Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Be You lives up to his early promise with flashy victory
BE YOU
March 2, 2nd race Gulfstream, MdSpWt70k
Beyer: 94 7 furlongs 1:22.31 – 1st by 2 1/2 lengths ch.c.3, Curlin – Jacaranda, by Congrats
Noteworthy siblings: None Auctions: Keeneland September yearling 2022 – $320,000
Owner: Repole Stable
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Breeder: Alpha Delta Stables
Though Be You lost his debut on Aug. 5 at Saratoga, one wouldn’t have expected he’d long be a maiden since he was beaten a nose, ran a professional enough race drawn in post 1 facing 10 rivals, and got an 88 Beyer. Five starts and seven months later, Be You finally cleared the maiden ranks. He also for the first time got back to his debut Beyer, making the sort of moderate jump that could have come earlier. Be You contested the Grade 1 Hopeful second time out and took a step back, figure-wise, while performing well enough to earn a trip to Santa Anita for another Grade 1, the American Pharoah. Trying two turns the first time, Be You ran like a one-turn horse, losing several lengths from the quarter pole to the wire while managing to hold third. Back with maidens Nov. 12 in a Churchill dirt route, Be You was beaten more than 14 lengths, most of those by runaway winner Nash. He was not much better coming back in a one-turn mile Jan. 13 at Gulfstream while racing for the first time on Lasix, but finally popped on the further cutback to seven furlongs here, looking like a winner before the three-furlong marker. Be You broke decently enough and raced on the bridle but relaxed saving ground into and around the turn. Two horses in front of him, his mount spring-loaded, jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. took the prudent course and swung outside the pair Be You had to catch. He did so quickly and definitively, finishing this off with a crisp 12.35-second final furlong. The dam won the one-mile Comely in her second start before hitting a developmental wall and is a sister to the hot sire Constitution.
BONUS MOVE
March 4, 4th race Gulfstream, MdSpWt72k
Beyer: 91
5 furlongs turf 55.12 – 1st by 6 1/4 lengths b.c.3, Twirling Candy – Lady Mamba, by War Front Noteworthy siblings: None
Auctions: Keeneland September yearling 2022 – $65,000; OBS spring 2023 – withdrawn; Timonium 2yo 2023 – $240,000
Owner: R. Lee Lewis
Trainer: Mark Hennig
Breeder: Parks Investment Group
Okay, so turf sprint is the least glamorous division for a late-winter 3-year-old, but this was a standout performance, and while Bonus Move was making his third start, this marked his grass debut, and thus might be a real marker of who he is. To be sure, Bonus Move is not strictly a turf horse: His two dirt sprints yielded second- and third-place finishes and Beyers of 79 and 82. In fact, it’s not impossible his jump up to a 91 here had as much to do with maturity and a cut back from 6 1/2 and seven furlongs to five furlongs as did the surface switch. Nonetheless, I’d guess turf did move this horse up. Bonus Move, the first foal from a dam with a solid race record, has worlds of speed and used it to cross and clear from post 11. This was one of those cases where a horse sets a strong pace without appearing to work hard, which, evidently, Bonus Move was not, since he kicked away from his rivals after changing leads professionally in upper stretch. Bonus Move not only was fastest early, his final furlong in 11.25 was .01 of a second away from being the fastest finishing fraction, and the colt galloped out with good energy. Americans have gone crazy for Royal Ascot, and one could envision Bonus Move going for a race like the Commonwealth Cup there in June were he to further improve in his next start.
QUINT’S BREW
March 2, 7th race Laurel, MdSpWt52k
Beyer: 88
6 furlongs (sloppy/sealed) 1:11.30 – 1st by 3 lengths b.g.3, Mosler – Gansett, by Jump Start
Noteworthy siblings: None Auctions: None
Owner: Paul Berube, Karen Linnell, Heather Hunter
Trainer: Michael Gorham
Breeder: Country Life Farm, Paul Berube, and
Karen Linnell
A front-running sloppy-track win over five foes in early March at Laurel, even producing a robust Beyer, will not exactly set the cathedral bells ringing. Still, an 88 Beyer is an 88 Beyer, and for a Maryland-bred in particular, hitting that level first time out bodes well. Talent aside, this is a very attractive gelding, with a large, distinctive, irregular blaze and eyes showing plenty of white set in a large, handsome head. He’s the third foal to race from this dam, the first two, both trained by Michael Gorham for these owners, quite useful themselves. Quint’s Brew broke a bit awkwardly and was hard-ridden to come between horses and assume a pressing position after about a furlong, forging to the lead before the turn as 6-5 favorite Petingas Twin moved outside from an ideal spot in the pocket to challenge at the five-sixteenths pole. Petingas Twin came abreast Quint’s Brew at the quarter pole, but Quint’s Brew, at 7-1, cornered much more efficiently, switched leads perfectly, and quickly opened a lead of a couple of lengths. He shied from the second right-handed strike of the crop but otherwise kept a good line through the homestretch, the third-place finisher 10 lengths out of second. One sibling was a sprinter, the other a sprinter-miler, and this horse, from his body type and 12.38 final furlong, could trend toward the latter type.