Breakout Beyers: Sloppy surface not a problem for Unikee in big-fig score

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

Unikee

March 12, 9th race Gulfstream, MdSpWt53k

Beyer: 90

6f (sloppy) 1:10.53 – 1st by 2 1/4 lengths

b. c. 3, Unified – Yankee Union, by Yankee Gentleman

Auctions: Keeneland November breeding 2019 – $47,000 (RNA); Keeneland September yearling 2020 – $19,000 (RNA); OBS 2-year-olds and horses of racing age 2021 – $50,000

Owner: My Purple Haze Stables

Trainer: Teresa Pompay

Breeder: Brereton Jones

A solid third in his career debut, Unikee capitalized on a favorable trip and was comfortably best while skipping over a sloppy racing surface. He broke just so-so, then stalked the pace from the inside before the jockey probed outward past the three-furlong marker, wondering where he’d take his mount to make a run. Turned out his original position down at the fence was the place to be. Unikee hugged the rail again until the field passed the quarter pole, the rider then steering to the right, giving eventual runner-up Cape Trafalgar, a sound thump. Unikee took aim at the pacesetter, caught him at the furlong pole, and edged away to win decisively. This colt coped professionally with the sloppy kickback, then ran straight as a string from the three-sixteenths to the wire. He’s built like a sprinter-mile, which is what his dam was during her racing career. The checkered auction history listed here does not even include still another sale from which he was withdrawn, and the last price paid, $50,000, is looking like great value considering the 90 second-start Beyer.

Green Up

March 13, 4th race Gulfstream, MdSpWt53k

Beyer: 84

6f 1:10.04 – 1st by 6 3/4 lengths

b. f. 3, Upstart – Green Punch, by Two Punch

Auctions: Fasig-Tipton October yearling 2020 – $10,000

Owner: Team Valor International

Trainer: Todd Pletcher

Breeder: Althea Richards

Debuted as an early 2-year-old last May and was purchased out of a runner-up finish by Team Valor. The filly worked once in late July at Belmont, but then didn’t post another official breeze until early January at Palm Beach Downs. I guess “they” liked her works and her lone race since Green Up was as the 2-5 favorite in this maiden-special. She actually made the price look fair. Green Up broke alertly from an outside post, tracked the pacesetter while appearing to be going very easily, and indeed, when the rider asked Green Up to go get the leader, the response was immediate. Green Up drifted a little bit wide after cornering for home, but this was a cakewalk, the wide margin of victory achieved at what looked like little more than a common gallop. What’s more, the filly does not have the look of a pure sprinter at all; if anything, she’s made more like a miler/route horse. Her dam, by a sprint sire, couldn’t run much at all, but the second dam was decent and won over 1 1/8 miles.

Fenwick

March 12, 5th race Tampa, MdSpWt32k

Beyer: 88

1M 40 yards 1:40.55 – 1st by 5 1/4 lengths

ch. c. 3, Curlin – Make the Sun Shine, by Malibu Moon

Auctions: Fasig-Tipton October yearling 2020 – $52,000

Owner: Villa Rosa Farms

Trainer: David Fisher

Breeder: John Oxley

Lots of stuff going on in this Tampa Bay Derby card dirt-route maiden – starting with the fact this colt, despite being a 21-1 fifth-time starter, looked good. His first four starts, two in New York and two at Fair Grounds, came for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, and after a solid debut, Fenwick appeared to lose his way. This was a barn change, not an ownership change (this owner bought him at the yearling sale), and the new trainer slapped a set of blinkers on Fenwick and got a major step forward. Fenwick broke alertly from the rail and while not sent to the front, managed to get there with a bunch of horses stacked to his outside. Among them was the 1-10 favorite, Commandperformance, who’d been second to Jack Christopher in the Champagne Stakes and fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. You could tell Fenwick’s jockey had his eye out for the big favorite, a gray horse who loomed three wide past the half-mile pole and going to the three-furlong marker. In the end, Commandperformance got completely snowed under. Fenwick skipped clear in upper stretch and dashed away from all pursuers going past the eighth pole, galloping under the wire an easy winner. This was a 20-point Beyer improvement over his top figure; interested to see what comes next.