By Alan Carasso
Spendthrift Farm had a bitter pill to swallow over the winter when it was announced that their Eclipse Award-winning 'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard Ted Noffey (Into Mischief) would be forced to miss the 2026 Classics with bone bruising.
It must be nice to have an understudy the caliber of Further Ado (Gun Runner), a fellow 'Rising Star' when graduating by no fewer than 20 lengths at bucolic Keeneland Race Course last October and now a fellow Grade I winner after toying with six other sophomores in Saturday's $1.25-million GI Toyota Blue Grass Stakes in Lexington.
Last year's GII Kentucky Jockey Club winner–albeit in far less dominating fashion–Further Ado returned to action with a sound runner-up effort behind The Puma (Essential Quality) in the GIII ESMARK Tampa Bay Derby on Mar. 7, and if connections were of the mindset that he'd come on for that first-up run, well, their thinking was spot on.
Drawn gate five and sent off at 4-5, Further Ado was off without incident, but was trapped out four or five deep entering the first turn, as John Battaglia Memorial winner and dirt debutant Great White (Volatile) made the running from the once-beaten Creole Chrome (Volatile). Reagan's Honor (Honor A. P.) was beaten for speed and was therefore consigned to an off-pace trip a path or two to the inside of the heavy post-time favorite.
Third and three off the fence punching the breeze down the back, with Reagan's Honor still going apparently well enough to his inside, Further Ado edged up into third with 3 1/2 furlongs to travel, while those who backed Reagan's Honor into 2-1 second favoritism were beginning to get sweaty palms, as he began to lose ground readily.
With Ortiz, Jr. swinging off him, letting his colt do all the work, Further Ado swept in front at the five-sixteenths, immediately pinched a sizeable advantage and was home by a record 11-length margin. Ottinho (Quality Road), a half-brother to the winner's sire, boxed back for second ahead of Talkin (Good Magic) in third.
The victory was good for 100 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, now less than a month down the road. Ottinho moved into the top 20 on 56 points.
“What a huge blessing for our family and our team, a lot of whom were here,” said Spendthrift owner Eric Gustavson. “We're just so thankful. The first thing we wish is that the Derby was here at Keeneland, because obviously Further Ado's got a fondness for this place. So we're thankful for that, and we're just excited that he did it and he did it the way he did it.
“All things being equal and God willing, we'll go to Churchill in a month and see what happens. Obviously you're taking all the best of the best a month from now, going up against them, but we're among them now, and maybe we belong, it seems, where maybe there was a question mark there. But right now we just want to celebrate this one. This is pretty sweet.”
Added trainer Brad Cox, winning the Blue Grass for the second time (Essential Quality, 2021): “I felt he had moved forward since Tampa, so I expected him to run well. We kind of put a plan together with him last fall after he won here, to run him at Churchill and have two races leading up to what we hoped would get him to the Derby and it worked out. It's always nice when a plan works out because most of the time it doesn't. He's a good colt, full of quality, athletic, a great mover. I'm just happy to be part of the team.”
Pedigree Notes:
Further Ado is the 13th elite-level winner for Gun Runner and is the fourth Grade I scorer out of a mare by Sky Mesa (Bowies Hero, Harmonize, Varda). Of Gun Runner's GISWs, five of them descend from an A.P. Indy female line. Sierra Leone–bred by John Oxley's wife Debby–and Locked are out of mares by Malibu Moon, Taiba is out of a mare by Flatter and Society was produced by a Tapit dam. Champion Super Corredora has a second dam by Pulpit.
John Oxley paid $480,000 for Further Ado's third dam Beautiful Pleasure at the 1997 Keeneland April Sale of 2-Year-Olds In Training and raced her to six Grade I scores, including the 1999 GI Breeders' Cup Distaff to cap off a championship season. She was also placed in this track's GII Alcibiades Stakes.
A mating of Beautiful Pleasure with Oxley's 2001 GI Kentucky Derby hero Monarchos resulted in Further Ado's second dam To Dream About, who never made it to the races, but bred seven winners, chief among them the 2017 GI Del Mar Oaks heroine Dream Dancing (Tapit), who has since produced Dreamaway (Flameway), a stakes winner and placed in this track's Limestone Stakes last spring.
Sky Dreamer did her best work on synthetic surfaces, finishing second in the 2012 GIII Arlington Oaks, and her four additional winners includes Kimbear (Temple City), a two-time scorer at group level in Dubai. She is also responsible for a juvenile colt by Justify that sold to AMO Racing for $250,000 at this year's OBS March Sale and a yearling colt by Maxfield. She is due to Oxley's 2018 Blue Grass runner-up Flameaway for her 2026 foal.
FURTHER ADO ($3.70)! INCREDIBLE!
The Blue Grass Stakes (G1) field was demolished by the son of Gun Runner (@Three_Chimneys). The @keenelandsales & @OBSSales graduate earns 100 points to the @KentuckyDerby for owners @spendthriftfarm. @bradcoxracing trains, @iradortiz was up! pic.twitter.com/5R2jNLWMgt
— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) April 4, 2026
Saturday, Keeneland
TOYOTA BLUE GRASS S.-GI, $1,237,813, Keeneland, 4-4, 3yo, 1 1/8m, 1:49.58, ft.
1–FURTHER ADO, 123, c, 3, by Gun Runner
1st Dam: Sky Dreamer (GSP-USA, MSP-Can, $176,065), by Sky Mesa
2nd Dam: To Dream About, by Monarchos
3rd Dam: Beautiful Pleasure, by Maudlin
1ST GRADE I WIN. 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard'. ($275,000 Ylg '24 KEESEP; $550,000 2yo '25 OBSAPR). O-Spendthrift Farm LLC; B-John C. Oxley (KY); T-Brad H. Cox; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr.. $755,625. Lifetime Record: 6-3-1-1, $1,146,328. *1/2 to Kimbear (Temple City), MGSW-UAE, GSP-USA, $807,269. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Ottinho, 123, c, 3, Quality Road–Quiet Giant, by Giant's Causeway. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. O/B-Three Chimneys Farm, LLC (KY); T-Chad C. Brown. $243,750.
3–Talkin, 123, c, 3, Good Magic–Rote, by Tiznow.
($600,000 Ylg '24 KEESEP). O-Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Pine Racing Stables, Legendary Thoroughbreds, Belmar Racing and Breeding, LLC and R. A. Hill Stable; B-Fifth Avenue Bloodstock (KY); T-Danny Gargan. $121,875.
Margins: 11, 1 3/4, 1 1/4. Odds: 0.85, 13.21, 11.39.
Also Ran: Creole Chrome, Great White, Reagan's Honor, Moonstrocity. Scratched: Class President, Ocelli.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
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