Breakout Beyers: Smart Mo earns top Beyer and beats a quality horse

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

Smart Mo

May 26, 3rd race Santa Anita, MdSpWt31k
Beyer: 94
1 mile 1:37.27 – 1st by head
b. c. 3, Mo Town – Vendita, by Smart Strike
Noteworthy siblings: None
Auctions: Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter mixed 2021 – $67,000; Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling 2021 – $105,000; OBS spring 2-year-old 2022 – $190,000
Owner: CRK Stables
Trainer: John Shirreffs
Breeder: DP Racing

Yes, the win margin was a head, but debuting Smart Mo beat Worcester, who was coming out of two graded stakes races and had been second to his very talented Bob Baffert-trained stablemate Hejazi in his most recent maiden start. And while this was a short field, Worcester finished 11 lengths in front Dazzlemesilver, who had run two solid maiden races of his own before being thrown to the wolves in the Santa Anita Derby. The trainer, John Shirreffs, hardly is known for his work with first-time starters, but jockey Joe Bravo rode this colt like he knew his mount was live. Stalking several lengths off the pace, Brazo zeroed in on Worcester, got onto his tail at the half-mile, and attacked Worcester with an early move around the far turn. Worcester didn’t back down, battling back along the inside, but he never could get back on terms after Smart Mo had seized the lead at the quarter pole, and, for what it’s worth, Smart Mo galloped out in front, too. This 94 Beyer was the highest produced by progeny of the young sire.

Mullikin

May 27, 11th race Churchill, MdSpWt120k
Beyer: 91
6 1/2 furlongs 1:16.81 – 1st by 10 1/4 lengths
b. c. 3, Violence – Tulira’s Star, by Congrats
Noteworthy siblings: None
Auctions: Keeneland September yearling 2021 – $500,000
Owner: Siena Farm and WinStar Farm
Trainer: Rodolphe Brisset
Breeder: Fred Hertrich and John Fielding

If anything, the Beyer underrates his performance, which was excellent, and it was only a fluke that Mullikin required three starts to win. He broke poorly from an inside draw and wound up wide around the turn debuting at Oaklawn Park, and still nearly won. Second out, he set a robust, contested pace in a seven-furlong Keeneland maiden before succumbing to the very talented Todd Pletcher-trained Equivoque. There was no one like that populating his maiden field, and Mullikin smushed them. He didn’t just win by more than 10 lengths but ran up the margin with the rider doing no more than throwing a rein at the colt at the three-sixteenths pole. Mullikin responded by adding several more lengths to an already long lead. Mullikin has great gate speed and cruised to the lead, but not only was he fastest through the first two furlongs, he was easily fastest through the final three furlongs despite being geared down. Would doubt this colt can get more than a mile, but don’t doubt he could be a stakes horse.

Manciata d’Oro

May 25, 4th race Horseshoe Indianapolis, MdSpWt34k
Beyer: 84
1 1/16 miles turf 1:45.11 – 1st by 2 1/4 lengths
b. c. 3, Medaglia d’Oro – Jemima’s Pearl, by Distorted Humor
Noteworthy siblings: None
Auctions: Keeneland November breeding 2020 – $175,000; Keeneland September yearling 2021 – $400,000
Owner: Spendthrift Farm, Steve Landers Racing, Martin Schwartz, and Michael Dubb
Trainer: Brad Cox

Breeder: SF Bloodstock

This colt was slow to debut, posted his first official work about 10 months before this first start. There’s also the consideration that mega-trainer Brad Cox has a major division at Churchill Downs, where maiden purses are nearly four times this high. That said, Cox has started many good horses off at Horseshoe Indianapolis, and I won’t hold his appearance there entirely against Manciata d’Oro. He didn’t have an easy trip, either, racing second behind a leader who took a lead of several lengths onto the backstretch before backing the pace up. Jockey Marcelino Pedroza didn’t have the luxury of biding his time as a 7-2 shot came up three wide at the five-furlong marker and would have boxed in Manciata d’Oro had Pedroza not used his mount to maintain a pressing position. The leader at first looked like he would stop when challenged but instead held firm around the far turn, as did the horse in about the No. 3 path, sticking Manciata d’Oro between horses while he was under a ride. Credit to the colt for shrugging off his two rivals in upper stretch and going clear, as those two faded and a late-runner nabbed second. Manciata d’Oro has the same immediate cross, Medaglia d’Or out of a Distorted Humor mare, as Golden Sixty, currently the world’s highest-rated horse.