By Randy Moss
Sprinters–dirt and turf–dominated the week's best female performances.
5–KAPOOR, GP, 2-19, Alw, 6f (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure-90
(f, 4, Uncle Mo–Kareena, by Medaglia d'Oro)
O/B-Godolphin (Ky). T-Bill Mott. J-Taylor Kingsley.
Kapoor has rolled to three consecutive frontrunning sprint wins by a combined 14 1/4 lengths, and she practically snuck into this allowance in the cover of darkness: the conditions were for non-winners of $20k once other than maiden/claiming, and her winners' take from a Tampa allowance score four weeks earlier was $19,175. As expected, the Godolphin pedigree is strong, especially from the Beyer angle. Dam Kareena recorded Beyers of 96 and 98 in her brief career, and second dam India once had back-to-back Beyers of 100 and 103.
4–GRATEFULLY, SA, 2-21, Wishing Well S., 6fT (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure-91
(f, 4, Laoban–Selflessly, by More Than Ready)
O-Adelphi Racing Club and Shelly and Russell Hume. B-WinStar Farm. T- Rob Falcone. J-Florent Geroux.
Matt Cutair and his Adelphi partners had a 2 1/2 hours to remember Saturday, striking first with unbeaten Gratefully after a Santa Anita stretch duel and again 2,700 miles away with Twirling Beauty (below). Gratefully has now survived three “gut checks” during her 5-for-5 career launch. She's the first foal of Selflessly, a two-time GSW for Seth Klarman and Chad Brown. WinStar acquired Selflessly following her racing career, bred her to Laoban, then sold mother and daughter–Selflessly, first for $875k to Ireland's Barronstown Stud and Gratefully the following year for a bargain $155k as a yearling to Adelphi.
Beyer Speed Figure-91
(f, 4, Twirling Candy–Strategic Dreams, by Archarcharch)
O-Adelphi Racing Club, Anthony Amarosa, Shelly and Russell Hume and Anthony Peters Jr. B-WinStar Farm. T-David Duggan. J-Ricardo Santana.
The excitement of Gratefully's victory at even-money odds still hadn't subsided for Adelphi and the Humes when Twirling Beauty unexpectedly came through as the 12-1 longest shot in a five-horse allowance field. By contrast, her win had few tense moments as she opened up through the lane by 5 1/2 lengths. Also a $150k yearling buy as the first foal of a two-time stakes winner, her racing resume isn't as accomplished as her stablemate, but that 91 Beyer is equally strong.