Giant Game delivered a giant performance in his very first stakes appearance Friday at Del Mar, finishing third in the $2-million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) at odds of 22-to-1.

The colt from the final crop of Giant’s Causeway earned 4 qualifying points for the 2022 Kentucky Derby. His two previous races consisted of a third-place finish in a sprint debut at Churchill Downs, followed by a 3-length maiden win around two turns at Keeneland.

“I thought he ran as good as a horse can run without winning,” Dale Romans said. “I think it’s going to be a fun spring [in 2022]. I was real happy with him. Around the turn, I thought we were going to get it all. I’m very proud of my horse and I think we are legitimately on the Derby trail here.”

When Giant Game broke his maiden at Keeneland on October 9, Dale responded with an emphatic green light for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. “I think he can hit the board, and if he can hit the board, then he can win it,” Dale said at the time.

West Point races Giant Game in partnership with Albaugh Family Stable. The colt was purchased at the unique Fasig-Tipton yearling sale in Kentucky in September 2020 that consolidated several Fasig-Tipton sales into one in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. He is a half brother to Graded stakes runners Isotherm and Gio Game.

Dale Romans talking with West Point Partner Dan Murphy after the Juvenile: