Good Human Bean eyes bigger things

Saturday afternoon’s third race at Louisiana Downs may be the last opportunity to see the promising filly Good Human Bean in allowance company, at least for a while.

The 3-year-old daughter of Langfuhr seems destined for bigger and better things, if her two races here this season are any indication. On May 2, the opening weekend of the current stand, Good Human Bean demolished a full field of maiden special weight company by almost 15 lengths, earning an 86 Beyer Speed Figure in the process. The Al Stall Jr. charge matched that figure when she defeated entry-level allowance types here last month by an equally impressive eight lengths. Prior to her breakout maiden score, Good Human Bean had started once here last season and twice over the winter at Fair Grounds, with only marginal success.

“She was just one of those kind of fillies who needed some time,” Stall said following the allowance win. “We knew she always had plenty of talent, it was just a matter of time before she started putting it all together.”

Good Human Bean comes by her ability honestly. Her immediate family reads like a who’s who in the upper echelon of elite Louisiana-breds in recent years. Her siblings include Mean Butterbean, by My Friend Max, a stakes winner of more than $230,000; his full brother Brother Bean, a victor in 10 of his 23 starts and $434,000 including the $100,000 Premier Night Sprint and $100,000 Junis Delahoussaye Memorial Sprint; Miss Bean Wah, by Afternoon Deelites, the recent winner of the $100,000 Louisiana Showcase Distaff who counted Louisiana-bred megastar Superior Storm among her victims.

“We were hoping an allowance race would fill for her,” Stall continued. “She is in kind of a tough situation at this time of the year. There are not many spots available for Louisiana-bred 3-year-old filly sprinters, so she will most likely have to face olders. We’ll take it just one step at a time.”

While she will likely be favored to take that next step Saturday, Good Human Bean’s ascent into the stakes ranks is not a foregone conclusion. Among her opponents is Speedacious, who also has shown flashes of brilliance, including a 12-length romp in the Louisiana Champions Day Lassie at Fair Grounds last December that earned her a lofty 102 Beyer. In an interesting twist, it was Speedacious who handed Good Human Bean one of her defeats last fall when both were still maidens.

“She was obviously very promising for us down there,” trainer Bret Calhoun said. “We actually had thoughts of putting her on the Oaks trail, even though she was a Louisiana-bred.”

“It was a bit unfortunate she had some things go wrong,” he continued. “Nothing major, but she had an abscess come up on her neck, then she had a minor ankle issue. Just some bad timing, which is too bad because we missed some nice opportunities.”