Thanks to a gate-to-wire victory in the $365,500 Grade 3 Stonestreet Lexington Stakes at Keeneland Race Course on April 13, Godolphin homebred Encino climbed 10 spots on the Kentucky Derby points Leaderboard and has hope that he may join the field on the first Saturday in May for the running of the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve. Encino’s 40 points have him 21st in the rankings and needing just one defection to gain entry into the 20-horse Kentucky Derby starting gate.
Breaking from the inside in Saturday’s Lexington aboad Encino, jockey Florent Geroux got the 3-year-old son of Nyquist out to a fast start, keeping the field at bay by a length through the opening half mile.
“I always like being close to or on the lead if we can get there. And to be honest with you, we kind of handicapped the race on paper that we may sit off of a horse or two and get a tracking trip,” trainer Brad Cox said. “When he broke the way…
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