Early speed was the key to this victory. Flavien Prat was clearly keen to take advantage of the low draw in stall 2 and once away from the gate. Brant clocked the fastest 2nd furlong in the contest in 10.53s to lead the field down the back straight. Taking a breather around the turn, Prat was able to dictate the fractions and hold the inside line, despite ranking 4th of 7 for the mid-race furlongs. Holding the rail line, he was able to get the first run in the stretch, despite the fact that his stablemate, Desert Gate, pushed him all the way to the line and actually covered the final half a mile in a time of 48.55s, 0.34s quicker than the winner in 48.89s. The runner-up came into this contest having won the Grade 3 Best Pal Stakes here in early August and the sectional timing data might suggest that he was an unlucky loser. However, Brant recorded a longer average stride length (24.77 ft), a higher top speed figure (43.15 mph) and galloped through the line with the best run-out speed in the field at 33.87 mph. Having made all of the running in a race with a finishing speed of 93.47%, he is the horse to take out of this contest and whilst Desert Gate is clearly a talented Juvenile in his own right, even allowing for the 3 lbs difference in the weights carried, a close examination of the replay shows that he wasn’t getting any closer in the final furlong and as such, this form is unlikely to be reversed. The Baffert trained pair have pulled clear of the 3rd placed Civil Liberty (Doug O’Neill), who finished a similar distance behind Brant on debut in July. He is probably a winner in waiting and will find much easier assignments than this in the future, but I want this analysis to focus on the winner. He’s a long striding son of Gun Runner with good early speed and whilst it is very early to be discussing potential Kentucky Derby contenders for 2026, he has at least thrown his hat into the ring with this performance at Del Mar.