Beyers don't tell full American Derby Story
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – On turf, especially, Beyer Speed Figures sometimes can understate how well a horse has run. The Beyers are based on final time, and when a grass race like the American Derby here this past Saturday unfolds at a crawl, it’s just not possible to run fast, even with a Beyer Figure accounting for the relative speed of the course.
So while the American Derby, on the Beyer scale, was the lowest-rated among four Grade 3 turf stakes on Saturday’s Million Preview Day, don’t sell short the race’s top two finishers, World Approval and Crittenden, who were separated by a neck. World Approval got an 86 Beyer, Crittenden an 85, but after the first half-mile of the American Derby passed in an extremely slow 52.46 seconds, pace-pressing World Approval finished his final furlong in 11.30 seconds, while Crittenden, rallying from fourth, got his last quarter-mile in about 22.80 seconds.
Both horses came out of the race well, their trainers said, and they could meet again next month in the Grade 1, $450,000 Secretariat Stakes. Crittenden, based with Eoin Harty’s string at Arlington, definitely is being pointed to that race, while World Approval is a likely Secretariat runner, though his connections also could opt for the Hall of Fame Stakes at Saratoga.
Mark Casse said World Approval, who has returned to Churchill Downs, would join his Saratoga string and train there, regardless of whether he stays for the the Hall of Fame or returns to Arlington next month.
In one sense, World Approval benefited from racing close to such an easy tempo, but while Casse lauds his colt’s versatility, he believes World Approval would better be suited by a race with pace in which he could make one run from a stalking position.
Crittenden, meanwhile, is a Godolphin homebred with a smart pedigree (Distorted Humor out of a Pulpit mare) who was gelded earlier in his career because he was unruly and unfocused. Now, Harty said, the gelding is straightforward in his training, though lacking in testosterone. Crittendon tends toward the lean side, but he came out of his race in good shape. He “is in the feed tub,” Harty said, and if all goes well he will try his luck in Grade 1 competition on Aug. 15.