While the top three finishers of the May 3 Kentucky Derby (G1) are set to battle once more in the Belmont Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course June 7, four more Derby alumni will return to the Churchill Downs starting gate June 8 for the $400,000 Matt Winn Stakes (G3).
Those four runners are Final Gambit (fourth in the Derby), Burnham Square (sixth) , East Avenue (eighth), and Coal Battle (11th).
A fifth Derby starter, ninth-place Chunk of Gold, was entered in the Matt Winn but trainer Ethan West said the colt would scratch and instead point to the June 21 Ohio Derby (G3).
The Derby runners will be joined by one non-Derby runner: Just a Fair Shake, a distant second to Belmont contender Crudo in the Sir Barton Stakes at Pimlico Race Course May 17.
Grade 1 winner Gaming, who was most recently third in the Pat Day Mile Stakes (G2) on the Derby undercard, also was entered in the Matt Winn, but he was cross-entered in the $100,000 Affirmed Stakes Sunday at Santa Anita Park, where he was made the 4-5 morning-line favorite in a four-horse field. Trainer Bob Baffert told Daily Racing Form that Gaming would run at Santa Anita.
Speed is likely to come from the Godolphin homebred East Avenue in the far outside gate 7. His career-best performances, a win in the Breeders' Futurity (G1) last November and nose defeat in April's Blue Grass Stakes (G1), both at Keeneland, have come as the pacesetter. On the sloppy track of the Derby, the Brendan Walsh trainee never made it to that favored position, racing fifth down the backstretch.
East Avenue lacks a clear pace rival on paper. Lonnie Briley, who trains Coal Battle for Norman Stables, was hopeful that Gaming would stay in and add some pressure to East Avenue and provide some pace for his Rebel Stakes (G2) winner, who should be just a few lengths behind them early.
"If those speed horses go out there and he's sitting back—and they're going :45, ;46 (for the half-mile) or something like that—that will be right up his alley," Briley said. "At the five-sixteenths pole he'll be rolling."
Coal Battle had an eventful first Saturday in May, pulling his shoe off in the paddock and needing it repaired before the post parade. The incident tore off a piece of the Coal Front colt's hoof wall. Briley said he couldn't blame the defeat on the foot, and that it has healed ahead of the Matt Winn.
"He's good to go," Briley said. "He's feeling good and training good. He needs to run right now. I think we'll see a different race because he didn't get to run that last one."
In the Derby, Coal Battle sat midpack in the early portions, but his move was impacted as Journalism and Sovereignty kept him boxed in behind East Avenue at a critical point of the far turn as they made their moves toward the lead. Churchill Downs veteran rider and longtime friend of Briley's, Corey Lanerie, will take over the saddle Sunday.
"My horse didn't run at all," Briley said. "In fact, he got back to the barn squealing. For three days, you couldn't hardly get in the stall he was so mad because he didn't get to run."
If there were any other Derby runners with the right to be mad, it would be Whitham Thoroughbreds' Burnham Square. The Ian Wilkes-trained Blue Grass Stakes winner found himself more forward in the Derby than he had been in previous runs, but was halted entering the far turn as Admire Daytona backed up in his path, shuffling him from seventh back to fourteenth. However, the Liam's Map gelding persevered and rerallied to finish sixth.
A fast pace in the Matt Winn would also prove beneficial to Juddmonte homebred Final Gambit, who launched from last of 19 in the Derby to finish fourth after going extremely wide to find clear sailing entering the stretch. Flavien Prat will be aboard for the first time Sunday.
Previously the winner of the Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3), the Derby was Final Gambit's first start on dirt. Given the sloppy surface that day, it is still unclear whether he will take to a fast track with as much of a closing kick, but he has trained very well over the fast Churchill Downs surface this spring.
As of June 7, there was a 35% chance of rain in Louisville, Ky., Sunday, though the forecast looked better later in the day.
Churchill Downs, Sunday, June 8, 2025, Race 8Entries: Matt Winn S. (G3)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Gaming (KY) Florent Geroux 118 Bob Baffert 5/1 2 2Final Gambit (KY) Flavien Prat 120 Brad H. Cox 5/2 3 3Chunk of Gold (KY) Jareth Loveberry 118 Ethan W. West 6/1 4 4Just a Fair Shake (KY) Jaime Rodriguez 118 Daniel J. McKenzie 15/1 5 5Burnham Square (KY) Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr. 123 Ian R. Wilkes 7/2 6 6Coal Battle (KY) Corey J. Lanerie 123 Lonnie Briley 9/2 7 7East Avenue (KY) Luis Saez 123 Brendan P. Walsh 4/1
