Kentucky Outlaw overcame early gate trouble once again, but this time it didn’t cost him the win. The 3-year-old Outwork colt surged to a 1½-length victory in Saturday’s $102,000 Long Branch Stakes at Monmouth Park, giving owner-trainer Felissa Dunn her first career stakes triumph.

“I’m happy,” said Dunn. “He ran like he did his first two races. He broke slowly, caught up with the field and then he just wanted to go.”

The win, his third in four starts, also earned Kentucky Outlaw a free berth into the Grade 1 NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes on July 19 at Monmouth. Purchased for just $12,000 by Dunn’s husband, John, at last year’s Ocala Breeders’ June Sale, the son of Outwork covered the mile and 70 yards in 1:41.06.

Sent off as the 9-5 favorite in a field of seven, Kentucky Outlaw recovered from another sluggish start to stalk the early pace and take command late under jockey Paco Lopez.

“The trainer told me, ‘This horse does not break very well. After the break you do whatever you have to do,’” said Lopez, who won four races on the card. “He’s right. He is a nice horse.”

John Dunn, who also has 242 wins as a trainer, said solving the colt’s gate woes will remain a focus moving forward.

“The gate has been his Achilles’ heel,” he said, adding. “Today he broke bad with (first-time) blinkers, so we’ll work on that and hopefully get straightened out.”

The Grade 3 Ohio Derby on June 21 is under consideration for Kentucky Outlaw’s next start, but the Haskell Stakes is also on the radar.

“It’s a possibility,” John Dunn said. “If we can get his gate issues in the rear-view mirror, then I would definitely consider the Haskell. It’s a $1 million pot. We don’t get a chance at many of those.”