The $3.5 million on offer in the Nashville Derby Invitational Stakes (G3T) has drawn an intriguing cast of characters to Kentucky Downs Aug. 30. Three grade 1 winners, three additional graded winners, and several runners on the rise all come from different paths.
The attention grabbers on a first glance of the overflow field of 12 are Sandman and Burnham Square, winners of grade 1 dirt races on the Kentucky Derby (G1) trail, making their turf debuts.
Both trainers, Mark Casse for Sandman and Ian Wilkes for Burnham Square, have always thought their trainee would perform well on the surface if given the right opportunity, which the 1 5/16 miles could provide.
Sandman's Bernardini half sister, She Can't Sing, was a three-time stakes winner on the grass, and the Tapit colt owned by D. J. Stable, St. Elias Stable, West Point Thoroughbreds, and CJ Stables seems to have taken a liking to it in his pair of turf works at Saratoga Race Course's Oklahoma Training Track. Now all that's left is taking an affinity to the unique course with sweeping turns as the runners travel uphill and downhill.
"I think both works were really good; he moved well over it," Casse said. "When you go down there (to Kentucky Downs), it's so different. You just don't know until you watch them run. Some love it and some don't."
Whitham Thoroughbreds' homebred Burnham Square has yet to breeze on the grass in his career, but has been working on synthetic at Skylight Training Center since mid-May. His Scat Daddy dam, Linda, was a grade 2 winner on grass and won over the Kentucky Downs course during her career.
Hill Road returns to grass after making his first two starts on the surface in Ireland before becoming a dirt horse in America this season. AMO Racing USA made the suggestion of trying turf again to trainer Chad Brown, who was impressed with his bullet five-furlong work in 1:00.91 on the Oklahoma turf course Aug. 17.
"I know he started (in Europe). He just never trained like he had much turn of foot. But I was pretty impressed with his turf work," Brown said. "It was the suggestion of the owner to run him, and after watching him breeze, he was right. It's worth taking a shot."
Meanwhile, Amerman Racing Stables' Test Score is a proven commodity on the grass with a grade 1 victory and two grade 1 placings in his last three starts for Graham Motion. However, that experience makes him only the 4-1 second choice on the morning line as The Gredley Family's Wimbledon Hawkeye makes his first start outside Great Britain as the 7-2 favorite.
A group 2 winner at 2, the son of Kameko has raced in top company this year. For his efforts, he has earned four graded placings for trainer James Owen. Frankie Dettori rides from the far outside gate 12.
Two more runners from the Kentucky Derby join the field in Juddmonte's Final Gambit and Winchell Thoroughbreds and Coolmore's Tiztastic. Both horses have raced twice on the grass since the Derby and failed to receive a proper pace to support their late kicks in either start.
Tiztastic has shown an affinity for the Kentucky Downs course, going 2-for-2 with a stakes win during last year's meet.
Some pace could potentially come from St. Elias Stable's Noble Confessor, who took a maiden field gate to wire at Saratoga July 24. Showing talent before his maiden win—being grade 2-placed last fall and beaten only 2 1/4 lengths in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T)—the 1 3/16-mile trip seemed to play to his strengths. Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher thinks the extra distance Saturday will only help more.
"He's always been a horse that's impressive in his training," Pletcher said. "He's coming off a maiden win, finally getting to stretch out a little bit. I think he's always been looking for more distance."
Ironhorse Racing Stable and T-N-T Equine Holdings' Tomasello has also shown an affinity to be close to the pace. At 20-1 on the morning line for Casse, the son of Authentic exits a victory in the 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Downs Preview Nashville Derby held at Ellis Park Aug. 2.
Rounding out the field are graded-placed Simulate, Maximum Promise, and stakes-placed King of Ashes.
Kentucky Downs, Saturday, August 30, 2025, Race 10Entries: DK Horse Nashville Derby Invitational S. (G3T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Hill Road (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 120 Chad C. Brown 6/1 2 2Test Score (KY) Manuel Franco 124 H. Graham Motion 4/1 3 3King of Ashes (KY) Ben Curtis 120 Brendan P. Walsh 30/1 4 4Tomasello (KY) Fernando De La Cruz 120 Mark E. Casse 20/1 5 5Burnham Square (KY) Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr. 120 Ian R. Wilkes 6/1 6 6Simulate (KY) Junior Alvarado 120 William I. Mott 10/1 7 7Tiztastic (KY) Joel Rosario 120 Steven M. Asmussen 20/1 8 8Sandman (KY) Jose L. Ortiz 120 Mark E. Casse 5/1 9 9Noble Confessor (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 120 Todd A. Pletcher 20/1 10 10Maximum Promise (KY) Luis Saez 120 Kenneth G. McPeek 30/1 11 11Final Gambit (KY) Florent Geroux 120 Brad H. Cox 8/1 12 12Wimbledon Hawkeye (GB) Lanfranco Dettori 122 James Owen 7/2 13 13Iron Hand (FL) Edwin Gonzalez 120 Jose Francisco D'Angelo 8/1 14 14Native Runner (KY) Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr. 120 Kenneth G. McPeek 12/1
