Breakout Beyers: West Will Power holds off pair from Brown 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.
West Will Power
Sept. 12, 1st race, Monmouth, MdSpWt45k
Beyer: 81
1M, 1:37.97, 1st by 2 lengths
b. c. 2, Bernardini – Wild Promises, by Wild Event
Noteworthy siblings: None
Auctions: None
Owner: Gary and Mary West
Trainer: Kelly Breen
Breeder: Gary and Mary West
Well, he definitely knows what a race is! Chased and ran down an even-money Chad Brown-trained favorite, then had to fend off a challenge from a 2-1 Brown shot, and was put to a very, very aggressive ride before the quarter pole to do so. Jockey was able to ease up a bit late once the task had been accomplished, at which point his mount jinked a bit to the outside, swapping leads, then drifted back down toward the rail, jumping the tracks left by the starting gate. Often encouraging to see a debut two-turn winner, but this late in the year for a 3-year-old first-timer, the figure is more solid than spectacular. Dam has produced five foals to race now, none of great account, though she was a fine racehorse in her day.
Cem Sultan
Sept. 7, 2nd race, Del Mar, MdSpWt56k
Beyer: 84
6f, 1:10.44, 1st by 1 length
b. c. 3, Lemon Drop Kid – Lemon Bay, by Bernardini
Noteworthy siblings: Top Quality (Quality Road) – three-time stakes winner $139K earnings
Auctions: Keeneland September yearling 2018 – $100,000
Owner: Anatolia Inc
Trainer: Peter Miller
Breeder: W.S. Farish and Kilroy Thoroughbred Partnership
Replay was quite a watch. Here’s this very large, long-striding beast just galumphing along through the homestretch winning a six-furlong race in 1:10 and change. He showed early speed, too, even though his leg turnover is not fast-twitchy at all. Miller debuted him on turf and wonder if he just gave him a race looking for dirt second out since he doesn’t strike the eye as a typical grass horse. The stakes-winning sibling excelled at nine furlongs, and this guy is by a Belmont Stakes runner-up whose offspring often want distance. He had two periods of working steadily – one at 2, the other over the winter – that were followed by layoffs, and the career debut was fairly late, so we’ll have to see as far as development goes.
Glynn County
Sept. 12, 2nd race, Kentucky Downs, MdSpWt93k
Beyer: 83
1M, turf, 1:33.45, 1st by 2 lengths
b. c. 3, Kitten’s Joy – Quad Tens, by Rock Hard Ten
Noteworthy siblings: None
Auctions: Keeneland September yearling 2018 – $45,000; OBS March 2-year-old 2019 – $80,000
Owner: Three Diamonds Farm
Trainer: Mike Maker
Breeder: Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey
First, the lightning-fast time. Kentucky Downs decided not to officially count the slew of course records set at the meet, a nod to the seemingly impossibly fast course. So take the raw time with a grain of salt; the Beyer accounts for the speed of the course, so it might not be far afield. As for the horse, he was a recent $40,000 claim after being the pinhooking equivalent of a hard-hit ground-ball single in baseball. He took to this Euro-style course for a trainer who had a very hot day and won well enough in his sixth start, but surely the ceiling here is allowance class?
Mud Pie
Sept. 7, 1st race, Kentucky Downs, MdSpWt94k
Beyer: 80
1 1/2M, turf, 2:28.72, 1st by 6 1/2 lengths
b. c. 3, Morning Line – We Use To Sing, by Mineshaft
Noteworthy siblings: Boxwood (English Channel) – stakes winner, $269K earnings; Line of Music (Line of David) – $132K earnings
Auctions: None
Owner: William Pape
Trainer: George “Rusty” Arnold
Breeder: Mr. and Mrs. William Pape
This horse to me was better than his Beyer Speed Figure. The Pape’s breed for stamina, and this horse appears to have plenty of it, and there appear to have been real hopes this winter, as he was as low as 2-1 when finishing up the track in a Gulfstream Park allowance race won by Belmont Stakes runner-up Dr Post. A fifth-out switch to turf at Keeneland in July really woke him up and going from 1 1/16 miles there to this 1 1/2-mile contest put him well over the hump. Could turn into a very useful horse in 10- to 12-furlong grass races, the unfortunate thing being there is really not much of a program for that sort of horse in American grass racing. Figures to show up again at Keeneland in October and could be worth a play in a long allowance race there.
Born Great
Sept. 9, 7th race, Kentucky Downs, MdSpWt80k
Beyer: 80
6 1/2f, turf, 1:14.92, 1st by 1 1/2 lengths
b. g. 4, Scat Daddy – Funfair, by More Than Ready
Noteworthy siblings: Four Wheel Drive (American Pharoah) – Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint winner
Auctions: Keeneland November breeding 2016 – $260,000; Keeneland September yearling 2017 – $275,000 RNA
Owner: Marc Detampel
Trainer: Brendan Walsh
Breeder: Glenvale Stud
Apparently, he RNA’d as a yearling for good reason. First posted an official work 2 1/2 years before he made the races, but he can run some. The Churchill debut was good, and this was a comfortable win. We are, of course, talking about a 4-year-old maiden here, but we might know right away how much substance the maiden win had since the gelding was to run back in a Wednesday afternoon allowance race at Kentucky Downs.