Brant returns in Churchill Downs’ competitive Maxfield Stakes field

Brant’s comeback gave Churchill Downs the marquee name in the $250,000 Maxfield Stakes, but the seven-furlong test turned into a showcase for the colt who finished fastest. The fourth running of the race for 3-year-olds drew enough depth to make every pace move meaningful, with Bob Baffert sending back Brant and Flavien Prat back aboard for a horse whose résumé still carries real weight.

Brant came in as a $3 million Ocala Breeders’ Sales March 2-year-old, armed with a 101 Beyer from his Del Mar debut, a GI Del Mar Futurity victory in just his second start, and a third-place finish in the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, beaten 1 1/2 lengths by Ted Noffey and Mr. A. P. That kind of early ceiling kept him central to the conversation, even after his fifth-place run in the GII San Felipe Stakes on March 7, when he dueled throughout before fading late. Deep Flame complicated the picture further. The Juddmonte colt had crushed a Churchill maiden field by seven lengths on May 17, earned a 95 Beyer, and kept working sharply, including a five-furlong move in :59.60.

The race produced a fast answer. Verifire won the Maxfield in 1:20.77, finishing 2 3/4 lengths clear and coming only 0.33 seconds off Groupie Doll’s Churchill Downs track record of 1:20.44. For a race built around Brant’s return, the finish showed how quickly a sharp second-tier colt can turn a loaded field into a summer calling card. Brant still left with the profile that made him dangerous in the first place, but Verifire delivered the cleaner, more immediate sprint statement.

The same stakes-heavy Sunday brought a different kind of pressure in the Hanshin Stakes, which Churchill listed as the 72nd running, a $300,000 mile for 4-year-olds and up. Igniter brought black-type form through the Jimmy Winkfield Stakes and a Mid-Atlantic path that ran through New York and Laurel, including a third in the Chick Lang behind Obliteration, while Dragoon Guard added more Juddmonte quality with strong recent works. Will Take It solved the puzzle by a neck over Banishing in 1:34.10, and Dallas Stewart dedicated the victory to D. Wayne Lukas with a simple tribute: “for D.W.L.” Lukas had died that same day at 89.

Churchill’s recent Hanshin history only sharpened the setting. The race had been renamed in partnership with the Japan Racing Association, and Cagliostro had won the 71st renewal in 1:34.87 in 2024 after cutting back from the Blame and holding off Tumbarumba. By the end of the 2025 closing-day card, Churchill had done more than extend its late-June momentum off Stephen Foster Day. It had produced two graded races that separated the summer players from the also-rans, with Brant, Verifire, Igniter, Dragoon Guard, Will Take It, and Banishing all helping define what comes next.