LOOKING TO WIN AGAIN — Not This Boy is shown winning at Churchill Downs in June. - Cody Media

Not This Boy, who has an enviable career record of three wins and three seconds in six starts including a near-miss in the 2024 Ellis Park Derby, returns to stakes company after almost a year in the $200,000 West Virginia Governor’s Stakes at Mountaineer Casino, Resort & Races Sunday.

The Governor’s Stakes will be the lead-in to the $400,000 Grade III West Virginia Derby on a Sunday program that begins at 5 p.m.

Trainer Doug Cowans, who has horses stabled at Turfway Park and the Thoroughbred Training Center in Kentucky, said Not This Boy needed time off after the Ellis Park Derby, including over the winter, and resurfaced Kentucky Derby week at Churchill Downs in an upper-level allowance race at the one-turn-mile distance.

Not This Boy rated just off a fast early pace, battled for the lead into the stretch and ended up second 2 1/4 lengths behind the winner. Cowans was anxious to run the gelding two turns and got the chance in mid-June in a similar allowance test at 1 1/16 miles at Churchill. Not This Boy was in contention throughout and won by 6 3/4 lengths.

The 4-year-old Not This Time gelding, who was bred and is owned by Zimmer Ridge Ranch, should attract some attention in the 1 1/16-mile Governor’s Stakes.

“His second race off the layoff wasn’t an easy race,’ Cowans said. “He was shuffled between two horses for a while and then shook loose and pulled away. He ran a big race. And that doesn’t always happen in racing–to do exactly what we wanted to see.”

Not This Boy, out of the Super Saver mare Jeana Baby, a Minnesota-bred, currently is the only horse racing for Zimmer Ridge Ranch, a Northern Kentucky property owned by former Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer. He purchased the initial acreage in 2013 when he was defensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals and eventually expanded it to more than 150 acres.

At the time Zimmer bred the mare to Not This Time, the stallion’s stud fee was $12,500. This year, it was $175,000. He stands at Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky.

The selection of the Governor’s Stakes for Not That Boy’s next race was a matter of timing and distance, Cowans said. He had considered an upper-level allowance race at Saratoga Race Course going two turns but that didn’t fit his schedule, or the $200,000 R.A. “Cowboy” Jones Memorial at Ellis Park at one mile around one-and-a-half turns on Aug. 10. That left West Virginia as the best option.

“The progression kind of fell to Mountaineer,” Cowans said. “We believe he’s in a pretty good spot. He can use his tactical speed for position (from post 1) and he has a good jockey in Luis Saez. (Saez is riding East Avenue in the West Virginia Derby.) We hadn’t committed to a jockey because there are four stakes at Ellis Park this Sunday, but this worked out well.”

Admission tickets for Aug. 3 are required for attendance and are available online at the Mountaineer website, at the Mountaineer gift shop, or at the gate the day of the event. Food trucks will be available beginning at 2 p.m., and there will be live entertainment from 2:30-4 p.m.