Texas Turf Mile
$100.000 For Three Year Olds
1 Mile – Turf
Sam Houston Race Park – January 24, 2026

The seventh running of the Texas Turf Mile has drawn a full field of twelve from eleven barns. The first three editions of this race were run for a purse of $200.000. This year marks the fourth year in a row where we see a $100.000 prize offered to the field. The stakes record was set last year by Martyparty’s Bear Head who completed the mile in 1:32.88. The field from the rail out is as follows:

1. Go Go Goblin (Mb Stables/J. Lezcano) Just missed winning the Soaring Free Stakes last August and was sold a few weeks later for $225.000. His new barn has placed him in three graded stake races since and he has placed in two of those efforts. It is notable that those two good efforts were in the mile distance of today’s contest which makes him an obvious contender.

2. Boss Mb (Williams9/R.A. Vasquez) Smokey Stover Bred gelding has won two of his eight starts and is kicking off his three-year-old campaign. He finished a few lengths behind Go Go Goblin in the G3 DeMille Stakes so he has to show improvement. There can be a lot of development from two to three so that might encourage his backers. 

3. Moving Up (Broken Spoke Stables/D. Cabrera) Won his first two starts and then ran an even race in his stakes debut in the G1 Summer Stakes. He ended his two-year-old year with a nice third in a Del Mar allowance race where he finished a length behind the winner Boss Mb who is starting just to his inside. Has been breezing nicely in the morning getting ready for this second try in stakes company. 

4. Bramble Sioux (Greyfriars Stable/A. Jiminez) Since breaking his maiden at Del Mar he has tried graded stakes company in three straight races where he didn’t have impact beyond showing early speed. He tries something different today by moving from dirt to grass and he will need that to provide a boost to form to surprise. 

5. Kuykendahl (Luz International/L.J. Luzzi) The only horse in the race who has already made his three-year-old debut having won an allowance race at this track on Jan 2. He has two wins in a row and has proven he likes the grass here, but he is doing two things for the first time. He is making his first stakes start and also trying to go a mile for the first time. There is no public work beyond five furlongs, so the distance looms as the big question. 

6. Alabama Hammer (Threshold/M.J. Sanchez) Was picked up in the September auction for $5.000 and won at first asking for the new barn. He won a MSW at Tampa Bay going 1 1/16 miles on the grass in that race so this is actually a minor cutback in distance for him. His main test today will be the class question and if he can carry that maiden win right into stakes company. 

7. Jinxed Star (Mb Stables/A. Beschizza) The second entry from Mb Stables. He has won one of seven starts. He was purchased for $110.000 in August and was gelded and entered in the lucrative KD Juvenile Sprint where he made a good account of himself finishing fourth in a full field of fourteen picking up the final check. He has a bit of a good/bad pattern which puts him in line for one of his good efforts if that pattern holds. Showed speed and gave way in his only route try.

8. Cracked Ginger (The Sidley Stud/V. Espinoza) Won his debut effort in early April last year and has not found the board since then. His six subsequent starts after his win have included five stakes races and he has failed to make his presence felt in any of those. He was gelded since his last start and if he is angry enough about that cruelest of all equipment changes maybe he can rage home for an upset win. 

9. Judge Everything (Hunterman Stable/A. Fresu) Wins my favorite name in the race…which has no value whatsoever monetary or otherwise. He was very highly thought of early having been entered in two high level MSW events at Churchill Downs and Saratoga last summer. He didn’t have much success and was given some class relief moving back to Belterra Park where he broke his maiden by daylight. It was also his first grass effort and his first route attempt. Was it the class relief? The grass? The distance? He followed that up with a very good allowance effort at Parx going long on the grass, so it seems that Hunterman has found what this horse likes to do. His works are not as flashy as some, but he is on an improving trajectory going into his first stakes attempt. 

10. Perfect Dancer (Spb Racing/A.A. Gallardo) This gelding is one of the most consistent horses in the field having been in the money in five of his seven races. He is stakes placed on the grass but that was at five furlongs. He is a speedy sort, and his form thus far shows he likes to be forwardly placed. He carried that speed for a wire-to-wire 1 1/16-mile win in an allowance at Monmouth, but he was not able to impose himself in his route stakes effort. It remains to be seen if that was a tactical change or if the stakes company blunted his speed. I’m guessing it was tactical and expect him to be forwardly placed today. 

11. Chicken Dinner (Bigchief Stables/D.L. Parker) Won his April debut then was given two more starts before being sold for $10.000 to his current trainer. He was moved to the grass for the G2 Pilgrim where he showed speed before fading to tenth. In his second grass start he won an allowance at Parx and that was the last time we saw him in a race. Another one on the outside that I expect will be forwardly placed. 

12. Captain Trips (Jerry Garcia Racing/R.E. Eramia) Has gone to the post three times and has acquitted himself well each time. He picked up minor awards in high level MSW races in his first two starts before he won at the Fair Grounds in late December in his first grass race. Has only been seen working on the dirt since that win so there is not much to assess where he is at for his first stakes start.

Someone in this group of twelve is going to come away with their first stakes win after they hit the wire. No one in the field has reached $120.000 in earnings and only two of them have broken the $100.000 mark. With that said you have to go with Go Go Goblin on the rail who is a length a head and a neck away from being a three-time stakes winner. Kuykendahl has been all business since being gelded and has never really run a bad one so I will look for him to threaten in his stakes debut. Jinxed Star is showing fast works, and I look for him to run a good one for third. 

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded