What we learned: Maxfield's early speed an asset in Tenacious

As the public expected, Maxfield took the Tenacious Stakes at Fair Grounds on Saturday to keep his undefeated record intact at 4 for 4 for trainer Brendan Walsh. The return win brings hope of a lucrative 2021 season against the best routers.

The notable part about Maxfield's trip is his improved speed, which solved the problem of handling a soft pace scenario.

Watch how Maxfield breaks sharp and flanks Cool Bobby on the first turn without any serious urging.

Cool Bobby leads the field through 24.63 and 48.39 opening fractions.

As Maxfield breathes down Cool Bobby’s neck, Locally Owned saves ground on the inside in fourth and right behind the leaders, while Sonneman disappointingly shows a lack of speed in the back group. At one point, Sonneman drops to sixth.

Maxfield pushes Cool Bobby on the far turn and takes over under mild urging. In mid-stretch, he creates important separation from the field.

Sonneman finally began to pick up momentum on the turn, but his rally hit stumbling blocks in mid-stretch as Cool Bobby and Dinar tired in front of him. He did manage to pass those two speed horses for second, but Maxfield was too far ahead at that point.

Maxfield won by 2 1/2 lengths over Sonneman in second. Dinar was third, 1 1/4 lengths behind Sonneman, and Cool Bobby was 4 1/4 lengths behind Dinar to complete the superfecta. In terms of final time, Maxfield ran the 1 1/16 miles in a good 1:43:35.

My main blog choice, Locally Owned, unfortunately folded to last by 25 1/2 lengths.

If the connections wish to fast-track Maxfield to the Pegasus World Cup, they have every reason to believe he can handle such a field. Most horses peak in their second or third start off the bench, and Maxfield already ran sharp in his first start back against decent runners for an ungraded stakes race. In reality, this field was closer to a Grade 3.

Then again, Walsh might want to bring Maxfield up to the Grade 1 level more slowly, and that also wouldn't be a bad idea. Given the horse’s frequent layoffs, it is a question whether he can work his way to the top with more races and stay healthy enough. This looks like the kind of horse who will thrive on a light schedule of quality races.

Either way, Maxfield is an exciting horse to watch on the older dirt router scene. Sonneman gets credit for running second and figures to find his way to higher levels next year as well.  

Spielberg picks up second win in Los Alamitos Futurity

Without seeing the final TimeformUS Speed Figure yet, Spielberg took the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) in a fairly impressive manner from a visual standpoint.

For one, Spielberg ran wide on the first turn. He also had to run down a comfortable pacesetter in The Great One, who ran the race of his career.

Watch Spielberg go at least four wide on the first turn.

The Great One did not corner well, but Los Alamitos’ turns are tricky.

On the backside, The Great One took the field through 23.01 and 47.15 fractions. Weston put up nominal pressure in second, as Spielberg continued to run wide in third and the favorite Red Flag saved ground in fourth.

Approaching the far turn, Red Flag briefly made a forward move. But he lost ground again as The Great One began to open up, and Spielberg went after him.

At 33-1, The Great One gave his backers great excitement by creating a two-length lead at the top of the stretch. But Spielberg did not stop trying under Flavien Prat’s urging, and he grinded his way to meet The Great One near the wire and nose the long shot out in a thrilling finish.

Petruchio made a belated rally for third, 3 1/2 lengths behind The Great One. Red Flag disappointed a lot of bettors at 4/5, fading to fourth in his two-turn route debut and 8 1/2 lengths behind Spielberg.  

Spielberg has been developing more slowly than most Bob Baffert-trained horses on the Derby trail, but he is making progress. Keep an eye on him moving forward.

The Great One also is an exciting new face on the trail, although keep in mind that his trip was almost perfect as he only had mild pressure through relatively moderate fractions for this level of runners. 

Petruchio passed only a tired Red Flag in the lane. He might deserve one more shot on dirt, but this was not a promising effort for the blog choice.

Red Flag needs to sprint or find one-turn miles to compete in.

Senor Buscador closes for Remington Springboard Mile win

With a powerful closing move, the local horse Senor Buscador won the Remington Springboard Mile on Friday night and made his name known on the Derby trail. He was the blog choice, although his odds fell below the "value line." In retrospect, he deserved his lower 7/2 odds. (The morning line listed him at 15-1.)

As a side note, Senor Buscador did not earn any points this time because of the use of Lasix. Even with the lack of points earned here, he gave trainer Todd Fincher enough reason to attempt the major prep races next year. 

But there is one noticeable flaw. He does not break well.

Senor Buscador meanders out of the gate and starts last.

Nevertheless, watch Senor Buscador’s rally from the clouds on the far turn. He sustains a long bid by making up the ground and tipping outside of the front group into the stretch. Senor Buscador then gobbles up the front runners under a hand ride.

Not only does Senor Buscador hit the front after all the effort to make up all the lost ground early on, he opens up and creates even more separation for a visually impressive 5 3/4-length win. He closes and does not stop, while some closers stretching out might hit a wall. 

It is not hard to imagine owner Joe Peacock Jr. receiving big offers for this Mineshaft colt after the win. With that said, this is the kind of horse smaller connections dream of. He is capable of taking Fincher and Peacock Jr. to the national level.

Expect Senor Buscador to become a major player on the Derby trail.