Photo:

Gulfstream Park / Ryan Thompson

Burnham Square, last-to-first winner of Saturday’s Grade 3, $265,000 Holy Bull, exited the Triple Crown prep “bright and alert” and could return in Gulfstream Park’s next Triple Crown prep in four weeks.

Trainer Ian Wilkes said Sunday that Burnham Square “came out fine and jogged good this morning” at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County. The Liam’s Map gelding earned 20 Kentucky Derby qualifying points for his 1 3/4-length triumph.

Second in Gulfstream’s series of dirt races for 3-year-olds on the road to the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) on March 29 after the one-mile Mucho Macho Man Jan. 3, the Holy Bull is followed on the stakes schedule by the $415,000 Fountain of Youth (G2) March 1, also run at 1 1/16 miles.

“The logical spot probably is the Fountain of Youth,” Wilkes said for Burnham Square, bred and owned by Janis Whitham with her son and racing manager, Clay. “I’ll talk to Clay and Mrs. Whitham and make sure. It’s four weeks away. We’ll see how he does and how he bounces out of this. He looked bright and alert this morning, but he ran hard. Let’s see how he comes back and trains.”

Burnham Square is 2-for-2 lifetime at Gulfstream, having graduated with a nine-length maiden special weight score going 1 1/16 miles Dec. 28. Both wins also have come since the addition of blinkers and jockey Edgard Zayas.

“He wouldn’t run in the race,” Wilkes said. “He’d run away from horses. He wouldn’t run into the dirt. Jocks were riding him at the half-mile pole and he was going nowhere. He just needed blinkers. Then he’d run home, get beat a half-length for all of it and then be four lengths in front after the wire.”

After getting worked up in the post parade, Burnham Square broke tardily from outermost post 7 and took dirt as he saved ground inside trailing the field through the opening quarter-mile. After bumping with Grade 3 winner He’s Not Joking near the half-mile pole, Burnham Square tipped off the rail on the far turn, swung wider approaching the stretch and wore down favored leader Tappan Street once straightened for home, pulling away late.

“He overcame a lot of adversity in the race, so that was good,” Wilkes said. “He just keeps getting better, and that’s what you want. You’ve got to get better because the water gets deeper. You’ve got to keep improving. To where he might maximize out at, I don’t know yet. But the further they go the better he gets. The distance is what he likes.”

Burnham Square ran second by a half-length at odds of 30-1 while running for a $150,000 claiming tag in debut last fall at Keeneland sprinting six furlongs. He stretched out to 1 1/16 miles and stepped up to maiden special weight company for his next start, beaten less than a length while running third.

“He’s a plain ol’ horse. We just let him come along,” Wilkes said. “When we worked him, he worked good. But did we like him off the bat? No. We didn’t know what we had. We just let him come along and he started working good. I ran him for ($150,000) first time out. He ran awfully good and surprised us, and just got better and better from there.”

Trainer Jose D’Angelo said Sunday that Mucho Macho Man winner Guns Loaded, who held a short lead after going six furlongs in 1:11.69 in the Holy Bull before retreating to finish last, will likely target shorter races moving forward.

“He kind of just went along out there,” he said. “We’re going to give him some time and probably cut him back.”