By My Standards producing 'very rewarding' 2020 campaign

There were no guarantees that By My Standards, winner of the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby in 2019, would carry his 3-year-old form into 2020 after a nine-month layoff.

But the Goldencents colt has come back strong as ever and put forth what owner Chester Thomas called “a very rewarding year.”

The latest success for By My Standards came Friday, when the Bret Calhoun trainee bested a field of six in Churchill Downs’ Alysheba Stakes (G2). It was the 4-year-old’s third Grade 2 win of the season, all of them coming under jockey Gabriel Saez.

“We couldn’t be happier,” said Thomas, who campaigns By My Standards under the Allied Racing Stable banner.

“I just sit back and support (Calhoun). Bret’s had the plan and it’s coming together.”

By My Standards upset last year’s Louisiana Derby at 23-1 odds to clinch a Kentucky Derby starting spot, then finished 11th in the Run for the Roses.

The Kentucky Derby was By My Standards’ last start of 2019 season. The colt was dealing with a foot problem, and connections chose to turn him out and let him regroup for a 2020 campaign.

That proved the right decision, with By My Standards winning four of six starts this season. Those victories include Grade 2 scores in Fair Grounds’ New Orleans Classic, Oaklawn Park’s Oaklawn Handicap and now the Alysheba.

“Patience,” Thomas said of keys to By My Standards’ strong return. “Having a great trainer, having good advisers, good vets and all that. This horse came out of the Derby pretty banged up. We gave him plenty of time. We picked our spots. We didn’t rush him.

“You’ve got to give Bret Calhoun a lot of credit. You’ve got to give Gabe Saez a lot of credit, the whole team.”

In the 1 1/16-mile Alysheba, By My Standards sat just off pace setter Mr. Freeze, who set crawling fractions of :25.71 and :49.93. He moved ahead of that one coming out of the second turn, with Owendale in good position to his outside.

By My Standards dug in gamely down the stretch. He pulled clear of Owendale coming to the 16th pole and scored by 1 3/4 lengths at 3-2 odds.

“Each time I asked him to give me that acceleration, he did,” Saez said. “I was really confident in him today. I was expecting him to run a huge race today, and here we are.”

By My Standards earned a 102 Beyer Speed Figure for his Alysheba effort, the best Beyer for any stakes winner on Friday’s Kentucky Oaks card. The figure matches the 102 that By My Standards posted in the Oaklawn Handicap and in his Stephen Foster Stakes (G2) runner-up finish in June at Churchill and is one off the 103 he ran when second last month at Saratoga in the Whitney (G1).

By My Standards was No. 5 last week in the Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings, posted three days prior to his Alysheba win. He would likely also be a short price for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, but connections said the Classic is option No. 1.

“I’m certain we’ll be going in the Classic,” Thomas said of the $7 million showcase Nov. 7 at Keeneland. “If the horse comes back well, keeps doing the way he’s doing, we’ll be going for the Classic.”