ESPN Horse Racing

STICKNEY, Ill. - A stakes race can look one way before it is run and come out with a completely different appearance. The Grade 2 Illinois Derby, before the horses lined up, bore a great resemblance to a second-level allowance race. When the dust settled, an actual Kentucky Derby contender had been born.

Greeley's Galaxy ($5.60) had never run in a stakes race before shipping to Hawthorne from California, but he blew the doors off seven rivals with a powerhouse stretch run, drawing off to win by 9 1/2 lengths and running 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.62.

It will cost owner B. Wayne Hughes $200,000 to make Greeley's Galaxy a late nomination to the Triple Crown, but that is apparently the plan, especially after the Hughes-owned Don't Get Mad finished unplaced in the Santa Anita Derby.

"That's our direction right now," said Glen Stute, who traveled with Greeley's Galaxy and saddled him for his father, the longtime trainer Warren Stute.

Greeley's Galaxy now has won three straight - improving with each victory - since a dismal trip doomed his chances in his career debut last Jan. 15 at Santa Anita. Greeley's Galaxy had won an entry-level allowance by four in his most recent start, his first try at two turns, but that was nothing compared to the thunderbolt he threw Saturday.

"This was a big step up for him," Stute said. "I think we got a runner here."

Greeley's Galaxy broke from post 1, but made his first move going three wide down the backstretch, as Daddy Joe ran an opening quarter-mile in a snappy 22.74 seconds and a half in 46.50, pursued by Kansas City Boy.

"I had to drag him back in the first turn," said jockey Kent Desormeaux, who followed Greeley's Galaxy to Hawthorne from Santa Anita. "He wanted to join the fight, but he needed to wait."

And that is one thing Desormeaux says he likes about this colt: his responsiveness to his rider's commands. Even when Greeley's Galaxy had the leaders measured at the quarter pole, Desormeaux asked him to wait.

"I finally felt him take a deep gasp, and I knew it was time to go," Desormeaux said. "Man, did he go."

Leaving the pursuing Monarch Lane in his wake, Greeley's Galaxy widened his lead with every stride from the eighth pole to the finish. Monarch Lane staved off Magna Graduate for second, with Rikman fourth, but the winner was in a different class.

"I can't imagine the horse could do it much better than that," said Desormeaux.

It was good enough for a trip to Churchill Downs.

Watch the Kentucky Derby on NBC (Saturday at 5 p.m. ET).