How to bet the 2026 Louisville Stakes

Grade 1 winner #3 Burnham Square (2-5) will lead a compact field of six postward in the $250,000 Louisville (G3) on the Churchill Downs lawn on Saturday. The 1 1/2-mile grassy marathon attracted a talented group, but there is no doubt that the race goes through the Ian Wilkes trainee. 

Louisville Wagers

• $20 exacta 3 with 1,5 ($40)
• $5 trifecta key 3 with 1,5 ($10)

Burnham Square raced on the dirt in his first nine tries and earned a pair of graded stakes victories, led by a triumph in the 2025 Blue Grass (G1) at Keeneland. In his sophomore finale, the gelding tried the turf for the initial time and just missed in the lucrative Nashville Derby at Kentucky Downs. 

The bay kicked off this campaign in a turf run at Gulfstream Park at 1 1/16 miles and rallied to be a nice second at a distance much shorter than his best voyage. He appeared in the 1 1/2-mile Elkhorn (G2) at Keeneland most recently and recorded one of the most impressive performances of any horse in 2026, moving into contention nearing the turf for home and blitzing a very good field by a widening 9 3/4 lengths under the wire in a spectacular finish. The Liam’s Map four-year-old has worked twice since that tour-de-force and will be impossible to knock off with anything close to his latest showing beneath Brian Hernandez, Jr. 

#5 Dancin in Da’Nile (12-1) ran three pretty good races marathoning on the Woodbine grass to conclude 2025 and could be second with a forward move off the shelf under Florent Geroux. The dark bay son of Pioneerof the Nile checked in third in the Singspiel (G3) in September, which preceded a fourth-place result in the Canadian International (G1) on Oct. 4 to prove his class, and he has trained well leading up to his comeback, as well. He is just 4-for-31 lifetime, but the Ontario-bred has a lot of appeal for the vertical exotics, nonetheless. 

Mike Maker’s #1 Anegada (6-1) had a tough post and a tricky trip in the Elkhorn at Keeneland last time, and while I don’t expect him to make up 16 lengths on the favorite, the son of Midshipman is much better than he displayed last time and merits top-three respect in the tilt. The bay gelding has put in a trio of good efforts from three career tries on the local sod, and the rail will allow him to receive a much better trip today after being parked in the 11 post in his latest venture. Edgar Morales will pilot the four-year-old.