Trainer Ken McPeek picked up his fifth win in the GIII Pocahontas Stakes Saturday when Taken by the Wind (Rock Your World) blew home in style to earn the first available points on the 2026 Road to the Kentucky Oaks.
Entered off a debut win on a rained-off main track at Saratoga in $75,000 maiden optional claiming company going seven furlongs Aug. 21, the 6-1 shot clearly relished the extra furlong Saturday. Speedy through the first yards but outrun out of the chute by a trio of rivals, Taken by the Wind settled back fourth and enjoyed the shortest way around the oval while patiently handled by Irad Ortiz, Jr. through fractions of :22.75 and 45.57 set by 9-1 shot Embrace the Moment (Yaupon). With plenty of horse but no room to run midway around the turn, Ortiz found a seam as the pacesetter faded along the rail, tipping outside of that tiring runner and splitting horses at the quarter pole.
Pushing through that gap into the stretch, she exploded past three other challengers and breezed home up the rail to give her freshman sire (by Candy Ride {Arg}) his first stakes winner.
“She broke well,” said Ortiz, Jr. “I just let the speed go after that. I tried to let her settle on the rail like she did in her last start. Turning for home, there was an opening and she went through there and opened up. She ran like an older filly today. She's very exciting.”
McPeek had previously taken the Pocahontas in two of the last three years with GISP and 'TDN Rising Star' V V's Dream (Mitole) in the first one-mile edition of the race in 2023 and Fun and Feisty (Midshipman) at 1 1/16-miles in 2022. His two other wins came with eventual GISW Daddys Lil Darling (Scat Daddy) in 2016 and MGISP Dothraki Queen (Pure Prize).
Co-owner Magdalena Racing, McPeek's own farm and racing branch, is notable as the birthplace of his 2024 GI Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan (Goldencents). Taken by the Wind earned 10 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks which continues with the GI Darley Alcibiades at Keeneland Oct. 3.
Pedigree Note:
GI Santa Anita Derby winner and Spendthrift Farm freshman sire Rock Your World has nine winners from his first crop to race including a 'TDN Rising Star' in Color Comin' In. First dam Up for Grabs has five winners from seven to race with Incredible Revenge Stakes runner up Running Memories (Bahamian Squall) being her only other stakes horse. This is the family of GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies runner up Love That Jazz (Dixieland Band) and her daughter, MGISW Society Selection (Coronado's Quest) who went on to be a $1.85m KEENOV broodmare back in 2010. Up for Grabs has a yearling colt by Global Campaign and was bred to Florida-based stallion Champions Dream, a son of Justify, for 2026 after taking this year off.
Saturday, Churchill Downs
POCAHONTAS S.-GIII, $251,250, Churchill Downs, 9-13, 2yo, f, 1m, 1:36.50, ft.
1--TAKEN BY THE WIND, 122, f, 2, by Rock Your World
1st Dam: Up for Grabs, by First Samurai
2nd Dam: Love Always, by Saint Ballado
3rd Dam: Love From Mom, by Mr. Prospector
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($70,000 Ylg
'24 FTKJUL; $20,000 Ylg '24 FTKOCT). O-Magdalena Racing
(Sherri McPeek), Terry Bradshaw, and Graham Leveston;
B-Courtney L. Meagher (FL); T-Kenneth G. McPeek; J-Irad Ortiz,
Jr. $136,710. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $180,710. *1/2 to
Running Memories (Bahamian Squall), SP, $291,660. Werk
Nick Rating: A+++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross
pedigree or free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2--Miss Complicated, 122, f, 2, Complexity–Cause for Praise, by
Creative Cause. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE.
($225,000 RNA Ylg '24 KEESEP). O-Six Column Stables LLC, Bret
Jones, Gene E. Rice, Jim Gladden, David Stanley, and Randall L.
Bloch; B-Brereton C. Jones (KY); T-Ian R. Wilkes. $59,100.
3--Joke Maker, 122, f, 2, Practical Joke–Swan of the Nile, by
Pioneerof the Nile. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK
TYPE. ($90,000 RNA Ylg '24 KEESEP). O-Naoya Yoshida;
B-Winchester Farm (KY); T-Rodolphe Brisset. $29,550.
Margins: 5 1/4, 2HF, 2. Odds: 6.05, 1.82, 12.05.
Also Ran: Dazzling Dame, Our Two Girls, Embrace the Moment, Starlit Sky.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
TAKEN BY THE WIND 💨 ($14.10) split rivals and accelerated home in the $300,000 Pocahontas Stakes (G3) at @ChurchillDowns. The 2YO filly by freshman sire Rock Your World (@spendthriftfarm) was piloted by @iradortiz. Trainer @KennyMcPeek scores the first 10 Kentucky Oaks points! pic.twitter.com/4N2RpLmEl5
— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) September 13, 2025
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