Maxfield Wins Tenacious Return to Remain Undefeated
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Photo: Hodges Photography / Amanda Hodges Weir
Maxfield wins the Tenacious Stakes at Fair Grounds
Godolphin's Maxfield remained undefeated while besting older rivals in the $75,000 Tenacious Stakes Dec. 19 at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, stalking the pace in second before pulling ahead to win by 2 1/2 lengths under jockey Florent Geroux.
The Tenacious was the 3-year-old Street Sense colt's first race appearance since taking the May 23 Matt Winn Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs, his only other sophomore start. He was knocked off the trail for the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) in June due to a non-displaced lateral condylar fracture in his right foreleg and resumed training in the latter half of September.
At 2, Maxfield won first out then took the Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland, but missed the TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) due to another physical setback.
Saturday's win was a relief for trainer Brendan Walsh.
"It's nice to get him back and get him to run so well," Walsh said. "He'd been working so good, you're just hoping for confirmation, and I think he gave us that tonight. We needed it. Hopefully he comes out of it OK and we'll move forward from here."
The 1-2 favorite in the 1 1/16-mile Tenacious, Maxfield raced three-wide into the first turn and followed the pace of Cool Bobby, who set fractions of :24.63, :48.39, and 1:12.27 through six furlongs. At the six-furlong stage, Maxfield was only a head behind and took over at the quarter pole. He kicked clear under steady urging from Geroux to complete the distance on the fast track in 1:43.35.
"I think he's a horse who's maturing," said Geroux, who rode Maxfield for the first time. "When he worked a few weeks ago from the gate he was pretty sharp out of there, so I was pretty confident he might be a little bit closer than he's been in the previous races. He got me in a great position. The key was to get him in a nice rhythm. It didn't matter where the position was, just to get him comfortable and happy. … When I asked him turning for home he gave me another gear. I kept him busy all the way to the wire to make sure he got something out of it."
Sonneman, the only other 3-year-old in the race, finished second and Dinar was third throughout. Cool Bobby, Captivating Moon, Mocito Rojo, and Locally Owned completed the order of finish.
Walsh said he would see how Maxfield, an earner of $489,262, comes out of the race and would speak with Godolphin representatives regarding future plans.
"He's a stronger horse this year. I (thought) he was going to break better," Walsh added. "He was a little fresh tonight too, so maybe he was a little more aggressive than normal, but I don't think he's a deep closer by any means. From his first two runs as a 2-year-old, possibly, but he's a stronger horse now and I think we can ride him more prominently."
A Kentucky homebred, Maxfield is out of the Bernardini mare Velvety, a producer of four foals who was reported bred in 2020 to Uncle Mo .
Other stakes winners on the card were Joy's Rocket, who landed the Letellier Memorial Stakes to give trainer Steve Asmussen his 100th win at the New Orleans track; Quick Tempo in the Sugar Bowl Stakes; Archidust, who gave Asmussen his 101st Fair Grounds win in the Richard R. Scherer Memorial Stakes; Logical Myth in the Buddy Diliberto Memorial Stakes; and Dalika in the Blushing K. D. Stakes.