Meadowlands: Owners pumped about Kindergarten starter Perfect Body

Randy Beach and his partners went to the Standardbred Horse Sale in Harrisburg, Pa., this past fall with their sights set on one horse – Perfect Body. When the group registered the winning bid at $20,000, they were thrilled.

Now, after watching the daughter of Perfect Sting-Sweet Body get her career off to a strong start, including a 1:51 4/5 win last week in the second round of the New Jersey Sire Stakes Platinum Series for 2-year-old filly pacers, that feeling certainly hasn’t changed.

“We're so pumped,” said Beach, a New Jersey resident who shares ownership of Perfect Body with Craig Smith, Charles “Mike” Rowe and Carl Austin Jr. “I've been walking on air after the New Jersey Sire Stakes win last week. It’s been a fun week and a great start to her campaign. (Trainer) Chris Choate has done an amazing job getting her to this point. We’re fortunate to have her and hope she can build on the early success and keep the party going this season.”

On Friday (July 24), Perfect Body will get the opportunity to keep the good times rolling. She will compete in the first of two $25,000 Kindergarten Classic Series divisions for freshman filly pacers at the Meadowlands, where she is the 7-5 morning-line favorite. She will leave from post 3 with Brett Beckwith in the sulky.

Last week, Perfect Body got away fifth in a field of 10, and Beckwith worked out a second-over trip from the half-mile point before coming home in 27 to get the win by three-quarters of a length despite drifting a bit in the stretch. In her previous start – her career debut in the first round of the NJSS Platinum – she came home in 26 2/5 and finished third. None of her rivals paced a faster last quarter in either race.

“I think she shows that she’s still green when you watch her race,” Beach said. “But when each of those races ends with a 26 or 27, it makes you believe she hasn't tapped her full potential yet. She’s got some size to her, and it takes a little to get her rolling, but she seems to carry her speed well.

“We’ve been encouraged, really from her first qualifier at Gaitway (Farm, on June 17). She ended up on the lead, which wasn’t the plan, but she looked great. There were horses coming at her at late in the mile, but you could see her wake up and start pulling away again at the finish. To me, it was a great sign that she had that kind of fight. She’s learning as she goes, and she hasn’t disappointed us yet.”

Beach and his partners targeted Perfect Body for several reasons, including the success they had last year with Home Grown Filly Pace winner PA Perfect, another daughter of Perfect Sting. Beach liked Perfect Body’s yearling video and her pedigree, particularly that the filly’s Grand Circuit-winning half-sister Ambushed was by Always B Miki, who also is the father of Perfect Sting. He also wanted a horse that would race in New Jersey.

“Perfect Body was the primary target that we had circled (for the Harrisburg sale),” Beach said. “I had my crosshairs trained on her, but it takes a village, right? I greatly value the opinions of Chris Choate and Mike Rowe; they looked at her at the sale and felt that she passed the eye test with flying colors. We expected her to have plenty of interest, so we were elated when the gavel dropped at what we felt was a very reasonable 20 (thousand).”

Beach grew up going to the races with his parents and a grandmother, and his parents eventually owned horses in the early 1990s. Beach got started as an owner himself three years ago.

“I've always loved the sport, and wanted to get back into it,” Beach said. “We’re smaller owners, and it seems like we’re starting to hit on some of the right ones now. It’s a great (ownership) group, and that makes it a lot of fun.

“It’s nice being able to go into these races and feel that you’re a contender versus being 15-1, where maybe you can make some noise but need a perfect storm to make it happen. You hope you can find a horse that ends up becoming a difference maker. This one feels like a special horse. We’re pretty thrilled to be in this position.”

The Meadowlands will host a total of eight Kindergarten divisions for 2-year-old pacers and trotters. This is the second leg of the series, which consists of five preliminary rounds before the finals and consolations on Oct. 31. The first leg of the series, which was scheduled for July 3, was canceled because of extreme heat.

Racing begins at 6:35 p.m. (EDT) at the Meadowlands.