Early Voting

Early Voting was well-backed at the windows in his career debut, a one-mile maiden special weight race at Aqueduct on Dec. 18, 2021. He battled on the lead early and drew off to win by 1 1/2 lengths.

Next out, Early Voting made his stakes debut in the Grade 3 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct on Feb. 5, 2022. He ran the field off their feet and won easily by 4 1/2 lengths, earning ten points on the road to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve.

Rested until the $750,000 Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets April 9, Early Voting went right to the front in the key New York Kentucky Derby prep race and held on to the lead into deep stretch before he was passed by Mo Donegal in the final strides. He earned 40 points toward qualifying for the Kentucky Derby, cementing his spot in the starting gate May 7 at Churchill Downs.

Rather than compete in the Kentucky Derby, the connections of Early Voting opted to bypass the first jewel of the Triple Crown in favor of the Preakness Stakes May 21 at Pimlico. Early Voting’s owner, Seth Klarman, grew up in Baltimore just a few miles from the track and won the race in 2017 with Cloud Computing.

The decision paid dividends as Early Voting tracked pacesetter Armagnac early, seized command at the top of the stretch, and then safely held off Kentucky Derby runner-up Epicenter to prevail in the $1.65-million Preakness.

Early Voting sold for $200,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale in 2020.