In a display of heart and determination, Explora secured her first graded stakes win of 2026 in the $750,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3), March 1 at Oaklawn Park, earning 50 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks, bringing her to the top of the leaderboard with 95 points.
The 3-year-old daughter of Blame , campaigned by Michael Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, also known as the Three Amigos, made her first venture outside California in the Honeybee. The Bob Baffert trainee was most recently second to Meaning in the Feb. 8 Las Virgenes at Santa Anita Park.
Explora, with Flavien Prat in the irons, settled in comfortably behind the pacesetting Knickleandime, who set fractions of :23.45 and :47.70 through the opening half mile, before making her move coming into the top of the stretch to take the lead. The Mark Casse-trained Counting Stars fought on gamely down the stretch, but could not reel in Explora, who won the 1 1/16-mile race by 3/4 lengths. The final time was 1:43.52.
"She was a real pro. We had a good draw," Prat said. "She jumped well, and I was able to get her right off the pace and (was) traveling well all the way around. When she turned for home, and I asked her, she gave me a good run. And at that point, I didn't think anybody was going to make a run at her, and Counting Stars came. And as soon as she felt her, she just regrouped and went on, so that's a good sign."
Explora paid $4 to win.
The Brad Cox-trained Sneaky Good was third with Casse's other entry, Martha Washington Stakes winner Search Party, finishing fourth.
Explora has never finished worse than second in seven starts.
"She was coming into this race the best she's ever looked," Baffert said. "We're pretty proud of her effort. I was hoping that she would run that way, and she showed up. It's nice when they run like you hope."
Explora was bred in Kentucky by Mesingw Farms and is out of the Bernardini mare Collections Choice. She was sold for $22,000 to Rusty Roberts at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale before being picked up by her current owners for $350,000 at the 2025 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.
"It feels pretty good. Beautiful day," Pegram said. "She's a beautiful horse, and we got a good win today. We're thinking about May and Churchill Downs (Kentucky Oaks), and she looked the part today. Hopefully, we can get there."
