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<\/dt>\n- Test Score winning the Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational at Saratoga under Manny Franco. (COGLIANESE PHOTOGRAPHY)<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
Grade 1 Belmont Derby winner Test Score, Britain\u2019s Group 2 victor Wimbledon Hawkeye and major Kentucky Derby prep winners Sandman, Burnham Square, Tiztastic and Final Gambit are among the 12 original invitees to Kentucky Downs\u2019 $3.5 million DK Horse Nashville Derby Invitational on Aug. 30.<\/p>\n
If an invitation is not accepted for any of the first 12, several other horses are under consideration and may be invited. Final entries for the Grade 3, 1 5\/16-mile turf stakes will be taken, with post positions set, on Aug. 25.<\/p>\n
With a $2 million base purse and another $1.5 million available from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund, the $3.5 million Nashville Derby at 1 5\/16 miles is America\u2019s richest turf race outside the Breeders\u2019 Cup. The offered purse makes it the most lucrative race held at one track behind the $5 million Kentucky Derby, with its $2 million base purse matching the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.<\/p>\n
The field promises to bring together an intriguing blend of proven turf horses with G1 Arkansas Derby winner Sandman and G1 Toyota Blue Grass winner Burnham Square trying grass for the first time.<\/p>\n
Amerman Racing\u2019s Test Score has stamped himself among America\u2019s leading 3-year-olds on turf. Trained by Graham Motion, Test Score started his spring with a victory in Keeneland\u2019s Transylvania (G3), a good second in Churchill Downs\u2019 American Turf (G1), an impressive Belmont Derby victory and most recently third by a total of a half-length in the Saratoga Derby (G1).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a very competitive race, no doubt about it, for the kind of money it is,\u201d Motion said by phone. \u201cIt\u2019s a tremendous opportunity for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trainer James Owen is hoping Wimbledon Hawkeye can replicate last year\u2019s Nashville Derby victory by another British-trained horse, Bellum Justum. Wimbledon Hawkeye will have Bellum Justum\u2019s Kentucky Downs jockey in Frankie Dettori, the legendary European rider who postponed an announced retirement at the end of 2023 to ride in the U.S.<\/p>\n
The winner of Newmarket\u2019s Group 2 Juddmonte Royal Lodge last fall, Wimbledon Hawkeye comes to America off a pair of strong seconds in the Princess of Wales\u2019s (G2) and Goodwood\u2019s Gordon Stakes (G3), that by a nose to the promising Merchant.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very grateful to have been invited,\u201d Owen said via WhatsApp. \u201cThe race looks hopefully perfect for him \u2014 trip, distance and the course, a little bit up and down. It\u2019s hugely exciting for me and my team. This is our first international runner. The horse will come over with a massive chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trainer Mark Casse is banking on Sandman being less pace-dependent on grass, allowing him to show the huge late kick he had in the Arkansas Derby. (Sandman finished seventh in a troubled Kentucky Derby run.) The Tapit colt\u2019s female family includes multiple grass runners, one being Moon Over Miami, winner of the Nashville Derby in 2020 when it was called the Dueling Grounds Derby.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll along I\u2019ve felt he\u2019s had grass tendencies,\u201d Casse said. \u201cHis pedigree suggests grass.\u201d<\/p>\n
Casse also is running Tomasello, who earned a guaranteed spot in the Nashville Derby by winning Ellis Park\u2019s $250,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Nashville Derby.<\/p>\n
The late-running Burnham Square, sixth in the Kentucky Derby and fifth in Monmouth Park\u2019s Haskell (G1) in his last start, has a pedigree stacked with grass, including his dam (Linda) and second dam (Beautiful Noise).<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019ll like it,\u201d said trainer Ian Wilkes. \u201cEven (sire) Liam\u2019s Map has a tendency to throw grass, and his female side is all grass. Running on the dirt is an outlier to his family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tiztastic won two races in 10 days at Kentucky Downs last year, a $250,000 allowance race for horses who went through Keeneland\u2019s 2023 September yearling sale, followed by victory in the $1 million Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile. Placed on dirt to pursue the American classics, Tiztastic secured his spot in the Kentucky Derby with victory in the Louisiana Derby (G2). After a 10th in the Kentucky Derby, Tiztastic disappointed in a return to grass for Churchill Downs\u2019 American Derby and the Saratoga Derby but now comes back to the course over which he has had the most success.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had a pretty rough trip last time; not the end of the world,\u201d said trainer Steve Asmussen, adding rhetorically, \u201cWith a horse that has done as well as him, you\u2019re going to avoid where he has made all his money?\u201d<\/p>\n
Final Gambit, fourth in the Kentucky Derby, had his greatest success in taking the Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) over Turfway Park\u2019s synthetic surface. The Brad Cox-trainee will attempt to earn his first turf triumph after a pair of fifths, by two and 2 1\/2 lengths, in the Belmont Derby and Saratoga Derby in his last two starts. Cox said Final Gambit could instead go in the $2 million Exacta Systems Gun Runner at a mile.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re still figuring out how to try to get him back to the winner\u2019s circle,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Trainer Chad Brown saw a way to run the Kentucky-bred Hill Road for $3.5 million while getting away from Kentucky Derby and Belmont winner Sovereignty. Hill Road\u2019s first two races last year were on turf in Ireland, making his dirt debut with a third at 61-1 odds in the Breeders\u2019 Cup Juvenile (G1). In four starts this year, he won New York\u2019s Peter Pan (G3) and had thirds in the Tampa Bay Derby (G3) and, most recently, in the Jim Dandy (G2) won by Sovereignty.<\/p>\n
California-based trainer Phil D\u2019Amato is expected to send Grade 3 winner Iron Man Cal, second by a neck in last fall\u2019s Breeders\u2019 Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) and most recently second in Del Mar\u2019s Oceanside Stakes, to the race.<\/p>\n
The other original invitees are the graded-stakes placed Noble Confessor, Simulate and Maximum Promise.<\/p>\n
Limited Liability, winner of last year\u2019s inaugural running, heads the 12 original invitees to the $1 million Mountain Dew Bowling Green Gold Cup Invitation at two miles, also on August 30. Invitations also were extended to the graded-stakes winners Anglophile (winner of the 2023 Dueling Grounds Derby), Balladeer, German-based Flatten the Curve, Dashman, Gold Phoenix, Honor Marie (making turf debut), Nitti and Tawny Port. Others: the graded-stakes placed El Razeen, Corruption and San Siro.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Test Score leads strong field of invites for Nashville Derby Published 11:41 pm Monday, August 18, 2025 By…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-356019","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115053810459998198","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}