After Justify won the Santa Anita Derby and posted his third consecutive triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure, Santa Anita morning-line maker Jon White asked me if I knew how many horses had started their careers with three triple-digit Beyers. I did not know the answer, but was thinking it could not be many. With the help of the Daily Racing Form database, which has 25 years of published Beyer Figures, I got the answer – 18 horses over the 25 years began their careers with three straight triple-digit Beyers, many more than I envisioned. Some are very well known; others obscure. Just one of the horses started in the Kentucky Derby. Justify, with his 104, 101, 107 series, will be the second. The most famous horse on the list is the great sprinter Lost in the Fog, who started his career Nov. 14, 2004, with a 103 at Golden Gate Fields and followed that with a 109 at Turf Paradise, both races as a 2-year-old. Lost in the Fog actually got 100-plus Beyers in his first 10 starts, with highs of 114 and 116. :: Get both the Kentucky Derby and Oaks Clocker Reports for just $19.95! The only Derby horse was Pulpit in 1997. Like Justify, Pulpit did not start as a 2-year-old, but his schedule was way more ambitious, fairly typical of the way horses were trained at the time. Pulpit began his career on Jan. 11, 1997, getting a 107 in a maiden race. He followed that with a 108 in an allowance race and a 104 when winning the Fountain of Youth. Then, the colt got a 100 after finishing second to Captain Bodgit in the Florida Derby before winning the Blue Grass with a 106 and finishing fourth in the Derby behind Silver Charm with a 105. So six races in 16 weeks, all with triple-digit Beyers. By the way, Pulpit never raced after the Derby. The millionaire sprinter Lite the Fuse earned a triple-digit Beyer in 20 of his 21 starts from 1994 to 1996 and started his career with 15 straight. Discreet Cat had consecutive 100-plus Beyers in his first four American races. Those surrounded two big wins in Dubai, so he is on the list with an asterisk. The colt won the 2006 Jerome and Cigar Mile with 115 and 116 Beyers. Advancing Star began her career in 1995 with four straight and had 13 in a 27-race career. The mare won nearly $800,000. Affirmed Success also started with four straight, including a third behind Awesome Again in the 1997 Jim Dandy. Affirmed Success raced 42 times through 2003, with 17 wins, $2.2 million in earnings, and what is almost certainly a record 38 triple digit Beyers. Crafty C.T. was another that started with four straight, the last of which was a second to Point Given in the 2001 Santa Anita Derby. The horse won more than $800,000 in an 18-race career. The rest of the horses on the list are somewhere between lesser known and unknown, but have a special place in Beyer history. Mineral Wells made his debut at Hollywood Park on Dec. 15, 1991, just before the Beyers were published for the first time. He ran six furlongs in 1:09.20 and won by 7 1/2 lengths, so I am thinking it was 100-plus. His first three published figures were 100-plus, including a 104 in the 1992 San Vicente. That was the high-water mark of a career that ended sadly with a breakdown in the 1993 General George at Laurel. :: ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays, and analysis Three Peat started with six straight, including wins in the 1992 Bay Shore and Dwyer. The horse’s career ended in 1996 when he finished next to last in a $16,000 claimer at Hollywood Park. Winous Point won his debut at Thistledown in 1995 by 24 lengths, getting a 100 Beyer. He got two more 100-plus Beyers, but ended his eight-race career three years later with a 55 Beyer when third in a $4,000 claimer at Thistledown. Minery went 104, 107, 100 in 1996. She tried the Test that summer, but faded badly, finishing sixth in what was her final race. In Excessive Bull began with three straight in the fall of 1996. Like Justify, he was trained by Bob Baffert, making him the only man with two horses on the list. In Excessive Bull raced just seven times. Six Below went 102, 106, 111 in late 1999 and early 2000, but his third start, a third-place finish in the San Pasqual, also was his last. Hook and Ladder began 110, 110, 109 in 1999 and 2000, but finished with losses in 11 of his final 12 starts in a 19-race career. :: View a complete list of DRF resources and content related to the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on Saturday, May 5 Grand Hombre began with five straight, including a win in the 2003 Pennsylvania Derby. He then went to Dubai where he finished fourth in the 2004 World Cup, the first of 16 straight losses to end his career. Roman Threat began with three straight, including a 107 when winning the 2012 Los Angeles Handicap. He never hit triple digits again, was claimed twice, and won just three times in his final 19 races. Atreides was the most recent horse prior to Justify to join the club. He earned 105, 102, and 105 Beyers in his first three, ending with a 17 1/2-length win in the 2014 Monarchos Stakes at Gulfstream. He was way back in the Indiana Derby, got a 90 in his next start, and never ran again. So there is no discernible pattern to how horses who start their careers with three triple-digit Beyers turn out, and the closest Justify comparison is Pulpit, who never failed to fire big in those six starts. I am hoping that bodes well for my 40-1 future book bet. We will know more soon enough.