Mott sends Beauty Reigns on a two-turn-ability mission
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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It might have been a case of too much, too soon, when Beauty Reigns raced in the Grade 2 Demoiselle last month at Aqueduct. Beauty Reigns had just one previous race, sprinting, and was now trying 1 1/8 miles in a field of 10, eight of whom had multiple starts.
Beauty Reigns, last of 10 early, showed some late interest to finish sixth, 11 1/4 lengths behind Muhimma.
“We threw her in the deep end second time out, a mile and an eighth,” trainer Bill Mott said. “She was very green.”
Thursday, at Gulfstream Park, Beauty Reigns drops back into a first-level allowance race going 1 1/16 miles where Mott hopes to learn a little bit more about the daughter of Into Mischief. Beauty Reigns won her maiden at Aqueduct going 6 1/2 furlongs in November and would have been a perfect candidate for Saturday’s $125,000 Ruthless Stakes for 3-year-old fillies going seven furlongs, a race that drew just a field of five.
“I know the stake in New York was coming up light next weekend, but I need to find out if she’ll go two turns,” Mott said. “That’s what we’re here for.”
In her debut, Beauty Reigns dueled outside of longshot Not the First Time through a half-mile in 46.55 seconds. In the stretch, she was headed by My Sherrona but Beauty Reigns battled back along the inside and won by a half-length.
“She gutted it out,” Mott said.
My Sherrona, meanwhile, came back to finish second behind Run Away in the Busanda Stakes at Aqueduct on Jan. 18.
Thursday, Beauty Reigns will have to overcome the outside draw in an eight-horse field.
Decadent, trained by Kenny McPeek, was a 3 1/4-length debut winner going seven furlongs in the slop when she beat just four rivals under Luis Saez.
Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. entered both Paradise City and the maiden Early On in this spot. Paradise City won her debut going 6 1/2 furlongs at Gulfstream, but has two fourths – one against males – in allowance company and a well-beaten second, beaten nine lengths, in the Cash Run Stakes here on Jan. 1.
“She keeps making a run and flattening out each time,” Joseph said of Paradise City. “We’re going to ride her a like a turf horse, inside strip, cover her up, hopefully that’s what she needs because every time she sees daylight she keeps flattening out. She has more talent than she’s shown.”
Joseph said he entered Early On because he wants to run her around two turns. A maiden race he had hoped to run her in over the weekend did not fill.
Indeed, a maiden winner at this distance for trainer Todd Pletcher, Fede, Quinn’s Promise, and Little Squeeze complete the field.
Dashman to marathon series
Dashman, who earned a 99 Beyer Speed Figure winning Saturday’s William L. McKnight by a nose at 1 1/2 miles, will target either the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida going 1 3/8 miles on March 1 or the Grade 2 Pan American on March 29 for his next start, trainer Brian Lynch said.
Dashman made just his third start in a stakes and his first against older horses in the McKnight, a race in which he got the one scratch he needed to draw into the field. He got a beautiful trip from Florent Geroux, sitting third early, overtaking a stubborn Limited Liability, and holding off a late run from Cash Equity to get the victory.
“I’m a big believer that when a lightly raced horse, in their first start as a 4-year-old, can beat them sort of horses at that distance, they’ve got a future,” Lynch said.
Adding to the thrill of Dashman’s victory was the fact he is by Oscar Performance, a horse Lynch trained to win Grade 1 stakes from one mile to 1 1/4 miles.
“You know my theory, you can’t have enough of them,” Lynch said.
Lynch adds more 3-year-olds
Lynch, who already has a couple of 3-year-old stakes performers in Donut God and Owen Almighty, won a pair of maiden races over the weekend with 3-year-olds Jimmy’s Dailys and Solid Left.
Jimmy’s Dailys, a son of Vekoma, came with an outside rally under Jose Ortiz to win a seven-furlong maiden race by 1 1/4 lengths. In his third career start, second this year, Jimmy’s Dailys earned a Beyer of 85. He beat a field that included the heavily touted and bet Disruptor, who finished third.
“We’ve always liked him, felt like he needed his first race back, but he ran like we hoped he would [Saturday],” Lynch said. “How far he’ll run will be a guessing game, but he certainly was impressive.”
In discussing options for Jimmy’s Dailys, Lynch mentioned the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham at Aqueduct on March 1 as a race that “is certainly on the radar.”
On Sunday, Lynch sent out Solid Left, a son of West Coast, to a 2 1/2-length win in a 1 1/16-mile maiden race. He earned a 72 Beyer for the effort, his second overall and first around two turns.
Meanwhile, Lynch will be in action the next two Saturdays in stakes as he sends out Donut God in Saturday’s Swale Stakes going seven furlongs at Gulfstream. Donut God is 2 for 2 including a win in the Inaugural Stakes at Tampa on Dec. 7.
Owen Almighty remains on target for the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 8. Owen Almighty was disqualified from first and placed second in the Pasco Stakes on Jan. 11.
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