The PRK (Grade 1)- $2,000.000 Purse
PRK- For Three Year Olds
One Mile and Three Sixteenths on the Dirt
May 17, 2025

As early as October 2023, and lasting throughout the year in 2024, trainers bred horses with the dream of creating a TC champion in 2025. From there, we watched them grow, and the biggest contenders would soon begin to make themselves known. Months of prep races to begin this year would separate the best of the best, and a field of 20 would head to the starting gate for the KYD. However, two weeks ago, trainers could only look at the sky and wonder how much this rain that created a sloppy track would impact their horses. We’d have a thrilling race to watch while we got all wet, and splashing his way to the win was a horse that back in December made a big impression on me when he won the Remsen. Extreme Jet continued to run well during the prep races, but it was hard to not be excited about Daemon, a gelding that seemed unbeatable. Or about Boss Spearman, a horse that seemed to be peaking at the right time. The rest of the field had their own story, and surprises can happen in the KYD. Extreme Jet went off at odds of 6/1, and was the third choice on the board, behind Daemon and Fawkes, the latter of which must have really excited many with the way he won the Wood Memorial prior to the race. Extreme Jet’s win wasn’t a surprise, but that he won by three lengths, may have been.

Now, this Mb Stables- trained gelding by Con Will Con will look to become a TC champion. The second jewel awaits here in the PRK, and it’s a race that the trainer has won on four previous occasions. Last year, he won with Walk Em Down, a horse that finished 14th in the KYD, but his winner before that was the exciting one. As we remember, Howl Of The Hound won back in 2021 and had the opportunity to become that TC winner at the BEL. I know that second place result still stings for Mb Stables, especially considering the winner did nothing afterwards. Now, he has a chance again, and Extreme Jet has a bigger chance of accomplishing this than we may think right now. Here in the PRK, he’s one of seven horses that took part in the KYD two weeks ago. The other half of the field will hope that the fact that they have had more time to rest will be beneficial. Will the weather cooperate? Probably, but there’s a slight rain chance (30% on Tuesday, and decreased to 24% on Wednesday) to where we cannot rule it out, because this is HRP after all. Let’s hope for a fast track to see these horses in ideal conditions. Here’s the field:

1- Legalise (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by G Corrales)- The hope on this one will be how much, if at all, does he improve after being gelded two weeks ago. Legalise wasn’t badly beaten in prep races, and was able to cash a couple checks, but he has still only won once over ten starts, and that was on the grass in November. After running fifth in the FL Derby, he was gelded, and now here he is. I don’t think Legalise is a bad horse, I simply don’t think he’s a PRK contender unless that geld pays off quite a bit. You never know, though, because it’s happened before and he hasn’t been badly beaten.

2- Decal (Williams9, ridden by I Ortiz Jr)- No one wants to scratch from the KYD, especially when you’re not one of the stables that gets two or three into the race on an annual basis. For Decal, the rain probably made the KYD over before it started. His prior two races on off tracks were quite poor, and not all indicative of how he performed on dry tracks. Now, he still would have been a long shot if the track was fast, but we’re not talking about a horse that finished dead last and was beaten by 16 lengths if that was the case. Two back, he ran fourth in AR Derby, being involved in a photo for show with none other than Extreme Jet. I’m looking for Decal to have a nice bounce back race here that still might not be enough, but it will at least show his ability a lot better.

3- Ref You Def (Night Rider Stables, ridden by L Dettori)- This one was on the fringes of making the KYD, but would not be able to make the field. Ref You Def will need to be better than he has been recently, as after all he has not hit the board at all during 2024. He did run fourth in the LA Derby and came on for fifth in the BG Stakes last time out, but that is the extent of the good news for him. We also saw the opposite end of the spectrum with him in the Risen Star and the Withers, where he was quite poor. Night Rider can put those races behind him, and Ref You Def could linger with the frontrunners at the end but winning this will be tough.

4- No Real Drama (Asgar, ridden by Ru Silvera)- This one’s history is a little interesting, as you have to wonder how confident Asgar was with him on the TC trail. No Real Drama ran against State Breds for his entire two-year-old season and fared well in LA-bred stakes. As a three-year-old, his first race was in February at the Grade 3 Davis Stakes at TAM. This was his first time running out of state, and he got the win. Despite that, and needing more KYD points, No Real Drama was on the shelf for six weeks and would finish in the middle of the pack in the Ruby Stakes in late March, and he would not run in April. So, perhaps the PRK has always been the plan here. Still, you have to wonder about that missed time.

5- Extreme Jet (Mb Stables, ridden by J R Velazquez)- All eyes will be on Extreme Jet as the KYD winner looks to win the second leg of the Triple Crown and have us wondering if history will be made at SAR for the BEL. Extreme Jet was not the favorite for the KYD, but he was certainly not a longshot, either, as he was always considered one of the bigger challengers to the perceived favorite, Daemon. What was impressive is that the KYD was the first time that Extreme Jet had run on an off track, so even Mb Stables couldn’t be certain about how it would go. The three-length margin of victory in such a big race is, of course, skewed by the sloppy track effect, but still, something that is impressive. He won’t have to contend with Daemon here, but Boss Spearman is here as his biggest concern, although others should bounce back. I’m not worried about the short two-week turnaround with him.

