Heroic Move rallies late to win Steve Sexton Mile Stakes again

Heroic Move made the same winning move he has turned into a Lone Star Park specialty, settling near the back before surging past the field in the final furlong to capture the Steve Sexton Mile Stakes again on May 25.

The 6-year-old son of Quality Road was last as the field turned for home in Race 12 of Lone Star Million Day, but once the runners straightened out on a fast track he inhaled the leaders and wore down Neoequos to win by 1 1/2 lengths in 1:36.92. Gigante closed well for third, finishing three-quarters of a length behind Neoequos and three-quarters of a length ahead of 7-5 favorite Touchuponastar, who never found the winning trip and settled for fourth.

The result fit Heroic Move’s profile perfectly. He is not a horse built on raw early speed, but on patience, timing and a late run that keeps working when the pace gets honest. That style has made him dangerous in this race and in company like it, especially at a mile on Lone Star’s main track, where a stalk-and-finish trip can turn the last quarter mile into a test of positioning rather than pure acceleration.

Robertino Diodoro once again had the right horse in the right spot. Heroic Move gave the trainer another stakes win in a race Diodoro has now controlled across multiple years, with Heroic Move also winning the 2024 renewal and running third last year. The victory extended a remarkable stretch that has tied Diodoro to the Sexton Mile from 2023 through 2026, a run that also included Frosted Grace and Komorebino Omoide. Diodoro’s hold on the race has become one of the clearest signs of how consistently his older dirt horses show up when the distance and race shape line up.

For Heroic Move, the win reinforced the value of durability. The partnership group led by Arnold Bennewith, Rick Wiest, Clayton Wiest, Lana Wiest, Randy Howg, Norman Tremblay and R 6 Stable was rewarded again, and the horse’s Gary and Mary West breeding connection added another layer to a campaign that has quietly produced more than $1.26 million in earnings. Geovanni Franco was listed by Equibase as the winning rider.

The upset angle mattered too. Touchuponastar came in with a five-race winning streak and triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures, but he could not turn that form into a victory against a runner who knows exactly when to pounce. That is why the Steve Sexton Mile keeps revealing the same lesson: at this level, timing and running style can matter more than the headline speed figures.