Bayerd Returns to Winner's Circle in Bonapaw

Clark O. Brewster’s Steve Asmussen-trained Bayerd had finished second in six of his 13 career starts and in three of his previous four attempts but returned to the winner’s circle with style on Saturday at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, taking the 5½-furlong off-the-turf $60,000 Bonapaw Stakes by a length under Florent Geroux, paying $6.20, $3.60 and $2.60 as the 2-1 post-time favorite. A stakes winner at two, the newly turned 4-year-old was winless in 2015, despite five runner-up finishes and a third, with all but one of those efforts in stakes events.

 

A son of Speightstown, the bay colt sat a comfortable mid-pack fifth in the eight-horse field as four horses vied for early control, led by Maggi Moss’ Tom Amoss-trained Tanner’s Popsicle, through fractions of 22.27 and 45.63. Ranging up four-wide, Bayerd hit the front in mid-stretch and asserted his class under Geroux to hold off Poindexter Thoroughbreds and Carrie Brogden’s Kelly Ackerman-trained Attain ($5.80 and $4) in a time of 1:04.52. It was a head back to Robert Persons and Earl Conrad Sanderson’s Joe Sharp-trained morning-line favorite Officer Griffin ($2.60), who placed in his third consecutive stakes race.

 

Winning for the fourth time in a career that has seen him fail to hit the board twice in 14 tries, graded stakes-placed Bayerd earned $36,600 increase his career earnings to $486,900.

 

“There was speed inside me and I just tucked in to give my horse a breather,” Geroux said. “When it was time to go, he ran his race. I felt good because my horse was running and he’s an honest horse. That’s always a good feeling when you come down the lane and have plenty in the tank.”

 

“I’m very happy about it,” Asmussen said. “He’s a nice horse and has kept good company. It has been too long since he won a race and this is a great way to start off the year. Obviously we hope he moves forward off this.

 

“I thought this would be a good opportunity to see if turf (if the race had stayed on the grass) was an option for him,” Asmussen continued. “I do think that the longer stretch was something we were happy about with his style.”