Breakout Beyers: Twirling Good Time shows maturity in debut victory

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

Twirling Good Time
Sept. 27, 6th race Churchill, MdSpWt123k
Beyer: 86
5 1/2 furlongs 1:03.17 –1st by 4 lengths
b.f.2, Twirling Candy – Celebrategoodtimes, by Harlan’s Holiday
Noteworthy siblings: None
Auctions: Keeneland September yearling 2022 – $250,000
Owner: Rigney Racing
Trainer: Philip Bauer
Breeder: Robert and Lawana Low

This first-time starter broke from a favorable outside post but the horse just inside her came out at the start, causing Twirling Good Time to steady. No matter – she had plenty of speed to knife between horses and get up into second, pressing a solid pace in a 12-runner field. On video, she’s a grand-looking filly who traveled sweetly, and when a rival came with a three-wide run around the turn, threatening to stick Twirling Good Time between horses, the filly had instant acceleration when asked just a bit by her rider. She immediately overwhelmed the leader, turned in a quick 11.74 furlong after her first half-mile, and did not need the one pop of the crop (causing a tail swish) she got while going well clear. Galloped out to the seven-eighths with good energy, then either was pulled up or slowed down as a couple horses passed her onto the backstretch. Her dam was a sprinter and the sire, excellent with debut runners, tends to get horses with more brilliance than stay to them. Which is not to say she couldn’t handle an extended one-turn trip.

Moonlight
Sept. 28, 5th race Belmont at Aqueduct, MdSpWt90k
Beyer: 90
1 mile 1:36.04 – 1st by 8 lengths
gr.c.2, Audible – Sundown, by Tapit
Noteworthy siblings: None
Auctions: Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select 2022 – $235,000 RNA; Fasig-Tipton October yearling – $170,000; OBS April 2yo 2023 – $285,000
Owner: Town and Country Racing
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Breeder: Peter Blum Thoroughbreds

This colt debuted in late July going two turns on turf at Saratoga, where he lost by a neck to subsequent Summer Stakes winner Carson’s Run. He was entered for turf here, too, and drew in from the also-eligible list after the race was rained off. Racing with blinkers added and as the favorite, he got out of a wide draw in decent order and pulled an easy, pace-pressing trip with no one near his outside or hot on his heels. There was no push-button, wow moment of acceleration and Moonlight gradually edged away from his pace foe from the five-sixteenths pole to the finish, running with an even, steady rhythm that shows why Pletcher started him off going two turns. He came under heavy urging at the furlong grounds before the rider eased up the final 60 yards and posed at the wire. Looks like a leggy sort of colt with plenty of physical maturing to come.

Sea Streak
Oct. 1, 2nd race Belmont at Aqueduct, MdSpWt90k
Beyer: 78
6 furlongs 1:10.39 – 1st by 4 3/4 lengths
b.g.2, Sea Wizard – High Noon Nellie, by Silver Deputy
Noteworthy siblings: Speaking (Mr Speaker, foaled 2019) – multiple stakes winner, $400k earnings; Stiffed (Stephen Got Even, foaled 2011) – multiple stakes winner, $257k earnings;
Auctions: None
Owner: Holly Crest Farm
Trainer: Eddie Owens
Breeder: Holly Crest Farm

The trainer debuted this New Jersey-bred in the open $150,000 Smoke Glacken at Monmouth Park, his home track, and really thought he’d win. He did run a winning race, too, but caught an even faster Jersey-bred, Book’em Danno, who had a race behind him already. Sea Streak validated the stakes placement first out with a decisive victory over 11 foes while trying a new surface. Breaking from an outside post, Sea Streak raced mid-pack but well behind the leaders in a strung-out field, and at the three-sixteenths pole, he still had plenty of work to do. At the eighth pole, the gelding hit a gear that none of these maidens could come close to matching, going his final furlong in a rapid 11.90 to win going away.

Field Lass
Sept. 28, 4th race Churchill, MdSpWt120k
Beyer: 92
5 furlongs 56.60 – 1st by 7 1/2 lengths
b.f.2, Munnings – Moanin, by Medicean
Noteworthy siblings: None
Auctions: Keeneland September yearling 2022 – $100,000
Owner: Glen Bromagen and Patrick Lewis
Trainer: Rusty Arnold
Breeder: Cobra Bloodstock and Lynch Bages

It’s hard to completely take this performance at face value for a few reasons. First, the filly broke like a rocket and got loose in a five-furlong contest rained onto dirt from turf, which means the competition likely wasn’t as strong as one would find in a race scheduled for dirt. Front-running winners in such races really can run up the score and the filly had shown nothing like this level of ability in two previous starts. That said, she did run fast and win very easily, going out around the clubhouse turn with her ears up. She does carry her head slightly high and has the kind of bend to her knee that often gets described as “turf action.” She did try turf in her second start and finished unplaced, but that was at Kentucky Downs, which often does not provide a good read on a horse.