Welcome to 2024 Kentucky Derby Prospect Profiles, where we’ll take a look each week at a recent winner on the Triple Crown trail, usually from the Road to the Kentucky Derby prep series that offers qualifying points for the first leg of the series. The 1 ¼-mile Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve will be held May 4, 2024, at Churchill Downs.

This week, we’ll review the credentials of Track Phantom, winner of the $100,000 Gun Runner Stakes Dec. 23 at Fair Grounds. Track Phantom earned 10 points toward qualifying for the 2024 Kentucky Derby with that win and resides in ninth place on the latest Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard.

Racing Résumé: Track Phantom ran a respectable third in his career debut Oct. 1 at Churchill Downs going a one-turn mile, leading early before being collared in the turn but still continuing on to lose by only 2 ½ lengths. The Quality Road colt improved off of that race in his next start Oct. 29 at Churchill, held at the same distance but on a sloppy track this time. He opened up a clear lead through the turn and into midstretch only to be outfinished in the final strides by Real Men Violin, who saved ground and rallied from seventh in a nine-horse field to prove best by a half-length.

Real Men Violin came back to run a solid second behind Honor Marie in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes on Nov. 25 at Churchill, and three races earlier on that card Track Phantom broke through to notch his first victory in impressive fashion. He grabbed an early lead for the third straight time, and perhaps stretching out to 1 1/16 miles and two turns helped him, because this time he kicked clear coming out of the far turn to romp by 4 ¾ lengths. That win set him up for his first stakes try in the Gun Runner, also held at 1 1/16 miles, where he broke from the outside post in a seven-horse field and immediately went to the lead as in his prior starts only to be joined by 36.70-1 longshot Next Level to his inside. The pair dueled on the front end through a half-mile in :46.93 until reaching the far turn, and then Track Phantom smoothly took over. Nash, the 1-2 favorite, and two-time winner Snead loomed as threats entering the homestretch, but Track Phantom was kept to task and held those foes at bay to prevail by 1 ¼ lengths over Snead, finishing up in 1:44.42.

“It’s impressive that both of his two-turn races have been victories, and it was a good field today,” trainer Steve Asmussen told Fair Grounds media after the Gun Runner Stakes. “I actually thought they went too fast in the middle, you know, 46 and four-fifths here in a two-turn race, you don’t see horses see it out very often. He’s obviously a very good horse who has some room to physically develop and we have him right where want to be at this stage of his career.”

Speed Figures: Track Phantom kept building an ascending pattern in Equibase Speed Figures in the Gun Runner, earning a 103 after posting 85, 90, and then a 97 in his first three starts. His 103 compares favorably with Equibase figures earned by Honor Marie (101 in the 1 1/16-mile Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes) and Dornoch (97 in the 1 1/8-mile Remsen Stakes), although it’s still well behind the 113 Fierceness earned when dominating the 1 1/16-mile FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile presented by TAA back in early November.

On the other hand, the colt’s Beyer Speed Figure progression leveled off in the Gun Runner, as he earned a 89 figure in the Gun Runner after an 88 in his maiden win Nov. 25 at Churchill, following 74 and 81 in his first two starts. He’s two-for-two at the 1 1/16 mile distance, though, and still should have more maturation in his future after only four races.

Running Style: Track Phantom has been forwardly placed in all four of his starts and even in his first two losses where he gave up the lead in the stretch he still kept competing. Horses with tactical speed have done well in the Kentucky Derby this century, save for the two most recent editions won by closers Rich Strike (2022) and Mage (2023). This colt has also kept good company in his young career – the horse who defeated him in his debut, Stronghold, has subsequently finished second in two graded stakes in California including the Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 16, while Real Men Violin as mentioned was runner-up in Churchill Downs’ marquee fall race for 2-year-olds, the Kentucky Jockey Club. (The second-place finisher in Track Phantom’s maiden win on Nov. 25, Lat Long, came back to win an Oaklawn Park maiden race by 2 ¼ lengths on Dec. 16.)

