Trainer Phil Bauer and owner Richard Rigney had plenty to celebrate after Rigney's Jonathan's Way wired the field for a handy 2 3/4-length score in the $254,745 Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes for 2-year-olds at Churchill Downs Sept. 14.

The Iroquois was the first Road to the Kentucky Derby contest of the season leading up to the 2025 Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve, and Jonathan's Way collected 10 points.

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The final time of 1:36.08 for one mile was nearly two seconds faster than the 2-year-old fillies ran two races earlier in the Grade 3 Pocahontas Stakes.

The front-running victory under jockey Joel Rosario came less than a month after the Ohio-bred rallied to a 4 1/4-length debut win at Saratoga Race Course, also with Rosario aboard.

"From the first day we bought him as a weanling we were impressed by him," Bauer said. "We always knew how impressive he was training into his debut, and when he ran that day at Saratoga, he did so professionally after missing the break. Now, today showing a totally different dimension being on a lead, it's an amazing feeling moving forward. I'm still trying to put it all in perspective. We're the favorites on the Road to the Kentucky Derby."

Owen Almighty and Giacoso finished second and third, respectively.

In addition to pocketing Derby points, Jonathan's Way was awarded $30,000 toward entry fees for Breeders' Cup World Championships. As part of the Breeders' Cup Dirt Dozen Bonus Series, the Iroquois offers $30,000 to the winner, $15,000 to the runner-up, and $7,500 to the third-place finisher to apply toward entry fees for the $2 million FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile presented by TAA Nov. 1 at Del Mar.

Jonathan's Way became the first graded stakes winner for his first-crop sire, Vekoma. -- with Pete Denk