Breakout Beyers: Keep your binoculars fixed on impressive Pretty Birdie

Each week in this space, the top Beyer performances by maiden winners will be featured and analyzed. Click here for a complete archive.

Pretty Birdie

June 18, 2nd race Churchill, MdSpWt99k

Beyer:78

5f 57.28, 1st by 3 3/4 lengths

gr. f. 2, Bird Song – Bird Sense, by Street Sense

Owner: Marylou Whitney Stables

Trainer: Norman Casse

Breeder: Marylou Whitney Stables

By Bird Song out of Bird Sense, naming possibilities abound. You have to go four generations back to get to the starts of this “Bird” line, Birdstone and Bird Town, but this filly clearly is a runner. This was her career debut, and she broke professionally, making the front and showing good speed (shading 45 seconds for her half-mile) while going comfortably. Won’t say she really lengthened her stride here, but no one came close to her through the final furlong, and she finished as well as one might expect of a young horse who’d gone so fast early in her first out. This is a very good Beyer for a horse so early in the year, and she’s surely stakes bound (Saratoga, one would guess) in her next appearance.

Poppy Flower

June 20, 3rd race Belmont, MdSpWt90k

Beyer: 76

6f turf 1:09.09, 1st by 2 lengths

ch. f. 2, Lea – Nisharora, by Excellent Art

Auctions: Keeneland all ages January 2020 – $9,500 RNA

Owner: Arnmore Thoroughbreds

Trainer: Wesley Ward

Breeder: Brenda Harding and Megan Jones

Got left behind in America while some of her friends got to go off and play in England. Speaking of the Wesley Ward contingent at Royal Ascot, among whom was Twilight Gleaming, second in the Group 2 Queen Mary at Ascot and a powerhouse winner over this filly two back. Poppy Flower had debuted on dirt and was no match for her speedy stablemate, but she dominated this race on the front end, on the one hand benefiting from slow fractions, but on the other looking like a filly who could route by throwing in a slow-early, fast-late performance. You can see she couldn’t even be sold for a song as a very young horse at auction and already has exceeded those early expectations, though likely more useful than super high-class.

Just Distorted

June 20, 10th race Santa Anita, MdSpWt61k

Beyer: 90

6f 1:10.58, 1st by 1 length

ch. f. 3, Distorted Humor – Smart Indeed, by Smart Strike

Auctions: Keeneland September yearling 2019 – $400,000

Owner: Tommy Town Thoroughbreds

Trainer: Jonathon Wong

Breeder: Machmer Hall, Craig Brogden, and Carrie Brogden

Fractions and final time were adjusted (made quicker) from what appeared during the running of this six-furlong dash. Nice performance from a pricey yearling who made one start in February, then needed time before coming out for the second round. Made the early lead from post 1, was briefly displaced by well-bet first-timer Sea Dreamer, but came back on to open daylight to the half-mile pole and around the turn, where she dominated. Sea Dreamer persevered and made up a couple lengths from the furlong grounds to the finish, but Just Distorted might have been idling as much as anything since she appeared to re-engage after sensing the pursuit. Seems very much made like a one-turn horse, both in terms of body type and stride length, but does appear quite quick and with some upside.

Mowins

June 15th, 7th race Indiana Grand, MdSpWt38k

Beyer: 70

5f 58.85, 1st by 6 3/4 lengths

b. c. 2, Mohaymen – Prize Winner, by Pure Prize

Noteworthy siblings: Obsolete (Old Fashioned) – stakes-winner, $284K earnings

Auctions: None

Owner: Clary Thoroughbreds and Penny Lauer

Trainer: Michael Lauer

Breeder: Michael Lauer and Penny Lauer

A solid second in her career debut for barn that does not win with a lot of first-time starters, and improved Beyer Speed Figure by 20 points while romping on the front end in this, his second start. Granted, there was not a lot in this Indiana Grand maiden dash, but the colt did look pretty good fighting off a pace rival and going pretty easily clear in upper stretch. From first crop of Mohaymen, and the Lauers, who have been breeding Indiana-breds for a few generations now, have some good broodmares, Prize Winner, a stakes winner herself, among them. Lauer runs a horse or two in New York nearly every year, and with that connection in mind, and the figure this colt earned, it wouldn’t shock to see him show up in an early Saratoga 2-year-old stakes race next month.