Breakout Beyers: Knightsbridge scales heights in impressive maiden victory

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

Knightsbridge
Nov. 4, 7th race Churchill, MdSpWt119k
Beyer: 90
7 furlongs 1:22.96 – 1st by 10 1/2 lengths
b.c.2, Nyquist – Tyburn Brook, by Bernardini
Noteworthy siblings: Speaker’s Corner (Street Sense, foaled 2018 – G1 winner, $740K earnings)
Auctions: None
Owner: Godolphin
Trainer: Bill Mott
Breeder: Godolphin

Among the stronger 2-year-old debut performances of 2023, Knightsbridge’s unveiling came on Breeders’ Cup Saturday, and thus, to some extent might have been underappreciated. The colt clearly is a high-level talent, but even if he fulfills his promise, will he become a Triple Crown prospect or more of a sprinter-miler like his brother Speaker’s Corner? Time will tell, and there’s nothing wrong with milers, but Knightsbridge did not come across as a slam-dunk route prospect. Neither, though, did he notch the standard blowout maiden score, merely bludgeoning the competition with superior talent while racing on the lead. Knightsbridge didn’t have the greatest start but within a furlong had managed to move into a stalking position just a couple lengths off the speed. Caught between horses with nowhere to run, the colt had to be steadied going to the half-mile pole, though that did not cost him much in the way of position. With room to operate past the three-furlong marker, Knightsbridge quickly moved to the lead, taking command at the five-sixteenths and already well clear turning for home. It was a coronation from there to the wire, Knightsbridge going his final furlong in 12.30 seconds and galloping out solidly for a horse who had gone to the finish with no urging. Knightsbridge worked from late May to mid-June, then didn’t breeze again until early September, so he does have some deeper foundation than this one race to take into late fall.

Mullion
Nov. 5, 2nd race Churchill, MdSpWt117k
Beyer: 99
1 mile 1:34.69 – 1st by 10 lengths
b.c.3, Into Mischief – Brooch, by Empire Maker
Noteworthy siblings: Mandaloun (Into Mischief, foaled 2018) – G1 winner, $2.09 million earnings
Auctions: None
Owner: Juddmonte Farms
Trainer: Brad Cox
Breeder: Juddmonte Farms

More than 14 months passed between Mullion’s nose loss as the odds-on favorite in his career debut and this, his second start, and one wonders what might have been had Mullion trained on at age 2. Mullion once again was bet to odds-on favoritism, but this time delivered – in a big way. The chart comments emphasize contact from both sides at the start, but that was minimal and had no effect Mullion strode up to press the pace, first between horses, then outside the inside speed, whom he overwhelmed going around the turn. You can see on the past performances that Mullion won by a wide margin; watching the race, you also can see he ran off to that wide margin, 10 lengths in the end, while barely being asked in upper stretch and not at all through the final furlong. This is a late date for a 3-year-old to clear the maiden ranks and all the accompanying caveats apply, but this colt looks like he could be even faster than big brother Mandaloun.

Booth
Oct. 7, 11th race Keeneland, MdSpWt100k
Beyer: 96
6 furlongs 1:10.23 – 1st by 5 1/4 lengths
ch.c.2. Mitole – Sophia’s Song, by Bellamy Road
Noteworthy siblings: Bright Future (Curlin, foaled 2019) – G1 winner, $837K earnings
Auctions: Keeneland September yearling 2022 – $120,000; OBS March 2023 – $225,000
Owner: William Heiligbrodt, Corrinne Heiligbrodt, Jackpot Farms, Whispering Oaks Farms
Trainer: Steve Asmussen
Breeder: Clearsky Farms

About as fast as any 2-year-old maiden has been all year, and looked flashy doing it, too. Booth didn’t break like a rocket, but his first three or four strides were very fast, propelling him to a clear lead well before the first furlong had been run. Can’t say it was much of a contest from there, Booth simply too fast for the competition ever to come close to him. Debuting favorite Nash tried to make a run at the top of the stretch, but Nash needs more distance, and Booth, after belatedly changing leads, had plenty left, finishing faster than Nash en route to a sharp victory. The key sibling, Bright Future, can go 1 1/4 miles, and while Booth’s body type does not come across on video as obviously route-friendly, we can at least say he possesses an appealing mix of stamina on the bottom side with speed from first-crop sire Mitole.

Air of Defiance
Oct. 18, 5th race Keeneland, MdSpWt99k
Beyer: 88
7 furlongs 1:23.81 – 1st by 6 lengths
b.c.2, Quality Road – Faypien, by Ghostzapper
Noteworthy siblings: None
Auctions: Keeneland September yearling 2022 – $400,000
Owner: Gold Square
Trainer: Brad Cox
Breeder: Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings

His distant second debut in the Saratoga slop gained a lot of shine when the horse who beat him, Fierceness, easily won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. This is a runner, too, though not as brilliant as Fierceness. On the one hand, sure, Air of Defiance benefited from pressing slow sprint fractions while racing in the clear. On the other, he ran faster late in this extended sprint than he did early, and very much looks like a stretch-out candidate. Air of Defiance’s quarter-mile from the three-furlong pole to the eighth pole went in 23.97, and he got his final furlong in rousing 11.98, strong for a 2-year-old dirt horse. The colt at full stretch in the home straight looked a little like he’s all legs – long strides as he quickened to the wire.

Nysos
Oct. 21, 9th race Santa Anita, MdSpWt61k
Beyer: 96
6 furlongs 1:08.97 – 1st by 10 1/2 lengths
b.c.2, Nyquist – Zetta, by Bernardini
Noteworthy siblings: None
Auctions: Keeneland November breeding 2021 – $130,000; Fasig-Tipton October yearling 2022 – $150,000; OBS spring 2-year-old 2023 – $550,000
Owner: Baoma Corp
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Breeder: Susie Atkins

The betting public missed this Bob Baffert first-timer, who went off at 6-1, twice the price of another first-time starting stablemate who finished second but was left in Nysos’s dust. Jockey Kyle Frey hustled Nysos out of the gate to come alongside the other Baffert firster, Urban Legend, the pair going a fast pace, 21.62 and 44.19. By the time that half-mile split was posted, Nysos had left Urban Legend behind and was making a beeline for the wire, stretching out very impressively for a young horse who’d just run a rapid, contested half-mile. The race was over before the furlong grounds, and, as per the barn’s habit, the winner was shut down pretty soon into his gallop-out. Among all the very fast maidens on this week’s list, this is the one with the most obvious sprint-leaning body type. That’s not to say he can’t go farther, but between his appearance and his speed, one wonders if he will.