Paladin showed why many consider him to be a leading contender for the May 2 Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs by running down free-running leader Chip Honcho to win the $495,000 Risen Star Stakes (G2) Feb. 14 at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots by a half-length.
The win, which earned him 50 qualifying points toward the Kentucky Derby, sent him soaring to the top of the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 60 points, a tally that includes 10 points from his initial stakes victory in the Remsen Stakes (G2) at Aqueduct Racetrack last year. His win, in quick time of 1:49.14 for 1 1/8 miles, is also likely to send his price tumbling in Churchill Downs' Kentucky Derby Future Wager that closes Feb. 15. The Gun Runner chestnut colt seems assured of starting as one of the favorites, if not the lowest-priced choice, among individual betting interests.
"The horse really performed well off a freshening, and he showed why we chose this race. He needed every bit of the stretch to get there," trainer Chad Brown said.
Paladin did. Dec. 20 Gun Runner Stakes winner Chip Honcho, who pricked his ears while racing unchallenged on the lead through splits of :23.68, :47.49, and 1:11.53, settled kindly with the removal of blinkers under Luis Saez and ran the best race of his life, but it wasn't enough. While Chip Honcho initially turned aside Paladin's stalking bid when the latter moved up from third to second on the final turn, he couldn't shake him.
Paladin, bidding outside the leader under Tyler Gaffalione, doggedly pursued Chip Honcho, inching past in the final sixteenth of a mile over the long Fair Grounds stretch.
"When you call on him, he just keeps finding, just keeps getting better the farther he goes," Gaffalione said.
Brown, who was not on-site at Fair Grounds, called Gaffalione's ride "flawless" in a postrace telephone interview. Asked if Gaffalione would retain the mount going forward, or if Flavien Prat would resume riding him, as he had in the colt's first two starts, both victories, Brown said, "Nothing's been set in stone either way."
On Saturday, Prat was in Saudi Arabia, where he won the $2 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint (G2) on Imagination and rode Nysos to a runner-up finish in the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1).
The Steve Asmussen-trained Chip Honcho picked up 25 points for his runner-up finish to move into second on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 39 points.
"He went fast to get to the front, but I had him on the lead where I wanted," Saez said. "He just got a little tired late. I feel like he's going to be a really nice horse."
Lecomte Stakes (G3) winner Golden Tempo, who rallied belatedly to be a distant third in the Risen Star, added 15 points and is next with 35 total points on the leaderboard.
Fourth-place Universe gained 10 points to bring his total to 23, and fifth-place Carson Street added 5 to now have 11 points.
The Risen Star was the first 105-point qualifying race of the Road to the Kentucky Derby series. Most of the remaining domestic prep races this winter or spring will be at that threshold or higher. Officials at Churchill Downs, where the Kentucky Derby is run, use qualifying points to promote the Derby and as a preference system when the race lures more than its capacity field size of 20 horses.
Brown, Gaffalione, and much of the colt's ownership group teamed to take the Risen Star for the second time in the last three years. In 2024, they won it with Sierra Leone , who would go on to win the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) at Keeneland before a runner-up finish in the Kentucky Derby when he was beaten a nose by Mystik Dan in a three-horse photo finish with Japanese star Forever Young.
Prat replaced Gaffalione as Sierra Leone's rider after the Derby, in which Gaffalione was fined for making contact with third-place Forever Young near the finish. Sierra Leone, who would go on win the 2024 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) under Prat, had a tendency to lug in toward rivals, particularly as a young horse. Retired after a runner-up finish in the 2025 Breeders' Cup Classic, the son of Gun Runner now stands for $75,000 at Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Kentucky.
Brook Smith, who co-owns Paladin with Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Peter Brant, and breeder Summer Wind Equine, said from the winner's circle, "You might see us in Kentucky in April," suggesting the Blue Grass.
Brown later confirmed the Blue Grass is Paladin's next target. Sierra Leone and Zandon both won that race for Brown after racing in the Risen Star. Zandon took the Blue Grass in 2022 after a third-place finish in the Risen Star to kick off his year. He showed in the Derby.
Good Magic also won the Blue Grass for Brown in 2018, though he prepped in the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) at Gulfstream Park, where he was third. Good Magic went on to finish second in the Derby to eventual Triple Crown winner Justify .
Sierra Leone, Good Magic, and Zandon provided Brown, a two-time Preakness Stakes (G1)-winning trainer, with his best finishes in the Derby from nine starters.
Paladin, like Sierra Leone, was a pricey buy from Fasig-Tipton's The Saratoga Sale in Upstate New York as a yearling. Coolmore's M.V. Magnier and Brant's White Birch Farm signed for his purchase from the Lane's End consignment for $1.9 million. The colt, now unbeaten in three starts, is the first stakes winner and first winner for the unraced Tapit mare Secret Sigh.
"They're very deserving of having an exciting horse like this," Brown said of his owners. "We know firsthand how difficult it can be to win the Derby. It can be just a matter of inches."
Along with Further Ado and Brant, Paladin is among a group of promising 2026 Kentucky Derby prospects for Gun Runner, who stands this year at Three Chimneys Farm for $250,000.
