Paladin showed why many consider him to be a leading contender for the May 2 Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve by running down free-running leader Chip Honcho to win the $495,000 Grade 2 Fasig-Tipton Risen Star Stakes Feb. 14 at Fair Grounds by a half a length.

The win, which earned Paladin 50 qualifying points toward the Kentucky Derby, sent him soaring to the top of the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 60 points, a tally that includes 10 points from his initial stakes victory in last fall's Grade 2 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct. His win, in quick time of 1:49.14 for 1 1/8 miles, is also likely to send his price tumbling in the Kentucky Derby Future Wager closing Feb. 15. The chestnut colt sired by Gun Runner is assured of being among the lowest-priced favorites among individual betting interests.

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"The horse really performed well off a freshening, and he showed why we chose this race. He needed every bit of the stretch to get there," trainer Chad Brown said.

Gun Runner Stakes winner Chip Honcho, who pricked his ears while racing unchallenged on the lead through splits of :23.68, :47.49, and 1:11.53, settled kindly up front with the removal of blinkers under jockey Luis Saez. He ran the best race of his life but it wasn't enough. Paladin, bidding outside the leader under jockey Tyler Gaffalione, doggedly pursued Chip Honcho, inching past him in the final sixteenth of a mile nearing the finish of the long Fair Grounds stretch.

"When you call on him, he just keeps finding, just keeps getting better the farther he goes," Gaffalione said of Paladin.

Brown, who was not on-site at Fair Grounds, called Gaffalione's ride "flawless" in a postrace telephone interview. Asked if Gaffalione would retain the mount going forward, or if Flavien Prat would resume riding him, as he had in the colt's first two victories, Brown said, "Nothing's been set in stone either way."

On Saturday, Prat was in Saudi Arabia, where he won the $2 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint aboard Imagination and rode Nysos to a runner-up finish in the $20 million Saudi Cup.

The Steve Asmussen-trained Chip Honcho picked up 25 points for his runner-up finish to move into second on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 39 points.

"He went fast to get to the front, but I had him on the lead where I wanted," Saez said. "He just got a little tired late. I feel like he's going to be a really nice horse."

Paladin comes out on top. (Dan Soto/Eclipse Sportswire)

Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes winner Golden Tempo rallied belatedly to be a distant third in the Risen Star and added 15 points for a 35 total points on the leaderboard.

Fourth-place Universe gained 10 points to bring his total to 23. Fifth-place Carson Street added five points and now has 11 points.

The Risen Star was the first 105-point qualifying race of the Road to the Kentucky Derby series. Other later domestic prep races this winter or spring will be at that threshold or higher. Officials at Churchill Downs, where the Kentucky Derby is run, use qualifying points to promote the Derby and as a preference system when the race lures more than its capacity field size of 20 horses.

Brown, Gaffalione, and much of the colt's ownership group teamed to take the Risen Star for the second time in the last three years. In 2024, they won it with Sierra Leone, who would go on to win the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland before a runner-up finish in the 2024 Kentucky Derby where he was beaten a nose by Mystik Dan in a three-horse photo finish along with Japanese star Forever Young.

Brook Smith, who co-owns Paladin with Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Peter Brant, and breeder Summer Wind Equine, said from the winner's circle, "You might see us in Kentucky in April," suggesting the Grade 1 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes on April 4 could be next.

Brown later confirmed the Blue Grass is Paladin's next target.