The Green River Island

Purse $300.00 – For Three Year Olds And Upward

1 1/16 Miles – Turf

Ellis Park – August 2, 2026

Bigchief Stables’ Legit took advantage of a perfect ground-saving trip from off the pace to win the 12th running of The Green River Island! This New Mexico-bred captured his second stakes victory of the year and also keeps his streak of hitting the board in six straight starts. Winning the race was impressive enough but doing it in record time made the effort even more memorable. Legit completed the 1 1/16 miles on the grass in 1:39.00, establishing both a new stakes record and a new track record! Well done! Through twenty career races, the son of People Pleaser has increased his lifetime earnings to $447.76. Neither Bigchief Stables nor jockey Paco Lopez had previously won The Green River Island, making Sunday’s victory a first for both. Connections will now have plenty of options with this six-year-old throughout the remainder of the 2026 season. Bigchief Stables deserves plenty of credit for patiently developing Legit into the horse he is today. Congratulations!

Winner: Legit – (Bigchief Stables, P. Lopez) Breaking from the one post, jockey Paco Lopez did a good job maintaining his position on the rail heading into the first turn. Legit settled in second traveling down the backside, about one length behind the lone pacesetter. Things started to get interesting as the field passed the ⅜ pole. Powerful Explosion continued to dictate things on the front end and didn’t allow this New Mexico-bred to sneak through at the top of the stretch. Paco Lopez shifted out two-wide at that point and got a clear running lane to close. Legit absolutely powered away late, leaving the rest of the field behind to score by a length. Very impressive!

Second Place: Good Memories – (Mb Stables, J R. Velazquez) This Grade One winner had a very similar trip to Legit throughout the entire race. Good Memories broke in good order and settled two lengths off the speed while racing two-wide. Down the backside, there wasn’t any change in the running order as all horses were biding their time. The eventual winner started to move rounding the far turn, which pushed this Ontario-bred out three-wide. Jockey John Velazquez started to ask his horse to go passing the quarter pole, but Legit was kicking away with impressive strides. This son of Kashatreya wasn’t able to keep up down the lane and had to settle for second place.

Third Place: Powerful Explosion – (Maxmillion Farm, Mar. Garcia) Connections changed the game plan with the gelding—putting him on the lead rather than having him make his usual late run from off the pace. Powerful Explosion quickly put a length on the field leaving the gate and put up early fractions of 23:35, 46.83, and 1:10.23. He traveled comfortably down the backstretch, getting into a nice rhythm. Passing the 5/16 pole, Legit and Good Memories were mounting their bids on the outside and started to kick away. Powerful Explosion fought on gallantly down the stretch, but weakened late to finish third. I’m confident this five-year-old will get his first stakes win before the year ends.

Fourth Place: Stop Hammertime – (Bears Stable, F. Pennington) This was another entrant trying to capture his first stakes win on the grass. Stop Hammertime ran really well on the lead a few starts back, so it was interesting to see what he would do coming from off the pace again. He broke just ok and settled midpack about two lengths off the pacesetter. The son of Manhunt was running three-wide into the backstretch and eventually moved down to the rail at the half-mile pole. He was in a good position to start closing from the back, but there wasn’t much in the tank throughout the stretch drive. Stop Hammertime ended up finishing an even fourth. Remains a horse with upside but will need to continue improving.

– AJM

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded