Dade Park Dash

Purse $175.00 – For Three Year Olds

5½  Furlongs – Turf

Ellis Park – July 4, 2026

Credit Criminal took advantage of a perfect trip from off the pace and captured the 4th running of the Dade Park Dash. This marked the second stakes victory of his career, both of which have come in his last three turf starts. It’s safe to say this colt has found his new home since trying to get on the Derby trail earlier this year. It was a memorable afternoon for owner Aer Stables and jockey Julien Leparoux, as both earned their first win in the Dade Park Dash. Credit Criminal also made history setting a new stakes record in this race, stopping the clock for the 5½ furlongs in 1:02.49. The son of Viral Lock continues to trend in the right direction, increasing his career earnings to $261.00.  Connections are going to have a lot of decisions to make throughout the summer—whether to keep him sprinting, go into graded company, or maybe go back to two turns? Whatever is next for this Ontario-bred, I’m sure Aer Stables will have him ready to fire. Credit goes to the connections for another impressive performance!

Winner: Credit Criminal – (Aer Stables, J R. Leparoux) Going off as the favorite, this colt broke in perfect order. Jockey Julien Leparoux put Credit Criminal two-wide in second place down the backstretch, just a head behind Cosmic Energy. Things really didn’t change much rounding the far turn as this three-year-old was looming large on the outside. At the top of the stretch, that’s when Credit Criminal put his head in front and took the lead. No one was able to catch this colt as he powered away impressively to win by a length. Graded company looks like the next logical step and I think he will fit just fine if he can replicate this effort. The patience and management of the connections continue to pay off as Credit Criminal keeps moving forward!

Second Place: Cosmic Energy – (Mb Stables, N. Juarez) For his first time on the turf, Cosmic Energy made a good impression on the green stuff. He broke great from the rail and immediately went to the lead. The early fractions were: 22.47, 45.29, and 56.77. The son of Solar System continued to lead by a head around the far turn just to the inside of Credit Criminal. At the quarter pole, this gelding started to lose a bit of ground and give way. He continued to fight on gallantly down the stretch despite falling a length back to the eventual winner inside the final sixteenth. With a rival closing fast on the rail late, jockey Nik Juarez kept Cosmic Energy on task and saved second place. He is still lightly raced with a lot of room to improve.

Third Place: Kynsli – (Royalty Stables, B J. Hernandez Jr.) As expected, the habitual deep closer settled near the rear before producing his familiar closing kick. Kynsli was about four lengths back in fifth down the backstretch hoping for the pace to fall apart. He got in a comfortable rhythm rounding the far turn, setting his sights on the leaders. The son of Valvano didn’t start making up ground until the field passed the 5/16 pole. He started to make his presence felt at the top of the stretch when jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. was really asking him to go. At that point, Kynsli was about two lengths back and was gobbling up ground on the rail. Unfortunately, this colt was just too far back early on and just ran out of real estate late to finish third.

Fourth Place: Symphonyforthedevil – (Big Jd Racing, L. Machado) Here’s another deep closer who tried to run down the field late. His post position didn’t do him any favors as he settled in last down the backstretch about four lengths off the pace. Symphonyforthedevil was racing two-wide into the far turn just to the outside of Kynsli. As the field passed the 5/16 pole, that’s when jockey Luan Machado wheeled this horse to the outside and started mounting a bid. He had an advantage being the widest into the stretch because this gelding had a clear running lane. Symphonyforthedevil ran on nicely, but the wire came up too fast and ended up finishing fourth. I would like to see him around two turns in the future.

– AJM

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded