Each week in this space, the top Beyer performances by maiden winners will be featured and analyzed. Click here for a complete archive. Kinza  Dec. 29, race 8 Santa Anita, MdSpWt65k  Beyer: 96  6 furlongs 1:09.79 – 1st by 7 1/2 lengths  ch.f.2, Carpe Diem – Secret Wonder, by Quality Road  Auctions: Fasig-Tipton fall mixed 2021 – $17,000; OBS yearling sale 2022 – $30,000; FTI spring 2yo 2023 – $350,000  Owner: Michael Lund Petersen  Trainer: Bob Baffert  Breeder: JD Business Ventures, Brushy Hill Farm, Carpe Diem Syndicate  On the third to last day of 2023, we saw one of the very best performances from a 2-year-old filly of 2023, and this from a Bob Baffert-trained first-timer who was fifth choice in an 11-horse field and 11-2 compared to the 7-2 on her stablemate Splendora, who wound up a distant second. Kinza broke alertly from an inside post and went to the vanguard, but 3-1 debut runner Ms Bo J had a touch more early speed and was a half-length in front of Kinza after a furlong. She was stuck along the rail just behind the leader – which can be a challenging position for an inexperienced horse – but Kinza seemed entirely unbothered. She hit the front before the turn, going easily, and while gradually drawing away around past the three-furlong marker, her jockey, Juan Hernandez, sat still while riders behind him were very busy. Kinza went her fifth furlong in 12.37 before perhaps the most noteworthy part of the race, a final furlong in 12.18, fastest in the field by a wide margin. A young horse winning on the lead nearly always is slowing steadily from the quarter pole to the finish, but not this young horse. Baffert isn’t a big gallop-out guy, but Kinza was far, far in front of her nearest rival after going out around the clubhouse bend. Talk about buying the individual, not the pedigree: Kinza’s debut Beyer is the second-highest produced by an offspring of the modest sire Carpe Diem, and she’s the first foal to race from a dam who couldn’t even win a $10,000 maiden claimer. There’s virtually no black type in the first three generations, and the offspring of the second dam combined to win eight of 90 starts. This filly breaks the mold.  Doncho  Dec. 30, 8th race Fair Grounds, MdSpWt52k  Beyer: 94  6 furlongs 1:09.99 – 1st by 5 lengths  b.g.2, Mo Town – Sassy Readhead, by Henny Hughes  Auctions: Keeneland January all ages 2022 – $12,000 (RNA); Keeneland September yearling 2022 – $32,000; OBS 2yo and horses of racing age 2023 – $72,000  Owner: JAL Racing  Trainer: Michelle Lovell  Breeder: Susan Young  Failed to meet a $12,000 reserve when taken to auction as a yearling, and likely could be sold today for several hundred thousand dollars despite being a gelding. Neither his dam nor his second dam raced, and there have been no siblings of consequence. The horse clearly is an outlier in terms of pedigree. His dam’s sires are Henny Hughes, Carson City, Saratoga Six, and Czaravich – that is very sprint-leaning, generally speaking. Doncho’s sire, however, won the 1 1/8-mile Remsen and the 1 1/8-mile Hollywood Derby, and Doncho has looked increasingly relaxed in workout videos available online. He was only about eighth fastest out of the gate, but four strides into his debut he made the lead, though a horse to his inside was equally quick through the first 1 1/2 furlongs. Doncho put that rival away with little effort, and he was not asked for any run while impressively drawing clear through upper stretch with a fifth furlong in 11.69. One wonders why the jockey bothered to crop him once left-handed at the eighth pole, at which point the race was over. Doncho came home in a good 12:58 and galloped out like he could at least get one mile. Very promising.  Born Noble  Dec. 30, 1st race Gulfstream, MdSpWt70k  Beyer: 93  7 furlongs 1:24.27 – 1st by 5 1/2 lengths  b.c.2, Constitution – Zapperkat, by Ghostzapper  Auctions: Keeneland September yearling 2022 – $725,000  Owner: St. Elias Stable and West Point Thoroughbreds  Trainer: Todd Pletcher  Breeder: WinStar Farm  This performance earned a big figure and Born Noble must have been working like a good thing as he went off at odds of 6-5, but there were some mixed signals from his debut. Breaking from an outside draw, he pulled a perfect pressing/stalking trip while racing in the clear, coming up to challenge for the lead past the quarter pole. Hitting the front, Born Noble proceeded to lug in quite dramatically, drifting several paths down to the rail while failing to change leads until the sixteenth pole. And even after changing leads he continued racing unprofessionally, with jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. holding on grimly to the right rein to keep Born Noble from continuing to lug in. Whether this all was about greenness or some other issue (the colt is not a great mover), Born Noble had commenced a modest gallop out when his Todd Pletcher-trained stablemate Bail Us Out came up to him 60 yards past the wire. Ortiz apparently had been instructed to make sure Born Noble galloped out well, since he gently threw the reins at his mount as Born Noble picked up his pace again to pull away from Bail Us Out, though to what extent is uncertain, as the gallop-out was cut short on replay. Imperial Gun  Dec. 31, 5th race Oaklawn, MdSpWt115k  Beyer: 80  1 1/16 miles 1:45.96 – 1st by 5 3/4 lengths  b.c.2, Gun Runner – Take a Memo, by Empire Maker  Auctions: Keeneland November breeding 2021 – withdrawn; Keeneland January all ages 2022 – $375,000  Owner: Prince Sultan bin Mishal al Saud  Trainer: Steve Asmussen  Breeder: Adrian Regan and Fergus Galvin  Trainer Steve Asmussen started this colt off Dec. 9 at Oaklawn in a two-turn mile and clearly sees Imperial Gun as a true route horse. After racing from last of 10 in the early stages of his debut, Imperial Gun had much better positional pace second time out, breaking from an inside draw and slipping into the pocket behind the leader around the first turn and onto the backstretch. When that leader drifted off the fence about the five-furlong marker, jockey Joel Rosario, who had been wrestling a bit with Imperial Gun, let his mount run up into the gap and take command of the race. Meanwhile, even-money favorite Linebacker was stuck mid-pack behind a wall of horses, never seeing daylight until Imperial Gun was long gone, although Imperial Gun did turn in the faster finishing fraction. More than five lengths also separated second from third in a full field, but this appears to have been a relatively soft maiden-special contest.  Time for Truth  Dec. 31, 6th race Oaklawn, MdSpWt115k  Beyer: 89  6 furlongs 1:10.52 –1st by 1 1/2 lengths  b.c.2, Omaha Beach – Shape Shifter, by Lookin At Lucky  Auctions: OBS spring 2yo 2023 – $47,000  Owner: Harry Rosenblum  Trainer: Ron Moquett  Breeder: Dominique Danico  Despite costing just $47,000 at a juvenile auction earlier in 2023, Time for Truth must have been working encouragingly to go off at just 4-1 facing 11 rivals and coming out of a barn that rarely wins with first-time starters. Indeed, he had plenty of gate speed and had to have been very fit to win edging clear the final half-furlong after taking pace pressure virtually throughout the trip. Perhaps Time for Truth will settle down with maturity, but he appeared to be very aggressive attacking early and displaying a strong desire to race from the front. His head carriage was higher than ideal, and the stride rhythm might have looked a little more sprint than route, but the colt does have some scope and galloped out encouragingly after running a fast three-quarters. His dam’s top figures came going seven furlongs, though her sire, Lookin At Lucky, often is a source of stamina.