Hymn sings winning tune in the De Francis Dash
Wins by 5, now 3-for-3 since being gelded
Frank Vespe
June 27, 2026
Since being gelded earlier this year, Hymn has been singing a new tune. In today’s $175,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash, he hit his highest note yet.
Under finish line-extending jockey Rafael Bejarano, the 4-year-old son of McKinzie bided his time early and pounced late to win by a bulging 5 ½ lengths for the first stakes win of his career. Running time for six furlongs on a fast main track was 1:11.51.
“For a guy that grew up just loving sprinters, that’s a marquee race,” said winning trainer Ron Moquett of the De Francis. “It’s had its ups and downs, but it’s always been consistently a top-tier sprint race, and I’m very happy to win it.”
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About Bejarano, who won twice today: he arrived at the first (and proper) finish line well in front but continued to ride most of the way to the second. Better, you might say, safe than sorry.
“I hope he don’t get fined, but he told me that y’all didn’t tell me which one it was,” Moquett said of his post-race conversation with the rider.
That was the only error the veteran rider made. He put Hymn in the right spot early, two wide and just off the dueling duo of Celtic Contender and Faust. They cooked a quarter in 23.10 seconds and a half-mile in 46.91.
Bejarano guided his mount outside the embattled pair, and, as Faust tired along the inside, Hymn pounced on Celtic Contender, readily taking the lead inside the furlong grounds and pulling away.
Celtic Contender held second narrowly over Wickeddivine, who was off the longest shot on the board and missed show dough by a head.
Hymn paid $5.40 to win and topped an exacta that returned $6.80 for a dollar.
The win was Hymn’s third from three starts since being gelded in early spring. The gelding came after Hymn had already made 10 starts.
“We really were a little slow gelding him because of the fact that he’s so beautiful,” Moquett said. “We loved his family, and we thought if he was to run like he looked, he had the potential to maybe be something that somebody would want to breed to.”
After three consecutive defeats at Oaklawn, though, including two in first-level allowance company, Moquett and owners Fleur De Lis Stables, William Sparks, and Bret Jones decided it was time.
“He was a little quirky and a little inconsistent, and it was to the point where it was time to do it, and luckily the ownership agreed,” Moquett said.
They have, as Moquett pointed out, been amply paid back. Hymn is 3-for-3 since the surgical intervention with more than $200,000 banked.
“I mean, it killed me to geld him,” Moquett said. “But I’d rather have a good gelding than a slow colt.”
The gelding has helped smooth out some of Hymn’s quirks and sharpen his focus, which has made him a better racehorse. Today, Moquett said, his runner’s behavior was “classy.”
Up next could be deeper waters. The Grade 2 Vanderbilt at Saratoga is “something I’d love to win.”
That won’t be an easy assignment. But Hymn is an improving horse whose best races, it seems, are in front of him.
“He’s learning,” Moquett said. “Every time I run him, he’s a little bit better, a little bit smarter, a little bit more professional. He’s a big sound horse with a lovely stride.”
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