Tawny Port Secures Derby Spot With Lexington Win

Tawny Port

Tawny Port stamped his ticket to Louisville be winning the Stonestreet L:exington (Photo credit Keeneland Racecourse).

Peachtree Stable’s Tawny Port took charge from Major General inside the sixteenth pole and pulled clear to post a 1-length victory in the 40th running of the $400,000 Stonestreet Lexington (G3) for 3-year-olds.

Trained by Brad Cox and ridden by Florent Geroux, Tawny Port completed the mile and a sixteenth on the fast main track in 1:45.24. It is the second victory in the race for Cox and Geroux, who teamed to win the 2019 running with Owendale.

With the victory, Tawny Port added 20 points to his Road to the Kentucky Derby total to boost his total to 60, good for 11th place and a spot in the starting gate that is limited to the top 20 point earners that pass the entry box on May 2.

Major General picked up 8 points for finishing second to boost his total to 18 points, good for 27th place. In Due Time added 4 points for third to bring his total to 24 points, good for 22nd. Ethereal Road added 2 points for finishing fourth to bring his total to 22 points, good for 23rd.

Major General led the field of 11 through fractions of :23.85, :48.01 and 1:12.45 while being tracked by Strava and Dash Attack with Tawny Port racing in midpack.

Lexington Replay


Major General maintained the lead into the stretch, but Geroux had Tawny Port in the clear in the middle of the track and gradually wore down the leader.

A Keeneland sales graduate, Tawny Port is a Kentucky-bred son of Pioneerof the Nile out of the Macho Uno mare Livi Makenzie. In posting his first graded stakes victory, Tawny Port improved his record to 5-3-1-0 and boosted his earnings to $427,000 with Saturday’s $229,400 check.

Tawny Port returned $12.20, $6.40 and $3.80. Major General, ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., returned $7.60 and $4.80 and finished 1½ lengths ahead of favored In Due Time, who paid $2.80 to show under Paco Lopez.

It was another length back to Ethereal Road with Strava, Dash Attack, Midnight Chrome, Howling Time, Call Me Midnight, Skate to Heaven and We All See It following in order.

Road to the Kentucky Derby Points Standings

Rk. Horse Pts. Trainer *Earnings
  1 Epicenter 164 Steve Asmussen    $940,000
  2 Zandon 114 Chad Brown    $663,500
  3 White Abarrio 112 Saffie Joseph Jr.    $769,650
  4 Mo Donegal 112 Todd Pletcher    $561,500
  5 Tiz the Bomb 110 Kenny McPeek $1,012,610
  6 Cyberknife 100 Brad Cox    $752,000
  7 Crown Pride 100 Koichi Shintani    $671,544
  8 Taiba 100 Tim Yakteen    $450,000
  9 Simplification   74 Tami Bobo    $482,150
10 Smile Happy   70 Kenny McPeek    $499,410
11 Tawny Port   60 Brad Cox    $351,400
12 Barber Road   58 John Ortiz    $589,700
13 Un Ojo   54 Ricky Courville    $661,250
14 Early Voting   50 Chad Brown    $277,500
15 Morello   50 Steve Asmussen    $242,500
16 Messier   40 Tim Yakteen    $390,000
17 Zozos   40 Brad Cox    $200,000
18 Summer Is Tomorrow   40 Bhupat Seemar    $200,000
19 Charge It   40 Todd Pletcher    $188,000
20 Happy Jack   30 Doug O’Neill    $142,000
21 Pioneer of Medina   25 Todd Pletcher    $116,000
22 In Due Time   24 Kelly Breen    $113,800
23 Ethereal Road   22 D. Wayne Lukas    $231,000
24 Rich Strike   21 Eric Reed      $74,500
25 Rattle N Roll   20 Kenny McPeek    $356,500

NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll

No. Horse Points
1 Flightline 351
2 Life Is Good 306
3 Olympiad 292
4 Jackie's Warrior 282
5 Clairiere 142
5 Country Grammer 142
7 Epicenter 121
8 Regal Glory 89
9 Nest 87
10 Hot Rod Charlie 48
As of August 1, 2022


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