Juvenile turf mile recap and post-race quotes

Jasmine Torrez

Near the finish, Unrivaled Time sliced between rivals and then ran down the favorite Hey Nay Nay in the shadow of the post. In doing so, the Grade 3 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes, worth one hundred thousand dollars and staged at one mile on the turf course for 2-year-olds, was secured—picture a youngster threading a tight seam late.

Right from the break, Proton under Juan Hernandez was asked to dictate the pace while Track Tiger tracked on the outside in second, and Unrivaled Time, sent off at 5–1, sat a measured half-length back for roughly the first three-quarters of a mile. As they neared the three-eighths marker turning for home, Track Tiger briefly headed Proton before yielding in the stretch. The odds-on choice at one-to-two, Hey Nay Nay with Flavien Prat, waited around fifth, then swept three wide as Unrivaled Time darted through traffic at the sixteenth pole; after minor contact, the winner edged away to prevail by three-quarters. Closing from last, Irisearch at 10–1 launched a four-wide move into the lane—imagine a sprinter kicking again—and snatched second from Hey Nay Nay by a neck margin. From there it was a further three-quarters back to the second choice, Proton; the entire pace scenario flipped late.

“Outside, Hey Nay Nay drifted inward and there was a light brush entering the lane, so my only job was keeping my partner straight,” said Herrera. “He’s improving all the time—think of a student taking tougher exams—and there doesn’t seem to be a ceiling; he just wants to roll. Today he coped with runners shifting inside to out and showed new maturity.”

By prevailing at the seaside oval, Diego Herrera recorded his first graded-stakes victory. Trained by Leonard Powell, Unrivaled Time had broken his maiden versus Cal-breds on October 19 at Santa Anita with an off-the-pace rally, much like this, a handy example of a consistent form cycle.

“Early positioning pleased me, and the way the race developed did as well,” Powell noted. “He let the speed go, relaxed, and produced one run—exactly how he scored when breaking his maiden. That maiden came against Cal-breds, and the open-company question was whether he could rise to it; today the answer was yes.”

Owned by Innergy Racing Corp and co-owned by breeder Alfred Pais, the Not This Time colt now shows a 3-2-0-0 ledger with earnings of $97,600. Unrivaled Time returned thirteen dollars to win, six dollars and twenty cents to place, and three dollars to show. Irisearch, trained by Phil D’Amato, paid seven dollars forty cents and three dollars eighty cents, while Hey Nay Nay, trained by John Sadler, returned two dollars ten cents.

Sectional times posted: 22.97, 47.52, 1:12.16, 1:24.43, with the stopwatch halting at 1:36.42.

A race replay was embedded at this point for viewers.

DIEGO HERRERA (Unrivaled Time, Winner) – “Through the Summer he kept taking steps forward, so my plan was to have him in a smooth rhythm. The outside horse, Hey Nay Nay, came in a touch and we brushed entering the stretch, and my priority became keeping him straight. He loves to run and feels like there’s no limit; he really grew up today while navigating rivals shifting lanes.”

LEONARD POWELL (Unrivaled Time, Winner) – “Our spot early was ideal and the flow suited us. He allowed the pace to unfold, settled, and then delivered a single decisive run, just like in his maiden breaker. That win came against Cal-breds, and whether he could step into this level was the question—today confirmed he could.”