Breakout Beyers: Onward, upward for Lightline after impressive Indy debut

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

Lightline
Sept. 14, 1st race Horseshoe Indianapolis, MdSpWt34k
Beyer: 83
1 mile 1:39.27 – 1st by 13 3/4 lengths
b.c.2, City of Light – Upperline, by Maria’s Mon
Noteworthy siblings: Reigning Spirit (War Front, foaled 2017) – graded stakes-placed, $222k earnings
Auctions: Keeneland September yearling 2022 – $600,000
Owner: Albaugh Family Stables
Trainer: Brad Cox
Breeder: Town and Country Horse Farms

Don’t let the Indiana debut for a modest maiden purse lead you astray. Trainer Brad Cox has debuted plenty of talented juveniles (champion 3-year-old filly Monomoy Girl, for one) in Indiana, and this expensive yearling was working first at Keeneland, then at Ellis Park before shipping to race. I don’t know what exactly to make of the early fractions, which were very slow. Lightline broke inward and was urged by his rider to go forward into the first turn, but while he took up a pressing position just outside the leader, one wouldn’t necessarily say he has speed, given the 49.64 half-mile split and the fact Cox started the colt out in a two-turn contest. The colt is by a very good turf-route horse, Upperline, and his most accomplished sibling, Reigning Spirit, might have run his best race in the Louisville over 1 1/2 miles on grass. Perhaps it’s not surprising, then, that Lightline ran a dirt race like a turf race. His fastest quarter-mile was his last one, which went in 24.51, and the farther he went, the faster he went. Lightline got his last eighth in an eye-catching 12.14. He does have some turfy high-knee action to him, but you’d better believe Lightline will get every chance to show he’s a dirt stakes horse.

Private Desire
Sept. 16, 1st race Belmont at Aqueduct, MdSpWt90k
Beyer: 94
6 1/2 furlongs 1:16.68 – 1st by 1 1/4 lengths
b.c.2, Constitution – Brahms Cat, by Wildcat Heir
Noteworthy siblings: None
Auctions: Keeneland November breeding 2021 – $75,000 (RNA); Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter mixed 2022 – $115,000; Keeneland September yearling 2022 – $350,000
Owner: Stephen Brunetti Jr.
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Breeder: Wilbert Tan

The colt was almost 10-1 making his career debut in the Saratoga slop, where he finished a decent fourth, and he was a tepid 4-1 moving to a fast track in his second start. There was nothing tepid about his performance. The favorite, Hurricane Nelson, was second with an 80 Beyer in his Saratoga debut, and he blasted brilliantly out of the gate to take a clear early lead. Private Desire wasn’t as fast the first half-furlong, but after getting into stride, he whizzed past Hurricane Nelson to take the lead. The favorite was switched off the fence to track Private Desire from the outside and got up to Private Desire’s flank at the quarter pole. But Private Desire always seemed to be doing the better work and he drew clear as Hurricane Nelson succumbed in the last 60 yards while still finishing more than 11 lengths ahead of the show horse. Interesting gallop-out, with Javier Castellano asking Private Desire a bit into the turn and even partway around it, his mount going out very strongly as far as the limited video shows. He’s the second foal from a mare who was a 3-year-old dirt sprinter; the dam’s side is filled with speed influences. The colt goes very smoothly on a pan shot, though a head-on shows a stride far from ideal. Still looks like a real prospect.

Time to Dazzle
Sept. 17, 6th race Woodbine, MdSpWt83k
Beyer: 83
1 mile turf 1:35.92 – 1st by 3 lengths
gr.f.2, Not This Time – Staria, by Unbridled’s Song
Noteworthy siblings: Sir Genghis (Tale of the Cat, foaled 2011) – multiple stakes winner (La.-bred), $523K earnings
Auctions: Keeneland September yearling 2022 – $310,000
Owner: Tracy Farmer
Trainer: Mark Casse
Breeder: Dr. Rodney Orr

This first-time starter somehow was 7-1 in a seven-horse field, a high price for a Mark Casse-trained 2-year-old who would wind up dominating. She broke awkwardly and was last a couple of strides in but quickly found her footing and tried to come up the rail and take the lead. The jockey said, “No you don’t,” taking a hold to race from behind with cover, and the filly’s initial response was to throw her head and pin her ears. She didn’t really want to settle most of the backstretch but by the three-furlong marker Time to Dazzle seemed content enough racing along the fence just behind the leader. The pace-presser cornered poorly into the homestretch, leaving Time to Dazzle all the room she wanted to come off the rail and lay down a challenge, which she did, running away from the second-place finisher, who came home five lengths clear of third. On the one hand, she did get a good trip, but on the other, she can do better if she’ll switch off in the early stages. Does look to have stakes potential.

Chi Chi
Sept. 24, 5th race Remington, ELGaylordS50k
Beyer: 81
6 1/2 furlongs 1:17.98 – 1st by 1 1/4 lengths
b.f.2, Audible – Simply Confection, by Candy Ride
Noteworthy siblings: Simplification (Not This Time, foaled 2019) – graded stakes winner, $873k earnings
Auctions: OBS winter mixed 2022 – $40,000 (RNA)
Owner: Ernest Frohboese
Trainer: Herman Wilensky
Breeder: France Weiner

Florida-bred made a couple of five-furlong turf-sprint maiden starts at Del Mar, losing both, before coming far forward with his move to dirt and a longer sprint. Broke all right, tracked the pacesetters from third, moved up past the three-furlong marker to challenge for the lead, was headed in midstretch by rallying Curlin’s Magic, a blowout Remington maiden winner in her last start, but battled back and was going away at the wire. This hardly was a top-class race, but the two behind her look all right. After failing to meet a modest reserve first time at auction, she was withdrawn from a second sale, perhaps related to the fact she is, to be kind, not a beautiful mover. With Simplification as her brother, why can’t she run longer?