Giocoso came through a narrow opening in upper stretch on his way to victory in Saturday’s $500,000 Secretariat S. (G2) at Colonial Downs.

This was the first stakes win for the 3-year-old son of Not This Time. The Taylor Made stallion, currently sixth on the 2025 General Sire list, now has 14 stakes winners and seven graded winners this year. His 26 stakes horses overall to date is second only to Into Mischief.

Giocoso, under the guidance of Ben Curtis, was in hand in third for the first five furlongs, with Maui Strong setting a sensible pace. Around the final bend the field bunched up, with Curtis having to wrangle his mount back to avoid trouble. After turning into the stretch, Maui Strong drifted off the rail just enough for Giocoso to come through, and he did just that to win by a little over a length.

The final time for the mile on the turf was 1:33.36.

“I love to run my horses,” winning trainer Keith Desormeaux said. “I’m known as a guy that doesn’t give them that typical 30-45 days. If they’re sound, if they’re happy, I’m going on with them. Trying to be a good horseman made me give him more time between races. And, like I said, it wound up working out for the best.”

Giocoso could show up next at Kentucky Downs in the $3.5 million Nashville Derby (G3) on Aug. 30 or the $2 million Gun Runner S. on Sept. 6.

“The old Keith might kick in and say ‘let’s go back in a month at Kentucky Downs and try to get that crazy money,’ but we’ll get together with [the owners], who are some great people from Texas, and decide what’s the best course of action for the horse.”

The owner Desormeaux was referring to is Rocker O Ranch LLC. With his win on Saturday, Giocoso is 3-1-1 in 10 starts and has earned $514,971.

The winner was bred in Kentucky by Breed First LLC.