Street Sense 2025
An all Kentucky-bred field of 2-year-olds will hit the starting gate for the Street Sense Stakes, one of the races on the 2026 Road to the Kentucky Derby. Wins in races like this help horses acquire points to get entry into the first leg of the Triple Crown, which will be on Saturday, May 2 next year.
This 1 1/16-mile race is particularly interesting, not only because of the wide-ranging temperament of a 2-year-old, but also because the nation’s top riders are spread all over the place in advance of the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar next weekend. We’ll have tons of race coverage for that. For now, let’s go under the twin spires.
The Street Sense Stakes will be Race 10 in your Sunday Churchill Downs program with post time expected to be 5:25 p.m. ET on October 26.
Street Sense 2025 Entries, Horses, Jockeys, and Trainers:
| Post | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Odds |
| 1 | Vost | L. Saez | W. Walden | 9/2 |
| 2 | Ganaas | E. Morales | A. McKeever | 5-1 |
| 3 | Universe | J. Ortiz | K. McPeek | 5/2 |
| 4 | Very Connected | E. Esquivel | K. McPeek | 8-1 |
| 5 | Bricklin | T. Gaffalione | R. Brisset | 15-1 |
| 6 | I Did I Did | I. Ortiz Jr. | M. Maker | 3-1 |
| 7 | Incredibolt | J. Torres | R. Mott | 7/2 |
This is a Grade 3 race worth 10 points to the winner, five for second, three for third, two for fourth, and one for fifth in the Road to the Kentucky Derby chase. Thus far, Vost and Universe are the only horses in this field to accumulate points, as Vost was third in the Iroquois to begin the Road to the Kentucky Derby circuit and Universe took third in the Champagne at Aqueduct.
This is the fifth of the initial prep races, which conclude on January 3 with the Smarty Jones at Oaklawn and the Jerome at Aqueduct. This race, named of course for the 2006 U.S. Champion 2-Year-Old and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and 2007 Kentucky Derby winner, one of just two horses to accomplish that feat, and the November 29 Kentucky Jockey Club are the two at initial prep races at Churchill Downs.
Here are some thoughts on each horse at the odds at time of publish:
1. Vost (9/2; Saez/Walden): Vost will go up in distance here, as the son of Instagrand and Water White won his maiden over seven furlongs at Ellis Park before his stakes debut, finishing behind Spice Runner and Comport in the Iroquois on this very track. That was a mile sprint, so he’ll be looking to go longer here for Luis Saez, who rode Maximus Prime to fourth in the Iroquois. Trainer William Walden had Florent Geroux on the ride in that race, but with Geroux at Keeneland this weekend, Saez gets the call.
Vost has had some very nice workouts and ran third behind the No. 1 and No. 5 point-getters on the Road to the Kentucky Derby thus far, so he should contend here.
2. Ganaas (5-1; Morales/McKeever): Ganaas for Shadwell Stable makes his stakes debut, as the son of War Front and Shurakaa, with a maternal grandfather of Tapit, comes in with two wins in two races. Trainer Andrew McKeever came into the week as just an 11% Win guy this season and just a 32% WPS and rider Edgar Morales also entered the week at an 11% Win rate. Gaanas did make a big leap from his maiden to his allowance win, but he went five and six furlongs, respectively, in those two races.
Three of War Front’s four career wins were six-furlong sprints and Shurakaa was a winless turf runner. I think McKeever is just testing out the horse at distance here.
3. Universe (5/2; J. Ortiz/McPeek): After rolling to an easy maiden win over 4 ½ lengths at Saratoga, Universe’s stakes debut didn’t go according to plan, finishing third in the much tougher Champagne. Jockey Christopher Elliott couldn’t avoid early trouble, as the horse got jostled from the starting gate and never really picked up stride until closing to finish third. But, that was a mile-long scamper coming off of six furlongs, so it was an encouraging finish.
Now Universe gets a rider upgrade in Jose Ortiz. This probably would have been Brian Hernandez, but he’s still recovering from injury. The blinkers are off here for Universe and maybe that leads to a cleaner break from the starting bell.
4. Very Connected (8-1; Esquivel/McPeek): Kenny McPeek has two entries here, as Very Connected runs for Dream Big Racing. The son of Connect and C J’s Gal didn’t like seven furlongs on the Colonial Downs dirt in his first career race, so he tried turf next time out, finishing third over a mile at Kentucky Downs, just outside the window of our VSiN studio at The Mint. Going back to dirt, and going this distance of 1 1/16, he broke his maiden with Emmanuel Esquivel in the mount.
He broke it with just a 74 Equibase Speed Figure and had a 77 on the turf. It may be an advantage that he’s gone two turns in Louisville, plus his October workouts have been very good, but his top dirt speed figure places him towards the middle of the pack.
5. Bricklin (15-1; Gaffalione/Brisset): Rodolphe Brisset and Imagine Racing send Bricklin into this one, as the son of Nyquist and Majestic Vixen heads to the bright lights of Churchill Downs after previous starts at Ellis Park and Horseshoe Indianapolis. He won his second career race by a nose in Indy over 5 ½ furlongs for local rider Mitchell Murrill. The workouts have not impressed since shipping to Churchill and he does appear to be a toss with Tyler Gaffalione on the assignment.
6. I Did I Did (3-1; I. Ortiz/Maker): The Tweety Bird reference comes from dam Ithinkisawapudycat, as the son of Curlin heads out for Michael Maker. This is one of the more interesting horses in the field. He’s done two turns at Churchill and won, taking down a maiden special weight last month. He ran second over a mile at Ellis Park to Blackout Time, the runner-up in the Breeders’ Futurity to looming monster Ted Noffey.
The connections are strong here with Maker and top jock Irad Ortiz Jr., plus a bevy of different ownership partners. The workouts have been hit or miss, but unlike others, he’s been breezing five furlongs during training instead of four. Ortiz entered the week 22% on dirt and 55% WPS for the season. Put a grade on the race and he’s 21% and 48%, respectively.
7. Incredibolt (7/2; Torres/R. Mott): The son of Bolt d’Oro and Sapphire Spitfire draws the outside post for his stakes debut, as he’s coming off of a very impressive win at Churchill back on September 28. After an uninspiring fourth-place finish in his debut, he rolled to a two-length win for rider Jaime Torres. It was a strong ride for Torres, who stalked the pace set by Carson Street and then hit the gas for the win as the second betting favorite.
Bolt d’Oro won twice at 1 1/16 and also at 1 ⅛ and both grandfathers, Medaglia d’Oro and Awesome Again, were awesome at distance. This is an extremely well-bred horse for Riley Mott and one likely to get the stalking trip he likes by coming from the outside to avoid any kind of bottleneck early on.
Street Sense Predictions
Sovereignty won this race last year and he’s gone on to have quite the 3-year-old season, so it’s possible that this is a springboard event for one or more of the runners, as runner-up Tiztastic and show finisher Sandman both won graded stakes on the Road to the Kentucky Derby circuit.
As the odds imply, this is a tight race and, like I said above, Bricklin feels like the only toss. I’m going with Incredibolt for the win, followed by Universe and Vost. Universe may have to battle traffic again and Vost is going up in distance with the rail post. To me, Incredible can get precisely the ride Torres and Mott want being outside and out of harm’s way early.
Prediction: 7-3-1-6
For more coverage, check out our horse racing page.
