The question of the morning for 34-year-old Matt Sims: How does a trainer celebrate his first stakes victory?

“Went to The Thoroughbred Club for dinner and then went home and watched the Wildcats get beat,” Sims said referring to the University of Kentucky loss to Florida.

Sims, who has been training on his own for a year, recorded that initial stakes victory in Saturday’s 7-furlong Perryville (G3) with Emilie Fojan’s homebred Brunacini, the 28-1 longshot.

“He looks good this morning, and he wasn’t tired after the race,” said Sims, who will split the winter between racing at Turfway Park and Oaklawn Park.

However, before winter sets in, Sims has a target in mind for Brunacini.

“Looking at the ($250,000) Cherokee Mile at Churchill Downs on Dec. 1,” said Sims, whose father, Phil, trained Hot Cha Cha to win the 2009 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) and Don’t Tell Sophia to win the 2014 Juddmonte Spinster (G1) at Keeneland.

Between them, the two Sims have 20 horses in training.

One of those is War Campaign, a homebred racing for Jerry Namy, who campaigned Don’t Tell Sophia with Phil Sims. The elder Sims trains the 5-year-old two-time Grade 3-placed horse who is entered in Saturday’s closing day $350,000 Hagyard Fayette (G2). 

Brunacini, who drew in from the also-eligible list, held off odds-on favorite Book’em Danno by a neck to get the Perryville victory.

“He’s good this morning; he ran his race, but that’s just racing luck,” trainer Derek Ryan said of Book’em Danno, who is owned by Atlantic Six Racing. “I wish he could have gotten to the outside.”

Far back early, Book’em Danno rallied between horses in the stretch and just failed to catch Brunacini.

“The winner is a nice horse,” Ryan said of the lightly raced Brunacini. “And he had had like four bullet works here.”

Ryan said that Book’em Danno would leave Keeneland Monday morning for New York with the $500,000 Cigar Mile (G2) on Dec. 7 targeted as his star’s final start of 2024.