Triple Crown Trail: Great White upsets Battaglia * The Racing Biz

Triple Crown Trail: Great White upsets Battaglia

15-1 outsider earns 20 Kentucky Derby points

The Biz
February 22, 2026

Great White surged to the biggest win of his young career Feb. 21, capturing the $175,000 John Battaglia Memorial Stakes at Turfway Park with a determined drive to earn 20 Kentucky Derby qualifying points and move into a tie for 10th on the leaderboard.

Breaking from post 8 under Alex Achard, the gray gelding settled comfortably in third while favored Street Beast set the pace through fractions of :23.88 and :48.84. Great White ranged up three-wide on the far turn before striking the front with five-sixteenths to run. He opened a clear advantage turning for home, then dug in late to hold off a fast-closing Fulleffort by a neck in a final time of 1:46.83 for 1 1/16 miles over the fast all-weather surface.

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Fulleffort, 10^th after a half-mile, swung widest of all into the stretch and rallied boldly but ran out of ground, earning 10 Derby points. Longshot Maximus Prime (88-1) finished third after waiting for room and rallying between horses to collect 6 points, while Baytown Dreamer (7 points total), off at 112-1, was fourth after stalking the pace and 17-1 Steel Imperium (2 points) rounded out the top five.

Trained by John Ennis for himself and Three Chimneys Farm, Great White is now 2-for-3 lifetime with earnings of $165,932. The son of Volatile won his debut outing but then finished fifth in the Leonatus Stakes Jan. 17.

Sent off at 15.16-1, Great White returned $32.32 to win and keyed an 8-11 exacta worth $129.34 for a two-dollar wager. With three longshots, the superfecta paid $4705 for a dime.

KENTUCKY DERBY POINTS TOP 10

RANK	HORSE	OWNER	TRAINER	POINTS
1	Paladin	Mrs. John Magnier, Michael B. Tabor, Derrick Smith, Peter M. Brant, Brook T. Smith & Summer Wind Equine LLC	Chad Brown	60
2	Chip Honcho	Leland Ackerley Racing LLC	Steven M. Asmussen	39
3	Golden Tempo	Phipps Stable (Daisy Phipps Pulito) & St. Elias Stable (Vincent Viola)	Cherie DeVaux	35
4	Silent Tactic	John C. Oxley	Mark E. Casse	25
5	Renegade	Robert & Lawana L. Row & Repole Stable (Mike Repole)	Todd A. Pletcher	25
6	Intrepido	Dutch Girl Holdings LLC & Irving Ventures LLC	Jeff Mullins	23
7	Plutarch	Mrs. John Magnier, Michael B. Tabor & Derrick Smith	Bob Baffert	23
8	Universe	4 G Racing LLC (Brent Gasaway), Gregg Day, Steven Crain & Magdalena Racing (Sherri McPeek)	Kenneth G. McPeek	23
9	Nearly	Centennial Farms (Donald Little)	Todd A. Pletcher	20
10	Talk to Me Jimmy	SEI Thoroughbreds & Rudy R. Rodriguez	Rudy Rodriguez	20
11	Great White	Three Chimneys Farm and John Ennis	John Ennis	20