Pick 6 carryover for Saturday climbs to $408,658

Stonelea Stables and Bonnie Rye Stable’s Desvio rallied from far off the pace at 34-1 to post a half-length victory over Safe Trip Home to win the 31st running of the $400,000 Sycamore (G2) for 3-year-olds and up Friday afternoon.

Trained by Madison Meyers and ridden by John Velazquez, Desvio completed 1½ miles on a turf course rated as good in 2:29.16. The performance marked the first Keeneland victory for Meyers and the fifth stakes win of the Fall Meet for Velazquez, who also won the Sycamore with Highland Chief (IRE) in 2022.

Utah Beach led the field of 10 with favored Ohana Honor tracking closely in second through fractions of :25.49, :50.94, 1:15.26 and 1:39.51 while Desvio raced next to last while receiving a ground-saving trip from Velazquez.

The top two remained unchanged into the stretch with the first threats coming from Safe Trip Home and Grand Sonata. At the eighth pole, Velazquez tipped Desvio to the outside to make a six-wide move that propelled them past Safe Trip Home in deep stretch.

A Keeneland sales graduate, Desvio is a 4-year-old Kentucky-bred gelding by Yoshida (JPN) out of the Uncle Mo mare Fitzrovia. In registering his first graded stakes victory, Desvio improved his record to 16-4-1-2 and boosted his earnings to $479,839 with Friday’s $174,375 check.

Desvio returned the highest win mutuel in the history of the Sycamore at $70.90 and added respective place and show payoffs of $25.18 and $11.60. Safe Trip Home, ridden by Emmanuel Esquivel, returned $10.36 and $6.68 and finished 1½ lengths in front of Utah Beach, who paid $3.28 to show under Jose Ortiz.

It was another length back to Ohana Honor with Anglophile, Grand Sonata, Il Siciliano, San Siro, Reiquist and Goldeneye following in order.

**************************

Racing continues Saturday with a 10-race program beginning at 1 p.m. ET and featuring the 42nd running of the $800,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) Presented by Dixiana for 3-year-old fillies going 1⅛ miles on the turf.

Keeneland will offer a Pick 6 carryover of $408,658.