Kentucky Derby not on agenda for Bind, who earned 105 Beyer in maiden win

It’s entirely possible that the most talented 3-year-old to race on the Risen Star card Saturday at Fair Grounds wasn’t in the Risen Star at all. Bind made his career debut in a maiden special weight sprint, race 3, and was absolutely sensational. Bind sat third behind a scorching early pace, seized command at the top of the stretch after being roused at the three-furlong pole, and went on to win by 9 1/4 lengths. His six-furlong time of 1:08.80 produced a Beyer Speed Figure of 105, a number that seems completely legitimate. The Fair Grounds track surface played fast Saturday, but was far from the fastest surface this season. Bind’s time was 0.77 of a second off the track record established in 2002, but was the first sub-1:09 six furlongs recorded at Fair Grounds since 2005.

WATCH REPLAY: Bind earns 105 Beyer in Fair Grounds sprint >>

Scariest of all, Bind is a massive, placid colt with a route pedigree, and he should be at least as good running two turns.

But quash thoughts of a Triple Crown run for Bind. Trainer Al Stall and owners Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider are taking a slow and patient approach with a potential star – much as they did with a horse named Blame.

“It was only a maiden race,” Claiborne principal Seth Hancock said after leaving the winner’s circle Saturday.

The product of a Clairborne mating between Pulpit and Check, an Unbridled mare, Bind, hard to believe, failed to meet a $180,000 reserve when entered in the Keeneland September yearling sale of 2009. Bind came to Stall’s barn early in the summer, but was sent home because Stall thought he wasn’t ready to start earnest training. Back on Sept. 1, Bind has been on a steady training pattern ever since.

Stall said not to expect Bind to race again until late March at Fair Grounds or sometime in April at Keeneland.