Maximum Promise

Maximum Promise lost his career debut on the turf as a 2-year-old on July 7, 2024, at Ellis Park but quickly and decisively turned things around for the better when switched to the dirt for his second lifetime start going one mile at Ellis Park on Aug. 3, winning his maiden race in a runaway by 14 1/2 lengths with blinkers on.

Maximum Promise did not reappear in a race until making his 3-year-old debut in the Grade 3 $250,000 Lecomte Stakes going 1 1/16 miles on a sloppy track at Fair Grounds on Jan. 18, 2025. Maximum Promise certainly wasn't embarrassed in the Lecomte, closing for fifth when beaten 2 1/2 lengths. The Lecomte was a points race on the Road to the 2025 Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve, and with his fifth-place finish he earned two qualifying points.

In his next start, Maximum Promise picked up six more Derby points with a late-rallying, third-place finish in the $173,500 John Battaglia Memorial Stakes Feb. 22 at Turfway Park. Maximum Promise then remained at Turfway Park for his next start which came in the Grade 3 $777,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks going 1 1/8 miles on the all-weather surface. Facing a full field of 12 in the Jeff Ruby, he stalked the pace in mid-pack and ran on for a third-place finish, earning him another 25 points to his Kentucky Derby qualifying tally.