By T. D. Thornton
Let's start this column with the disclaimer that it's way too early to start seriously talking about how a one-turn-mile victory at age two might translate to winning a 10-furlong stakes some 7 ½ months from now in a chaotic field of 20.
We'll also put aside for the moment that the GIII Iroquois S. has never been a prognosticator for success in the GI Kentucky Derby. Dating to the race's inception in 1983, juveniles who ran in that late summer/early autumn Churchill Downs stakes have gone a collective 0-1-1 from 30 starts as sophomores on the first Saturday in May. The Sep. 14 winner of the Iroquois, 'TDN Rising Star' Jonathan's Way (Vekoma), also has the distinction of being an Ohio-bred. You've got a pretty good head for obscure facts if you know that Wintergreen in 1909 was the only Kentucky Derby winner ever to be foaled in the Buckeye State.
Yet even if the historical odds are stacked against him, you have to admit the connections of this 2-for-2 colt are entitled to at least a little bit of celebratory “Derby dreaming” hype after watching Jonathan's Way establish command, take pressure through the middle stages, and shrug off decent bids at the top of the stretch and through the lane to score in Saturday's Iroquois by 2 3/4 lengths in 1:36.08 (89 Beyer Speed Figure).
“Isn't this great? An Ohio-bred?” owner Richard Rigney asked rhetorically while basking in the afterglow of his 1.26-1 favored colt earning the first 10 points on the 2025 Road to the Derby qualifying leaderboard.
Rigney, who has operated Rigney Racing for the past 11 years, said post-win that he named this $290,000 KEENOV weanling after his teenage son.
Presumably, he was aware when he christened the colt that an old adage in the sport dictates you don't name a racehorse after a family member or friend unless you think the horse will turn out to be something special.
It turns out that indeed was the case with Jonathan's Way.
“As a weanling, we were thinking big, high things of this horse from the very beginning,” Rigney said in post-race interview footage provided by the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association.
“One of the wonderful things about [bloodstock agent] John [Moynihan] is that he's not looking at what the [catalogue] page looks like. He's looking at who are the athletes, and it just couldn't have been better for us,” Rigney said.
If you sift those against-the-grain statistics about the Iroquois S. and Ohio-breds through a finer sieve, you can come up with a couple of exception-to-the-trend coincidences that give glimmers of hope to the prospect that Jonathan's Way might have a fighting chance in the spring Classics.
Last year's winner of the Iroquois S., West Saratoga (Exaggerator), did make it into the 2024 Derby, finishing twelfth. But the fourth-place horse out of that 2023 Iroquois, Seize the Grey (Arrogate), eventually annexed his own slice of the 2024 Triple Crown, upsetting the GI Preakness S. at 9-1 odds
And while no winner of the Iroquois S. has ever worn a blanket of roses under Churchill's twin spires, the favorite for the Derby 22 years ago, Harlan's Holiday, was actually an Ohio-bred who had won the previous year's Iroquois.
Off as the 6-1 public choice in the 2002 Derby wired by the 20-1 War Emblem, Harlan's Holiday finished seventh.
Rigney was well aware of that connection, too, and even added another layer of intrigue to the Iroquois/Ohio kismet.
“The other thing that's kind of awesome is Harlan's Holiday was an Ohio-bred,” Rigney said. “And the person that bought Harlan's Holiday [in 2000 as the stable manager for Jack and Laurie Wolf], was Barry Berklehammer, the one who broke this horse.
“So we're pretty happy. We've got the Ohio mojo going,” Rigney enthused.
Jonathan's Way, through just two lifetime starts, has also managed to mirror the exploits of his first-crop sire, Vekoma. Both won six-furlong sprints in New York in their debuts, then registered victories as favorites in one-turn-mile stakes second time out.
In Jonathan's Way's case, he parlayed a 4 ¼-length score at Saratoga Aug. 17 into a win in the Iroquois.
Vekoma, by contrast, had gotten a later start. As a May 22 foal, he won his Sept. 23, 2018, debut at Belmont Park, then (bypassing the Breeders' Cup the same weekend), took down the Nov. 4 GIII Nashua S.
At age three, Vekoma ran third in the GII Fountain of Youth S., won the then-GII Blue Grass S., and finished twelfth in the 2019 Kentucky Derby.
After missing 10 months with foot ailments, Vekoma's connections cut him back to one-turn races in 2020, and he ended his career with three straight stakes tallies, including the 2020 GI Metropolitan Handicap.
He was sidelined again that summer, pointed toward the Breeders' Cup without a prep race, then a fever caused Vekoma to miss what was to be his final start in the GI Sprint.
Jonathan's Way's trainer, Philip Bauer, said that running through adversity in start No. 1 established that his colt could handle stakes company.
In his Saratoga coming-out party, Jonathan's Way got bumped at the break, was taken up and got pinched back, powered through dirt kickback, circled the field, then swept to the lead in the lane and drew off in what was termed a “sparkling effort” by the Equibase chart caller.
“Certainly in the debut, we never anticipated the trouble he encountered,” Bauer said. “But he overcame it, and was much the best that day.
“[Saturday] we felt the [nine] post was to our advantage, to see how [the pace] developed, and he developed things himself [by going straight for the lead],” Bauer said.
While watching the Iroquois unfold, Bauer said he took a measure of comfort in getting a visual read that Jonathan's Way was not overtaxing himself on the front end despite taking heat for most of the trip.
“Joel [Rosario] is a great rider for a reason,” Bauer said. “When they break sharp, you try not to take anything away from them.”
The main track at Churchill did not appear biased on Saturday, but it was decidedly not slanted toward early speed. Of 11 races on the main track, only the opener and Jonathan's Way's win were wire jobs. Four races were won by stalkers from midpack; five others featured deep closers.
“The horse gives you a ton of confidence in the mornings. He's ultra-talented, and I feel sorry for his workmate at times,” Bauer said.
“Two-year-olds, it's a 'light bulb' moment a lot of times,” Bauer continued. “You could tell after his first race he knew what the game's all about. Started training a little more forwardly in the mornings. We came in here with a ton of confidence.”
The Nov. 1 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile is next, Bauer said, although he did admit that the seven weeks between starts presents a dilemma about whether or not to fit in another prep stakes.
“I think we'll train up,” Bauer said. “I think with Kentucky Downs [holding the early September dates], Churchill tries to just back up [the date of the Iroquois] a little bit. The timing gets a little messed up.”
Bauer's solution?
“Talented horses, you've just got to keep them happy,” he said.
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