If this were a normal year, you could say Maxfield showed up a little too late for the Triple Crown party.
But, with the coronavirus pandemic pushing the spring classics all over the racing calendar, the party is just getting started for Maxfield. The 3-year-old son of Street Sense made his first noise of the season last Saturday when he and jockey Jose Ortiz won the Grade III, $150,000 Matt Winn at Churchill Downs by a length as the 6-5 favorite..
That put him firmly on the path to the Kentucky Derby, but the road to the Run for the Roses is a lot longer now, thanks to the pandemic. Had the race been held on its normal date, the first Saturday in May, Maxfield would not have been playing because he wasn't ready to run. Now that it has been pushed back to the first Saturday in September, Maxfield not only gets the chance to be in it, he has a serious chance to win it.
"We always thought he was going to be a nice 3-year-old," trainer Brendan Walsh said by cell phone from Lexington, Ky.
The question was whether he was going to get the chance to show it. After two wins as a 2-year-old, including a dominating 5 1/2-length victory in the Grade I Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland last October, things went sour. A right front ankle injury knocked him out of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, a race in which he was the third choice on the morning line at 3-1.
That injury led to surgery in November to remove a displaced chip from his ankle and that put him on the equine disabled list for two months and all but knocked him off the Derby trail. Now, he has the extra time to get back in the mix. Last Saturday, he didn't seem rusty at all for a horse making his first start in 231 days. He could not have looked any better.
"I don't know if we dream (about the Kentucky Derby)," said Walsh, who had his first Derby horse last year when Plus Que Parfait finished ninth. "But when you have a horse like this, you want to be a part of these big races."
After the victory in the Matt Winn on Saturday, Walsh was noncommittal as to what would be next for Maxfield, who is a son of 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense. Ideally, he said, Maxfield would run two more times before the Kentucky Derby.
The June 20 Belmont Stakes, now the first leg of the Triple Crown, would seem to be the likely landing spot for Maxfield. He also mentioned the Travers at Saratoga, which has yet to have a scheduled starting date, as the other race Maxfield could run in before the Derby.
The goal for all owners and trainers and jockeys is to win the Triple Crown. Normally, the series is held in five weeks with the Kentucky Derby first, the Preakness two weeks later in Baltimore and then the Belmont three weeks after that. This year, the Preakness will be the final leg and will be run on Oct. 3.
Horsemen will now have to navigate 15 weeks instead of five. That could be a nifty trick, keeping a horse in prime racing shape for that long.
The Belmont will be run at 1 1/8 miles this year instead of the traditional 1 1/2 miles.
"It's still the Belmont," Walsh said. "It's still a really nice race to win. And, if a horse is able to go out and win all three of these races, he is going to be the best in the country."
Walsh, 47, was born in Shanagarry, County Cork, Ireland, and was an assistant to trainer Eddie Kenneally before obtaining his training license in 2011. Maxfield gave him his first Grade I victory when he won the Breeders' Futurity. Now, he hopes the horse can take him to even higher ground.
After Maxfield went through his surgery, Walsh was confident the horse would return as good, or maybe even better, than he was at the age of 2. After one start, he isn't changing his mind.
"This horse just loves to go out and train," Walsh said. "He has a fantastic mind, and that might be his biggest strength. It's just a great feeling knowing you have a horse like this."
twilkin@timesunion.com • 518-454-5415 • @tjwilkin
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Maxfield back in the Triple Crown hunt - Times Union
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