Giocoso Slips Up Inside to Take Secretariat
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Photo: Coady Media/Nick Phillips
Giocoso and jockey Ben Curtis win the Secretariat stakes at Colonial Downs
Sitting a perfect pocket trip behind the speed, Giocoso shot through inside when a stretch opening appeared to capture the $503,600 Secretariat Stakes (G2T) Aug. 9 at Colonial Downs.
Appreciating a drop in class after running fifth over good ground in the May 3 American Turf Stakes (G1T) on at Churchill Downs and catching a firm course at Colonial, Giocoso maintained a sustained run over the final quarter-mile to notch his first stakes victory. But the difference maker was the trip, which Colonial Downs leading rider Ben Curtis engineered from a favorable inside draw.
"I got a beautiful sit, you know, (just off the pace) and in on the rail," Curtis said during an in-house winner's circle interview. "He relaxed beautiful down the back and when the seam came, I had so much horse. I was always going to take it, and we know he stays. So he kind of had all the boxes ticked."
Favored Simulate , a last-out allowance optional claiming winner at Saratoga Race Course, rallied to grab second after being shuffled back early, but could not get closer than a length behind the winner at the finish. Simulate nipped third-place Antisocial by a head for the place.
Giocoso ($11.40) ran a mile on the inner Colonial Downs turf course in 1:35.36 following a stalking trip in third behind steady fractions in the race of :24.08, :48.59, and 1:12.50 set by Maui Strong , who would begin to tire and drift out coming into the lane. Maui Strong finished in sixth in the field of eight 3-year-olds.
"When horses start to struggle, they tend to lean off the rail and lean into horses, which I didn't need much room to get through. I had that much horse—I was going to get through whatever," Curtis said.
He credited trainer Keith Desormeaux for having Giocoso at his best for the colt's first start in more than three months.
"This horse hasn't been the easiest," he added. "You know, he can be very headstrong; he can be a little bit lively, and (Keith) had him absolutely perfect and teed up for today."
Giocoso, who picked up an initial graded stakes placing when third in the Iroquois Stakes (G3) last year on dirt as a juvenile, is a dark bay or brown colt by Not This Time out of the Fastnet Rock mare Nutcracker Suite . Rocker O Ranch bought the colt for $75,000 from the Runnymede Farm consignment to the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
He improved to 3-1-1 in 10 starts and advanced his earnings with Saturday's lucrative victory to $524,271.
Giocoso, bred in Kentucky by Breed First, became the seventh graded stakes winner of 2025 for Not This Time, who stood this past breeding season at Taylor Made Stallions in Kentucky for $175,000.