Mercante

Mercante won his maiden race as a 3-year-old in his fourth career outing going one mile on the grass at Aqueduct on April 13, 2023. His next wins came late in his 4-year-old season and early in his 5-year-old campaign when he took to the all-weather surface at Turfway Park and won a pair of allowance races on Dec. 14, 2024, and Feb. 12, 2025.

Mercante won his first career try in a graded stakes when he topped an 11-horse field to win the Grade 3 $300,000 Twinspires Kentucky Cup Classic Stakes going 1 1/8 miles at Turfway Park on March 22, 2025.

Coming off the biggest win of his career on Turfway's all-weather surface, Mercante was switched the to the turf and raised up against Grade 1 competition for his next start in the Turf Classic Stakes May 3 at Churchill Downs on the Kentucky Derby undercard. In the Turf Classic, Mercante battled it out on the front end throughout and ran on for a second-place finish in the 1 1/8-mile race in a 10-horse field.

Mercante just missed in the Grade 1 Turf Classic but would not be denied in his next start which came back at Churchill Downs in the Grade 3 $275,000 Arlington Stakes going 1 1/16 miles on the turf on May 31.  Mercante pressed the pace all the way, battled through the stretch with pace-setting Brilliant Berti, and prevailed by a neck in 1:40.69.