LEXINGTON, Ky. — Burnham Square chased down East Avenue from the back of the pack and won by a nose in the storm-delayed $1.25 million Blue Grass at Keeneland on Tuesday, earning enough points to qualify for next month’s Kentucky Derby.

The 101st running of the Blue Grass was postponed from Saturday because of heavy rain and deadly flooding in Kentucky. The upcoming Lexington Stakes on Saturday is the final derby qualifying race.

Burnham Square, ridden by Brian Hernandez, covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:51.33 and paid $10.48, $5.18 and $3.34 at 4-1 odds.

The Ian Wilkes-trained gelding also earned 100 points from the Grade I race and has 130 overall toward the 151st Derby on May 3 at Churchill Downs in Louisville. Sandman is one point behind, and Santa Anita Derby winner Journalism is third with 122.5.

“I’ll watch him. He’ll tell me what I need to do,” Wilkes said. “But we have to keep the foot on the gas — got to keep the foot down on the pedal — because we’ve got to get a little better again. It’s going to be very deep waters, and we’ve got to get a lot better.”

East Avenue returned $6.42 and $4.26 for second and earned 50 Derby points, while Todd Pletcher-trained favorite River Thames finished third, paying $3.24 and receiving 25 points.

Admiral Dennis (15 points) was fourth beneath substitute jockey Manny Franco, who took the mount after veteran Luiz Saez was injured from a fall in the second race. Saez was in stable condition at a hospital after Fateful Lightning on Keeneland’s turf course.

Burnham Square lagged far behind as East Avenue led seven horses entering the backstretch before steadily moving up and saving his best after rounding the final turn. He stalked East Avenue from the outside and the horses were even in the final yards before Burnham Square edged East Avenue at the line for his second stakes victory in three starts this year.

“When we turned for home my horse had a full head of steam, and I was pretty confident we were going to able to run (pacesetter East Avenue) down,” Hernandez said. “So right at the wire I had an idea that we got our neck in front of him.”

He won the Grade III Holy Bull at Gulfstream by 1 3/4 lengths in February before running fourth in the Grade II Fountain of Youth on March 25.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Veteran jockey Luis Saez, who earned his second Belmont Stakes victory in June aboard Dornoch, is in stable condition at a hospital after falling from his mount at Keeneland on Tuesday.

The multiple graded stakes winner was injured after falling from Fateful Lightning in the second race on Keeneland’s turf course. The horse tripped over the rider but was uninjured, a statement from the track said. Saez lay on the track for several minutes before being placed on a board and into an ambulance.

The statement added that Saez was being evaluated by UK HealthCare Medical Services and removed from remaining mounts on Tuesday including Brad Cox-trained colt Admiral Dennis in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Blue Grass feature, which awards qualifying points toward next month’s 151st Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville.

Jockey Manny Franco was scheduled to replace Saez aboard Admiral Dennis in the Blue Grass.

Saez won the Belmont in 2021 aboard Essential Quality before riding Dornoch to a half-length victory over Mindframe last year in the 1½-mile third jewel of the Triple Crown. He was a three-time Blue Grass winner, mostly recently aboard Tapit Trice in 2021.

Former major league pitcher Octavio Dotel was among those who died after the roof of an iconic nightclub collapsed in the Dominican Republic early Tuesday morning, the Dominican National Police confirmed.

At least 44 people were killed, including Nelsy Cruz, the governor of the northwestern province of Montecristi and sister of seven-time MLB All-Star Nelson Cruz. Another 160 people were injured.

The collapse occurred around 1 a.m. during a merengue concert, which drew athletes, politicians and others to the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo, the Dominican capital. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the roof to collapse.

The Professional Baseball League of the Dominican Republic also confirmed Dotel’s death on social media.

Dotel, who logged 36 saves for the Houston Astros and the Athletics in 2004, was pulled from the rubble about six hours after the collapse and was transported to a hospital.

“Dotel was taken to one of the designated hospitals. On the way there, his condition worsened and he died,” Dominican National Police spokesman Diego Pesqueira said.

Dotel, 51, started his major league career in 1999 with the New York Mets. In 2011, he helped the St. Louis Cardinals win a World Series. During his 15 years in the majors, Dotel recorded 109 saves and logged a 3.78 ERA.

Nelsy Cruz had called President Luis Abinader at 12:49 a.m. saying she was trapped and that the roof had collapsed, First Lady Raquel Abraje told reporters. Officials said Cruz died later at the hospital.

“This is too great a tragedy,” an emotional Abraje said.

President Abinader, who was at the scene, wrote on X that all rescue agencies are “working tirelessly” to help those affected.

Nearly 12 hours after the top of the nightclub collapsed down onto patrons, rescue crews were still pulling out survivors from the debris. At the scene, firefighters removed blocks of broken concrete and sawed planks of wood to use them as planks to lift heavy debris as the noise of drills breaking through concrete filled the air.

“We have faith in God that we will rescue even more people alive,” Abinader told reporters.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.