Expert Pick of the Week: 2025 Street Sense Stakes

Oct 23, 2025 John Mucciolo/TwinSpires.com

Vost wins at Ellis Park. (Photo by Coady Media)

A field of seven three-year-old colts will run 1 1/16 miles over the famed Churchill Downs dirt surface in Sunday’s $200,000 Street Sense S. (G3). The race is a qualifying contest on the 2026 Road to the Kentucky Derby, where the top five finishers will earn points on a 10-5-3-2-1 basis.

Vost was a first-out winner at Ellis Park on Aug. 11 when he rallied from next-to-last to post a two-length victory at the seven-furlong distance. In his second and most recent race, the William Walden trainee was wide every step of the way en route to a third-place result in the Iroquois S. (G3) at Churchill behind a nice top pair.

Bred in Kentucky by his owner Oxo Equine, the son of good young sire Instagrand gets a much better draw on the inside for Sunday, which will allow him to save ground this time around. He has recorded three half-mile workouts on the Churchill Downs track leading up to this race, and the bay colt will make his move turning for home with Luis Saez riding him for the first time.

Universe is one of two horses in the field for trainer Kenny McPeek. The son of Global Campaign began his career at Saratoga on Aug. 30 and gave a fine impression of himself when winning by 4 ½ lengths at 17-1 odds. In his second assignment, the $75,000 auction purchase made a solid late run to be third in the Champagne S. (G1) at Aqueduct behind the talented Napoleon Solo. The two-year-old will have more ground to work with against this crew, and he will also have an equipment change with the blinkers coming off for the first time. Jose Ortiz gets the mount and will have him in fourth or fifth in the early portion of the race, prior to asking him to run down the leaders in the stretch.

Universe pulls away to win on debut at 17/1 in R8 at Saratoga! @kennymcpeek trains and Christopher Elliot was in the irons. 💰 pic.twitter.com/SV4SJlJvoZ

— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) August 30, 2025

I thought Incredibolt looked good when he won on this track last time while running for the second time. The Riley Mott trainee came home fast in a one-mile run, and the extra distance will help him from the outside post on Sunday. I expect the horse to be dangerous in the closing yards of the race with Jaime Torres riding him.

Expert Pick

An exacta with #1 Vost on top of #3 Universe and #7 Incredibolt in the 2025 Street Sense is the Best Bet of the Week.

Wager

$10 exacta 1 with 3,7

Bonus Wager (Rags to Riches S. Race 8)

$10 exacta 4 with 3,6