Joe Shiesty Dominates Big Daddy Stakes with Gate-to-Wire Romp at Turfway

A horse named after a Cincinnati Bengals quarterback just won a race named after an avid Cleveland Browns fan, and the margin wasn't close. Joe Shiesty went gate-to-wire in Saturday's fifth running of the $124,700 Big Daddy Stakes (Listed) at Turfway Park Racing & Gaming in Florence, Kentucky, romping by 6¼ lengths over fast Tapeta in a final time of 1:10.44.

Jockey Fernando De La Cruz sent the 5-year-old Air Force Blue gelding to the front immediately, and Joe Shiesty never surrendered the advantage. He carved through a brisk opening quarter mile in :22.25 and clicked off the half in :45.46 before turning into the lane and extending his lead to an insurmountable margin. Race favorite Arrest Me Red, an 8-year-old Pioneerof the Nile gelding owned by Lael Stables, mounted a late charge but finished second, 6¼ lengths adrift. Cinister Cix, a 4-year-old Curlin colt bred by Breffni Farm, completed the trifecta another 2½ lengths back. G T Five Hundred, Runnin' Rocket, I'm a Gambler (IRE), and Mischievous Angel followed in order.

Sent off as the 2-1 second choice in a field that featured the even-money Arrest Me Red as the public's top pick, Joe Shiesty returned $6.74 on a win ticket.

Trainer Eric Foster, described by the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association as the pride of Owensboro and Utica, Kentucky, saddled the winner for a ownership group consisting of Foster Family Racing, Lonnie Reynolds, Vicki Mills, and Donald Coomes. The victory was Joe Shiesty's second consecutive stakes score, his third in his last six starts, and the fourth stakes win of his career. It was also his first start as a 5-year-old. With the purse money from the Big Daddy, Joe Shiesty improved to seven wins from 18 career starts with earnings of $820,977. His previous stakes victories include Turfway's Holiday Cheer in his most recent prior start, Churchill Downs' Mighty Beau last June, and the 2024 William Walker.

The gelding was bred in Kentucky by Rodney E. Orr and produced by Ready to Unleash, a More Than Ready mare whose second dam, Western Woman, won the Cinderella Stakes and placed in the Anoakia and Moccasin. His sire, Air Force Blue, was a champion 2-year-old colt who raced in England and Ireland, winning the Dubai Dewhurst Stakes, the Goffs Vincent O'Brien National Stakes, and the Keeneland Phoenix Stakes, all at the Group 1 level. Air Force Blue has produced 187 winners from 369 foals across five crops, with 16 stakes winners and an AEI of 0.93. Joe Shiesty is among his sire's single stakes winner credited in 2026.

The Big Daddy Stakes carries a layered storyline. The race honors the late Rick Leigh, a longtime racing official and former racing secretary at Turfway Park who died in 2020 at age 73. Leigh was a devoted Cleveland Browns fan, which made the winning horse's name more than a footnote. Joe Shiesty is named in the style of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, whose nickname is "Joe Shiesty," making the result, as racing recaps noted, a fitting bit of AFC North irony.