It was a second new winner in two days for MCKINZIE on Saturday when McKellen won on debut at Gulfstream Park.
Kicking off his career in a Maiden Special Weight over one mile on the dirt, he was happy to race just behind the leaders in fourth while racing three wide. It wasn’t until the quarter pole that he made his first bid for the lead and quickly engaged the leading Forever Now in battle.
It was a knockout back-and-forth between the juveniles with McKellen edging ahead late to win by half a length.
Trained by Jose Francisco D’Angelo for Leon King Stable, the colt had been breezing well at Palm Meadows Training Center including a bullet in late September.
Out of the Grade 3-placed Don’t Blame Me, Brookstone Farm, Lee Mauberrett, and Gary Joyner-bred McKellen is a half-brother to Grade 2 winner Tiny Temper and a grandson of stakes winning Forestier. Each of his four dams on the page have produced at least one stakes performer with three producing stakes winners.
MCKINZIE’s 14 winners include two Grade 1 winners and four Grade 1 performers – both by far the best of any stallion in his crop.