Brant, one of the standout 2-year-olds of the 2025 season, will try to get his sophomore campaign untracked when he faces an expected seven other 3-year-olds in the $250,000 Maxfield Stakes (G3) June 28 at Churchill Downs.
Last season Zedan Racing Stables' Brant turned heads with a 5 1/4-length victory in his career debut, a 5 1/2-furlong maiden special weight race July 26 at Del Mar. The son of Gun Runner wasted no time in following up on that promise when he enjoyed a clear lead at every point of call on his way to a 1-length victory in the Del Mar Futurity (G1) in his second start.
Brant closed 2025 with a third-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Del Mar but so far this season he's made just one start, an off-the-board finish in the San Felipe Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park. He's scheduled to make his return Sunday for trainer Bob Baffert, who according to Equibase wins at a 30% rate for horses off a layoff of 61-180 days.
Racing Hall of Fame trainer Baffert, who has kept a string of horses at Churchill this spring, will look for his fifth graded stakes win of the meeting. Jockey Flavien Prat, who won last year's Maxfield aboard Verifire, is scheduled to ride.
Igniter, a stakes-winning homebred for Three Chimneys Farm, enters off a third-place finish in the Chick Lang Stakes May 16 at Laurel Park.
Churchill Downs, Sunday, June 28, 2026, Race 9Entries: Maxfield S. (G3)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 Igniter (KY) John R. Velazquez 120 Richard E. Dutrow, Jr. - 2 Spun D M C (KY) Martin Garcia 118 Randy L. Morse - 3 Oscar's Hope (KY) Junior Alvarado 120 Kinnon LaRose - 4 Brant (KY) Flavien Prat 123 Bob Baffert - 5 American Man (KY) Cristian A. Torres 118 Dallas Stewart - 6 Prize Pick (KY) Luis Saez 118 Brian A. Lynch - 7 Deep Flame (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 118 Brad H. Cox - 8 Crown the Buckeye (OH) Jose L. Ortiz 120 Michael J. Maker -
Other stakes action at Churchill
Three other dirt stakes are on Sunday's closing-day card: the $225,000 Debutante Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, the $225,000 Bashford Manor Stakes for open 2-year-olds, and the day's richest race—the $300,000 Hanshin Stakes (G3) for older horses at a mile out of the chute.
Imagination, winner of the Riyadh Dirt Sprint (G2) this winter in Saudi Arabia and second last fall in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) at Del Mar, is the headliner in the 10-horse Hanshin. The field also includes fellow graded stakes winners Owen Almighty, Dragoon Guard, Hall of Fame, Crazy Mason, Nu What's New, and Coal Battle. Baffert stretches out Imagination in distance after a pair of fourth-place finishes in the Churchill Downs (G1) and True North (G3) stakes.
The 5-year-old son of Into Mischief is the leading Hanshin money earner with a bankroll in excess of $2.2 million for a partnership headed by SF Racing, Starlight Racing, and Madaket Stables.
Norman Stables' Coal Battle, winner of the 2025 Rebel Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn Park, is winless in six starts since, though many of his starts have come in demanding company, such as when he ran 11th in last year's Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill. Hanshin entries Owen Almighty and Neoequos also ran in the 2025 Run for the Roses, finishing fifth and 13th, respectively.
After checking in sixth when tried on turf in the Arlington Stakes (G3T) May 30 at Churchill, Coal Battle returns to his preferred surface on dirt. The Lonnie Briley-trained Coal Front 4-year-old colt is the last scheduled mount for jockey Corey Lanerie, who announced this month that he would retire after the conclusion of the Churchill spring meet.
Churchill Downs, Sunday, June 28, 2026, Race 10Entries: Hanshin S. Presented by JRA (G3)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 Moonlight (KY) Florent Geroux 118 Chris M. Block - 2 Neoequos (FL) Francisco Arrieta 118 Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. - 3 Owen Almighty (KY) John R. Velazquez 118 Brian A. Lynch - 4 Imagination (KY) Flavien Prat 120 Bob Baffert - 5 Dragoon Guard (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 118 Brad H. Cox - 6 Hall of Fame (KY) Jose L. Ortiz 118 Steven M. Asmussen - 7 Crazy Mason (KY) Junior Alvarado 118 Gregory D. Sacco - 8 Nu What's New (KY) Luis Saez 120 James P. DiVito - 9 Coal Battle (KY) Corey J. Lanerie 118 Lonnie Briley - 10 Tour Player (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 118 D. Whitworth Beckman -
