Great White upsets John Battaglia Memorial, earns 20 Kentucky Derby points

Great White, trained and co-owned by John Ennis, pulled off an upset in the John Battaglia Memorial Stakes at Turfway Park, taking the $175,000, 1 1/16-mile all-weather test on Turfway’s Tapeta and collecting 20 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. The gelding was ridden by a jockey identified only as Alex in race reports and prevailed in a large field on Saturday night, Feb. 21, 2026.

The winner arrives with a short résumé. Great White was described in race copy as a "Volatile gelding" and sports a prior victory in the Gary L. Wilfert Memorial at Turfway Park, with a photo credited to Coady Media. Study-guide statistics list his career line as Starts: 2; Wins: 1; Place: 0; Show: 0 and total earnings of $119,913. Pedigree records in the compiled materials conflict, one source lists sire as Maximum Security while another labels him Volatile, and ownership is shown as co-owned by John Ennis with other co-owner names not provided in the sources.

Attfield finished among the prime contenders on paper before the race and remains a post-race storyline. The chestnut by Vekoma has total earnings of $158,500, won the 1 1/16-mile Central Park Stakes on turf, and produced the highest Brisnet Speed rating in the John Battaglia Memorial field with a 93 when finishing third in the Futurity (G3) at Aqueduct. Pre-race analysis flagged Attfield as a player if he could handle the switch from turf to Tapeta.

Stop the Car carried strong dirt form into the event but was seen as needing improvement on synthetic. The runner won his first two starts, including a $100,000 allowance optional claimer at Churchill Downs by 3 3/4 lengths that earned a 92 Brisnet Speed rating, then finished seventh in the Lecomte (G3) in his Derby debut. Social media from earlier cards noted a 16/1 upset by Stop the Car at Churchill, paying $34.34 to win and crediting handles @brenpwalsh and @tyler_gaff for that card’s success.

The John Battaglia Memorial awards points on a 20-10-6-4-2 scale to the top five finishers, and Great White’s 20-point haul puts John Ennis’s charge onto the Derby leaderboard heading into the spring prep season. Official race charts and the Turfway Park program will provide final confirmation of jockey identification, ownership details and the gelding’s pedigree; for now the win cements Great White’s status as an all-weather scorer with a meaningful boost in Kentucky Derby qualification.