The Poker Stakes – (Grade lll)

Purse $300.00 – For Four Year Olds And Upward

One Mile – InTurf

Saratoga – June 7, 2026

At odds of 53-1, Anna Anna Anna pulled off a stunning upset in the 22nd edition of The Poker Stakes! Entering as one of the longest shots on the board, he rose to the occasion and delivered the best performance of his career. The son of The Godfather has now increased his lifetime earnings to $315.83, as he captured the first graded stakes of his career. Anna Anna Anna’s record at one mile on the turf continues to impress, and it is becoming clear that connections found his preferred distance. The upset result delivered a first Poker Stakes title to both Maxmillion Farm and jockey Martin Garcia, making the afternoon one to remember. This year’s renewal produced a winning time of 1:32.31, edging last year’s clocking by 0.08 seconds. In the preview article for this stakes, I talked about how Anna Anna Anna was coming into this race with a six-furlong work in 1:09 flat. It’s safe to say that he was sitting on a big one! Congratulations to the connections on turning the tables on the favorites!

Winner: Anna Anna Anna – (Maxmillion Farm, Mar. Garcia) Breaking from the gate, there weren’t any surprises from this gelding. Jockey Martin Garcia had him sitting off the pace by a few lengths to let the pacesetters duke it out upfront. Anna Anna Anna settled in fifth down the backside and got in a comfortable rhythm. The problem here was that there was a wall of four horses sitting in front of him. This five-year-old started to make his move passing the ⅜ pole, and Martin decided to take him five-wide. It proved to be the winning move because he had a clear running lane and didn’t have to wait for room to open up. The Ontario-bred closed very impressively down the stretch to win by a head in the final strides. Well done!

Second Place: Rearranger – (Our Athletes, F. Geroux) Talk about a model of consistency—this son of Walker Texas Ranger has never finished off the board since switching barns in December last year. He flashed his speed once again from the gate and ended up trading punches with two other rivals on the lead. They set early fractions of 23.29, 46.48, and 1:09.55. Rearranger traveled comfortably down the backstretch between horses. Things started to get spicy at the 5/16 pole when the horse to his outside started to fade, and this California-bred now found himself in second. He actually took the lead at the 1/16 pole, but Anna Anna Anna crashed the party late on the courtside. This was another formidable effort.

Third Place: Legit – (Bigchief Stables, J R. Velazquez) We’re starting to see this New Mexico-bred become more and more consistent as a newly turned six-year-old. Legit was a little tardy from the gate and had to rush up a little around the first turn to be up with the leaders. He found himself on the lead with two others down the backside—most importantly, he was saving ground. This horse stuck his head in front at the half-mile pole and kept the lead rounding the far turn. Unfortunately, Legit’s lead started to get smaller and smaller as the field reached the top of the stretch. Rearranger took second place at the sixteenth pole, and the eventual winner flew past everyone at the wire, which meant this horse got third. Solid performance.

Fourth Place: Powerful Explosion – (Maxmillion Farm, R. Santana Jr.) This was the second entrant for winning owner Maxmillion Farm. This gelding was hoping for a faster pace upfront, waiting to unleash his powerful turn of foot in last place. Powerful Explosion was really far back early on by about five lengths rounding the first turn. It was an uneventful backstretch running and far turn for him as jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. was just biding his time in eighth. Things started to pick up at the quarter pole as this son of Shimbly Zero found room down on the rail to mount his bid. Powerful Explosion was making some nice strides down the lane, but he started to make his move just a little too late. I would like to see him go longer.

– AJM

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES