O Besos Kicks Clear In St. Matthews, Denies Stablemate Bango Churchill Record

Bernard Racing, Tagg Team Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds and Terry Stephens' O Besos circled the field to capture Thursday's $200,000 St. Matthews Overnight Stakes at Churchill Downs, denying his Greg Foley-trained stablemate Bango the chance to earn the record as Churchill's winningest horse in history.

Entering Thurby's contest, Bango held a joint record of 11 wins beneath the Twin Spires with the late Ready's Rocket. The two are still tied; Bango faded to finish fourth after battling for the early lead.

"I was hoping we could run one-two, either way," Foley said. "Tyler said Bango was a little flat today. They were up there battling on the front end, and maybe set it up for O Besos. Irad (Ortiz, Jr.) rode him perfect."

O Besos was last of the five-horse field early, while Bango and Surveillance did the hard work down the backstretch. The leading two were within a neck of one another through fractions of 21.97 and 44.75.

Rounding the far turn, Bourbon Bash swooped up three wide and grabbed the lead, but O Besos and Ortiz were moving best of all down the stretch. Ortiz swung wide and guided O Besos to a _) length victory, completing six furlongs in 1:08.72. Bourbon Bash had to settle for second, Surveillance finished third, and Bango was fourth.

Bred in Kentucky by L. Barrett Bernard, O Besos is a 6-year-old son of Orb out of the mare Snuggs and Kisses (Soto). The horse ran fourth in the Kentucky Derby for Team Foley in 2021, and has now earned over $750,000 with five wins from 17 lifetime starts.

O Besos and his dam are named in honor of Santana 'Love' Potts, the daughter of trainer Carl Potts who was born with autism and suffered from leukemia. Find the full story below.