If you found horse racing through Griffin Johnson, you’re not alone. After taking millions of followers inside the Kentucky Derby with Sandman, Griffin is now back with another promising horse: Ewing. He races Monday, President’s Day, in the Ozark Stakes at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark.

Here’s what you actually need to know:

Griffin Johnson with Ewing at Saratoga. (Mathea Kelley/BloodHorse)

He’s named after an NBA legend: Ewing, who is owned by D. J. Stable, West Point Thoroughbreds, and Kenneth Freirich, honors the Hall of Fame center Patrick Ewing, who controlled the paint for the New York Knicks from the mid-1980s until the late 1990s. Griffin Johnson has an ownership stake in the colt through Terry Finley’s West Point Thoroughbreds. After winning the NCAA championship in 1984 with the Georgetown Hoyas, Patrick Ewing led the Knicks to two NBA Finals appearances.

He’s undefeated: Starting his career last summer, Ewing went 2-for-2 at Saratoga Race Course. The upstate New York venue is known as the launch pad for many standout 2-year-olds (most horses begin racing at age 2), and Ewing debuted back on July 5 with an eye-catching 12-length win. Translation: He looked legit. He then raced again in the $200,000 Saratoga Special Stakes on Aug. 2, and won that six-furlong sprint by a length over the highly-regarded Obliteration.

He’ll be coming back after a rest of over seven months: Ewing’s owners and his trainer, Hall of Famer Mark Casse, intended to race him during fall 2025 but instead gave him time off due to a minor injury. That is pretty normal in racing as those in charge of horses would rather protect their talented athletes, rather than rush them. Ewing eventually made the journey to Oaklawn Park to train this winter and has been gearing up for his comeback since mid-December.

He’s got a red-hot trainer-jockey combo in his corner: Mark Casse and jockey Cristian Torres have paired together for big wins recently at Oaklawn. On Feb. 6, they won two stakes races for 3-year-olds, the Martha Washington Stakes (Search Party) and the Southwest Stakes (Silent Tactic). Those races are preps for the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby, respectively. Overall, Mark Casse has won a sizzling 45 percent of his races during the Oaklawn Park meet so far.

He’s a longshot to run in the Kentucky Derby: The Ozark Stakes is a six-furlong sprint (three-quarters of a mile). That’s a distance Ewing had success at last summer at Saratoga. The Kentucky Derby, on the other hand, is a route race held at a mile and a quarter (10 furlongs) and around two turns. The Kentucky Derby is a much different challenge than sprinting, one that requires a horse to have built up a lot of stamina to handle. Ewing has a promising pedigree (family history) to compete in long-distance races but the fact is, he’s stayed at sprints so far and will be coming back after a long layoff.

Mark Casse is very patient as a horse trainer, so it’s very likely that this talented colt will not be rushed in his development, especially since the 152^nd Kentucky Derby is just over two months away. The future looks bright for this colt no matter what distance he runs at, and Griffin Johnson, Ewing’s other owners, and a lot of horse racing fans have high expectations for the months ahead – starting on President’s Day! The Ozark Stakes will be televised live on FS2 and on FanDuel TV, with a scheduled post time of 5:42 p.m. ET.