Publisher seeks first graded win in Steve Sexton Mile Stakes

Publisher returns to a familiar stage with a harder edge: one more graded-stakes chance, one more chance to turn promise into proof. The American Pharoah colt will run in the Steve Sexton Mile Stakes at Lone Star Park on Monday, May 25, a one-mile dirt Grade III worth $400,000 guaranteed for 3-year-olds and up. The closing date was May 9, and the Memorial Day card also features the Texas Derby, Ouija Board Distaff, Chamberlain Bridge Stakes, Memorial Day Sprint and Speightstown Sprint.

What makes this assignment meaningful is not just the purse or the grade, but the pattern Publisher brings into it. He is 0-for-7 in graded stakes, yet he has kept finding his way into races that matter. He ran in the Kentucky Derby after a runner-up finish in the Arkansas Derby, but a troubled trip in Louisville left him 14th and sent his team back to the drawing board. Since then, he has continued to flash enough ability to stay on the radar, with fourth-place finishes in the Indiana Derby and Oklahoma Derby, a pair of runner-up efforts in maiden special weights late in his juvenile season, and a fourth in the Oaklawn Handicap on April 18, when White Abarrio won the Grade II at 1 1/8 miles.

This is a sharper setup for Publisher, and the market has noticed. He is listed at 3-1, a sign that horsemen and bettors still see upside in a colt who has earned $788,521 from 16 starts but has not yet landed the graded win that would change the tone of his résumé. Steve Asmussen has kept him active and competitive, and the shift back to a flat mile in a Grade III looks like a deliberate attempt to meet him at the right spot rather than force him beyond it.

The test will be real. Touchuponastar is the 9-5 favorite and arrives on a five-race winning streak, while Komorebino Omoide returns as the 2025 Sexton winner. Touchuponastar had finished second in this race in each of the previous two years, which gives the older local form extra weight, and the Sexton’s history, dating to 1976, carries enough prestige to sharpen the stakes. Equibase lists the fastest winning time at 1:34.44, set by Isitingood in 1997, and the highest winning Beyer at 131, earned by Kela in 2004.

Publisher, a Kentucky-bred bay colt foaled February 6, 2022, by American Pharoah out of Indian Pride, by Proud Citizen, will have Gus King and the Estate of Brereton C. Jones behind him as he tries to finally make the leap. If he can handle this field, the narrative around him changes fast.