Connections: Track Phantom is owned by a group comprising L and N Racing, Clark Brewster, Jerry Caroom, and Breeze Easy. L and N Racing is a four-way partnership comprised of Tulsa, Okla., lawyer Lee Levinson; his sons Andy and Michael; and family friend and prosecutor Don Nelson. L and N’s greatest prior success came via another partnership with Winchell Thoroughbreds as owners of champion filly Echo Zulu, and they were sole owners of 2017 Kentucky Derby runner-up Lookin at Lee. Clark Brewster, another Tulsa-based attorney, has participated in several partnerships over the years with success, including earlier in 2023 with Bill and Connie Heiligbrodt as owners of Grade 3 winner Cogburn. Jerry Caroom of Hot Springs, Ark., is retired from his company XtraLight, which manufactures LED and traditional lighting, and is a leading owner at his hometown Oaklawn Park. Breeze Easy, which bred Track Phantom in Kentucky, has enjoyed success breeding to race and to sell since starting in 2016. The West Virginia-headquartered outfit was founded by Mike Hall and Sam Ross, both successful oil and gas industry entrepreneurs. Their graded stakes horses include Imprimis and Four Wheel Drive, the latter winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint in 2019.

Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen is the all-time winningest trainer in North America with 10,337 victories through Dec. 24. The two-time Eclipse Award winner as Outstanding Trainer has won the Preakness Stakes twice, with Curlin in 2007 and Rachel Alexandra in 2009, and he won the 2015 Belmont Stakes with Creator. Asmussen is still seeking his first win in the Kentucky Derby having trained three runners-up: Nehro (2011), Lookin at Lee (2017), and Epicenter (2022). Epicenter won the inaugural running of the Gun Runner Stakes two years ago.

Track Phantom's maiden win at Churchill Downs. (Jessica Morgan/Eclipse Sportswire)

Up-and-coming jockey Cristian Torres has piloted Track Phantom in three of his four starts, getting back on the colt in the Gun Runner after Joel Rosario was aboard for his maiden victory in November. Torres, a native of Puerto Rico, emerged on the Midwest racing scene in a big way during 2022 and 2023 by earning a pair of riding titles, first at Remington Park in 2022, and then finishing atop the highly competitive jockey standings at Oaklawn Park for its 2023 meet with 100 victories (tied for fourth-most all time) and a record $6,163,941 in purses. Torres rode at Churchill Downs last fall, finishing second in wins and earnings during its September meet. He has yet to secure a mount in the Kentucky Derby.

Pedigree Notes: Track Phantom is from the 10^th crop of Lane’s End stallion Quality Road. That son of Elusive Quality won eight of 13 career starts, including four Grade 1 stakes, and twice set track records for 1 1/8 miles on dirt at Gulfstream Park (since surpassed). Quality Road has sired three U.S. champions (Abel Tasman, Caledonia Road, and Corniche) as well as Grade 1-winning dirt routers City of Light, Dunbar Road, Bellafina, Roadster, and National Treasure, who took last spring’s Preakness Stakes. Overall, his progeny have been successful on both dirt and turf and many of them have done their best running around two turns, generally maxing out at about 1 1/8 miles. His son Jace’s Road won the 2022 Gun Runner Stakes but finished 17^th of 18 in last spring’s Kentucky Derby.

Miss Sunset, by leading sire Into Mischief, is the dam of Track Phantom. She won 10 of 20 career starts racing on both dirt and turf and was primarily a sprinter, although she did capture a one-mile listed stakes race on grass. Her career peak came in the seven-furlong Grade 2 Lexus Raven Run Stakes on dirt at Keeneland, which she won by 1 ½ lengths.

Overall, Track Phantom’s female family is tilted toward speed rather than stamina, as both his second dam (maternal grandmother) and third dam (maternal great-grandmother) were sprinters with very modest race records. His one close relative with any success racing long is Prayer for Relief, a hard-knocking, lunch-pail racehorse who earned over $2.2 million through 40 starts in seven seasons on the track and won four graded stakes around two turns.

Derby Potential: Track Phantom has connections to the two prior winners of the Gun Runner Stakes as his trainer Steve Asmussen managed Epicenter, the 2021 victor, and his sire Quality Road also sired 2022 champ Jace’s Road. Those two horses represent different paths on the Triple Crown that could lie ahead for Track Phantom. Epicenter trained on to win four of eight starts after his Gun Runner breakthrough, including the 1 ¼-mile Travers Stakes, and finished second in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes en route to winning the Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old male of 2022. Jace’s Road, on the other hand, has yet to win since the 2022 Gun Runner through three starts and hasn’t raced since his above-mentioned start in the Kentucky Derby.

It’s too soon to make a solid prediction for Track Phantom as to which future is more likely for him, as this colt appears to have tons of talent and a professional attitude belying his age but also pedigree limitations that should work against him as his races get longer. I envision him more as a graded-stakes-caliber miler once he reaches full potential, but that certainly doesn’t mean he can’t make an impact on the Kentucky Derby trail in prep races such as the Lecomte Stakes over the next couple of months under Asmussen’s expert oversight.