Top Executive to get a break; Bayakoas Image headed to Washington Cup
Top Executive and Bayakoas Image came out of their respective wins in the $50,000 Muckleshoot Derby and $50,000 Washington Oaks last Sunday at Emerald Downs in good shape, but are headed in different directions.
The Blaine Wright-trained Top Executive, who was all-out to beat Coastal Kid in the Muckleshoot, is taking a planned four-month break. His hard-fought victory in the Derby was his third-straight stakes win at Emerald.
“He’s done enough this year, so we are taking him to the ranch to freshen him up,” Wright said. “We’ll try to find a couple of races at Golden Gate before bringing him back to Emerald next year for the strong stakes schedule they have here for older horses.”
Wright thinks Top Executive, who is a four-time stakes winner with $125,198 in earnings, can improve on his impressive record.
“He loves to wait on horses, and I just think if he would break a few horse’s hearts it would give him more of a killer’s instinct and help him move to the next level,” Wright said.
Bayakoas Image could not have been more impressive winning the Oaks by 5 3/4 lengths. She broke sharply, sat just off the speed, and when Alex Marti turned her loose on the stretch turn, it was only a matter of how much she was going to win by.
Prior to her win in the Oaks, Bayakoas Image was based at Hastings with trainer Brian O’Connell, who owns the British Columbia-bred daughter of Lent in partnership with his wife, Joanne Todd. She went into the Oaks following back-to-back wins in open allowance races for 3-year-old fillies on June 14 and July 12.
Bayakoas Image was saddled in the Oaks by Kay Cooper, and she will remain with Cooper while being pointed to the $50,000 Washington Cup Filly and Mare Stakes on Sept. 26 at Emerald.
O’Connell, whose late father, Sonny O’Connell, was a trainer, has a strong connection with Cooper’s husband, former rider Bryson Cooper.
“Kay does a great job, so it makes sense to leave her there instead of bringing her back home,” O’Connell said. “It’s kind of like going full circle because Bryson rode for my dad at Bay Meadows and in Vancouver.”
O’Connell and Todd own the dam of Bayakoas Image, Tempered Steel. When Todd purchased Tempered Steel for $500 after she did not meet her reserve as a yearling in the 2011 CTHS Sale, it almost caused a divorce in the family.
“I was pretty upset because I had been looking at horses in the hot sun for two days and money was tight,” O’Connell said. “I did forgive her when Tempered Steel won the $100,000 B.C. Oaks, though.”
◗ The Wright-trained Justpassinthru drops to a new low and looks as good as any in a competitive $25,000 claiming race for nonwinners of two that will serve as Sunday’s feature. The 6 1/2-furlong dash for 3-year-olds and up drew eight horses and goes as race eight on a nine-race card that begins at 2:30 p.m. Pacific.