Photo courtesy of Eclipse Sportswire

East Avenue Uncatchable in Breeders' Futurity

The front-running winner survives a foul claim after a rough run into the first turn.

Article Courtesy of

By Byron King

Maxfield won the 2019 Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland in his second start for owner/breeder Godolphin and trainer Brendan Walsh and headed west as one of the favorites for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Santa Anita Park.

But he was scratched from the race and underwent surgery for an ankle chip a couple of weeks later, costing himself a championship opportunity.

Five years later, it might be time for a California do-over for these same connections—they have another talented colt in East Avenue, who scored a front-running victory in the $594,063 Breeders' Futurity Oct. 5 at Keeneland, improving to 2-for-2 after an initial maiden win in Kentucky.

Though those elements are the same, how East Avenue won was different. While Maxfield scored from off the pace, East Avenue busted out to the lead to secure position in Saturday's 1 1/16-mile race, shed rivals in a rough run to the first turn, and cruised home as a 5 1/4-length winner over favored Ferocious .

The drama would come after the race, when Luis Saez, rider of Ferocious, claimed foul against East Avenue, alleging interference into the first turn as several runners tried to secure position. Stewards never posted the inquiry sign but reviewed replays for over five minutes following the objection. They made no change to the order of finish.

"He was much the best. It would have been robbery if he had been taken down," said winning trainer Brendan Walsh, adding that he believed it was Optical , who was later outrun, that made early contact with Ferocious.

Saez disagreed, saying East Avenue, under Tyler Gaffalione, "came down and bumped us pretty hard."

It was quite an eventful few minutes for Ferocious, the Hopeful Stakes (G1) runner-up, who reared in the starting gate, unseating Saez. He was backed out from the inside post position of the starting gate, examined by a track veterinarian, and reloaded. After being shuttled back approaching the first turn, he stalked the pace inside, taking dirt in his face before grabbing second.

Filoso was a well-beaten third.

The Breeders' Futurity was part of a rewarding afternoon for Gaffalione, who a half hour later piloted Carl Spackler to a front-running victory in the $1,065,625 Coolmore Turf Mile Stakes (G1T).

East Avenue raced 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:43.17 after setting splits of :23.18, :46.76, and 1:11.20. He paid $7.56 to win as the second favorite.

"I had plenty of horse left," Gaffalione said.

The Breeders' Futurity capped a successful opening two days of racing at Keeneland for the Godolphin, who won the Alcibiades Stakes (G1) a day before with the Brad Cox-trained Immersive.

"An unbelievable weekend, winning the two grade 1s at Keeneland, our home track," Godolphin USA director of bloodstock Michael Banahan said.

East Avenue and connections after winning the Breeders’ Futurity Stakes (G1) at Keeneland

Godolphin's Darley stallion division is in Central Kentucky. Maxfield stands at stud there, as does the Cox-trained Essential Quality , who gave Godolphin a second Breeders' Futurity victory in 2020. So, too, does East Avenue's sire, 25-year-old Medaglia d'Oro , the sire of 27 grade 1 winners. The latter stood for $75,000 this past breeding season.

East Avenue is out of the Ghostzapper mare Dance Music , a half sister to Godolphin's 2023 Horse of the Year and Darley stallion Cody's Wish .

As part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In, East Avenue earned a paid, automatic berth in the Nov. 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del Mar. The top five finishers from the Breeders' Futurity also earned 2025 Kentucky Derby (G1) points on a 10-5-3-2-1 scale.

Six Breeders' Futurity winners have repeated in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile: Tasso (1985), Boston Harbor (1996), Favorite Trick (1997), Classic Empire (2016), Essential Quality (2020), and Forte (2022).