family]. Especially with [Carl Spackler] being a homebred. They had the mare, too, and that was their first stakes winner, so it’s all around a great story.”

Carl Spackler winning the Coolmore Turf Mile Stakes. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Bred in Ireland by Edwards’ Fifth Avenue Bloodstock, Carl Spackler is out of 2016 Goldikova Stakes victress Zindaya. The More Than Ready mare has produced three winners but Carl Spackler has been the standout among her progeny thus far with his $1,568,475 in earnings.

Fresh off his first Grade 1 triumph in the FanDuel Fourstardave Handicap at Saratoga Race Course, Carl Spackler didn’t disappoint as the favorite in Keeneland’s Coolmore Turf Mile. The race, which offered an increased purse of $1.25 million (with $250,000 available exclusively to Kentucky-breds through the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund), is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series “Win and You’re In” event for the Nov. 2 $2 million FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile Presented by PDJF. Although Carl Spackler had already earned an automatic berth to the Mile through his Fourstardave victory, the one-mile contest served as the perfect prep for his upcoming test at Del Mar.

Less than an hour after piloting East Avenue to a front-running score in the Breeders’ Futurity at the Lexington oval, Gaffalione would employ similar tactics with Carl Spackler. Hustling from the far outer post in the field of nine, Gaffalione had the speedy chestnut to the front in no time. Angling over, the colt held a comfortable lead as he cruised through early quarter-mile fractions of :23.93, :47.28, and 1:10.91.

Turning for home, there was only one horse Gaffalione was worried about, Fourstardave runner-up More Than Looks, and he sure came running.

“I knew he was going to be coming late,” Gaffalione said. “I definitely wanted to make sure I got the jump on him. He’s got a strong closing kick but I’ve got a lot of trust in my horse.”

Rallying powerfully from the back of the pack, More Than Looks would play bridesmaid to Carl Spackler once more, falling a length short of catching his rival this time. The Coolmore Turf Mile marked the third meeting between the two talented 4-year-olds.

“He belongs [with these horses],” trainer Cherie DeVaux said of More Than Looks after the race. The son of More Than Ready, a multiple stakes winner in his own right, could be another strong American contender heading to the Breeders’ Cup Mile. More Than Looks was 1 1/4 lengths clear of Aidan O’Brien trainee Mountain Bear in third.

“[More Than Looks] ran awesome,” said DeVaux. “He did everything he could but win and was just unlucky not to get there. You can’t fault the horse for running that way.”

Carl Spackler ($4.14) completed the mile in 1:34.23 on the firm turf course. Gaffalione has been aboard Carl Spackler in all but three of the colt’s 10 starts dating back to his first stakes win in the 2023 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes at Saratoga.

“We were really high on him last year but he had a few hiccups. We were actually going to run in this race last year but something came up,” Gaffalione said. “But he came back great this year and he’s starting to prove what we thought he was all along.”—Molly Rollins

Gina Romantica Leads Home Brown Trifecta in First Lady

Gina Romantica won the First Lady Stakes Presented by UK HealthCare a second year in a row as she continued her winning ways on the Keeneland turf while her trainer, Chad Brown, continued his dominance of the mile race for fillies and mares in most spectacular fashion.

Gina Romantica winning First Lady Stakes. (Eclipse Sportswire)

With the two-length win, Peter Brant’s Gina Romantica secured her third Grade 1 victory in four starts on the Keeneland green as the 5-year-old daughter by multiple leading sire Into Mischief won last year’s First Lady by a head over stablemate In Italian and as a 3-year-old won the 2022 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes.

On Saturday Gina Romantica tracked the early leaders, moved to the lead out of the far turn and quickly opened a clear advantage, and then held off late-running stablemate Chili Flag for the victory. Gina Romantica led home the top three horses for Brown as Fluffy Socks finished third.

It’s the seventh year in a row that Brown has won the First Lady as In Italian won in 2022 after Blowout scored in 2021, Uni won in 2020 and 2019, and A Raving Beauty in 2018. Dayatthespa’s 2014 victory gives the trainer a total of eight wins in the race.—Frank Angst

Zeitlos Secures First Graded Win in Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes

Incremental steps forward all season long paid off in a big way as Stonestreet Stables and Peter Leidel’s Zeitlos acquired her first graded stakes with a last-to-first win in the $340,125 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes.

Zeitlos winning the Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Starting off the year in allowance company, trainer Steve Asmussen worked the 4-year-old daughter of Curlin up the ranks, picking up a pair of allowance wins along with three stakes victories.

“[Zeitlos] continuously gets better,” Asmussen said. “This is by far the best race [of hers] I believe.”

Breaking at the back of the field of six, jockey Jose Ortiz bided his time behind stablemate Clearly Unhinged’s quick pace of :21.54 and :44.57. The dirt track at Keeneland had been playing noticeably quick over the first two days of the meet, with several winners taking the field gate-to-wire.

Ortiz picked off competitors around the far turn while traveling along the rail, finding himself just behind the leaders at the quarter-pole as the field turned for home. Zeitlos shot through an opening inside of Clearly Unhinged and Spirit Wind before kicking away to win by 2 3/4 lengths at the finish line. She completed the six furlongs in 1:09.52.—Sean Collins

Our Shot Fires Best Shot to Win Woodford Stakes

Our Shot winning Woodford Stakes. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Our Shot got his shot in the stretch run of the Woodford Stakes Presented by FanDuel when jockey Luis Saez got him running room and the 5-year-old Kantharos gelding responded with a 1 3/4-length victory.

The judges examined the photo closely before anointing Charcoal as runner-up and Arzak as third in a multi-horse blanket finish.

Our Shot took his customary early slot, tucked away among a solid field, through the early stages of the 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint. It was only as they straightened for home that the seas parted and he found his best stride. The gelding stopped the timer in 1:02.36 for the 5 1/2 furlongs on a firm turf course.

He returned $13.66 for a $2 win ticket.

“We really liked him for this race. His last two races at Saratoga were a little tricky. We had a lot of trouble but we couldn’t wait to be here today and were pretty comfortable that he was going to do a pretty good race,” Saez said.

Our Shot bagged his first stakes win, although trainer John Terranova II noted, “We’ve been close a couple of times. He’s been doing well all summer. He had a couple of tight runs at Saratoga.”—Bob Kieckhefer