6- Red Font (Wood Duck Stables, ridden by V Espinoza)- The Worst-Case Scenario gelding finished second in the FL Derby, giving him enough points to make it into the KYD but he would be 47/1 longshot for the race. It was his first time running on an off track, and after being close to the front and in striking range entering the stretch, the race proved to be too much for him. He’d drop to tenth by the time it was all said and done and was beaten by five lengths. Prior to the FL Derby, he had a pair of subpar outings, coming in the Lecomte and the Rebel, and in a field like this, it’s results like those and not necessarily the KYD performance, that’ll keep me from picking him here.

7- Fawkes (Delta Farms, ridden by F Pennington)- Fawkes attracted a lot of attention in the KYD, going off as the second choice on the board. He is an interesting story, a month previously, he would win the Wood Memorial as a maiden at AQU, and since that was also in the slop, bettors were likely excited by his chances in the rain. Before the Wood Memorial, he was second in the Rebel, so clearly this was a horse getting his act together at the right time. However, he would need more than a sloppy track two weeks ago, finishing seventh though never really getting involved at any point. We should expect him to be better this time out, but I am not as high on him as other seem to be.

8- Point Given (Alydar Stables, ridden by M E Smith)- I really felt bad for Alydar Stables after the KYD. All that hope and excitement that you have a superstar horse only to see the weather come into play as a major factor. With the TC not a factor for Daemon any longer, that one is left to presumably target the BEL while fresh, and it is Point Given to represent the stable’s colors in the PRK. The gelding has been effective, running third in the BC Juvenile for Fractious, which was his final run for that barn. He’s winless in three starts for Alydar but did run third in the Fountain Of Youth. It’d be a nice story to see Point Given in the winner’s circle here.

9- Losing Hazard (Asgar, ridden by R M Hernandez)- As was also the case with Point Given, Losing Hazard was on the also eligible list for the KYD but would never end up drawing into the race. After his debut race, Losing Hazard went on a four-race winning streak, which included the RP Springboard Mile to end the year in 2024. He’s only made two starts as a three-year-old, so like his stablemate, you have to wonder if he would have been in the KYD if he had one more start like many others did this year. He won the Southwest in late January, beating Extreme Jet in the process, but then took two months off before reappearing in the LA Derby, where he didn’t beat anyone. I don’t see any apparent excuses for that, and he must finish out this race a lot better than he did there.

10- Adrenaline (Nakamura Stables, ridden by A A Gallardo)- At no point was Adrenaline on the TC trail, needing six races to break his maiden. Unlike Fawkes, that would not happen in the Wood Memorial, but in a conventional maiden race at HOU in March. Three weeks later, he did run in a stake, that being the $125.000 Mine That Bird Derby where he was third. After another three weeks, he won a NY-bred allowance and now the same trend of running every third week will happen again. His SRF’s are not as good as the other’s here, but perhaps he will like stretching out. Regardless, he’s too much of an unknown for me in here.

11- Boss Spearman (Wood Duck Stables, ridden by P Lopez)- For me, Boss Spearman was one of the top horses in the KYD, so the 14/1 price on him was too high. After arriving with Wood Duck Stables, Boss Spearman reached another level, winning the Withers as well as the AR Derby, and in between them, he was only half a length behind the winner in the San Felipe Stakes. The gelding by Power ran a strong race two weeks ago, and at one point, he had the top spot. If it was not for Exteme Jet, then it’s Boss Spearman that we’re talking about with TC hopes as while he finished three lengths out, he was second best. Plenty of reason to like him here, and if it stays dry like it should, then he may get payback on Extreme Jet.

12- Tropical Surge (Red Fox Farms, ridden by D E Centeno)- There was not anything wrong with his first two starts, coming on the grass, but Tropical Surge really took off as a three-year-old. He’d be gelded to end 2024 and then began this year by winning the Mucho Macho Man and the Holy Bull, which was then followed up by running second to Extreme Jet in the Fountain Of Youth. Red Fox Farms had a star on their hands, and while the FL Derby did not go his way, there was no reason to give up hope for the KYD. On the sloppy track, Tropical Surge struggled, falling apart in the stretch to lose by eleven lengths. He’ll hope to use the PRK to show that he is better horse than that. If he does, don’t forget about him during the summer’s big races.

13- Brooklyn Bash (Wood Duck Stables, ridden by F Geroux)- The third horse to be entered into the race by Wood Duck Stables, and a horse that the trainer picked up last month in private sales for $300.000 about a week after he ran third in the Wood Memorial. Overall, Brooklyn Bash did well over the prep races, also finishing third in the Lewis Stakes and TAM Derby. The results are not glamourous and there are no stake wins to speak of, but the gelding is consistent, race in and race out. In the KYD, the 40/1 longshot had another steady finish, running seventh. Never threatened the winner, but not an awful performance. At some point, he’ll get his big signature win, and likely this year.

14- Clever (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by M Franco)- Clever will be the final horse to load into the starting gate, and the post draw did not do any favors for this horse that would be a longshot no matter from where he started. Late last year, and into this year, Clever ran well but he would never follow up his fourth place run in the Smarty Jones with another good race. In his last two races, he only beat one horse in the field for each of them, running at the back throughout. He’s had some time to rest, and perhaps there is a tactical adjustment in the works, but it would take a massive shift in form for Clever to pull this out.

Prediction: 11-5-2-1

— NS

Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES, TC 2025, THE TRIPLE CROWN