Horses to Watch: 2 new names, 2 winners, 1 entered
In this biweekly series, racing analyst Keeler Johnson shares promising horses from his handicapping watch list, reviewing runners who have recently caught his eye and previewing horses scheduled to run back in the near future.
New to the Watch List
Conagher showed promise in three starts on dirt as an early-maturing juvenile last year, cracking the trifecta in a trio of maiden special weights. Since returning to dirt in April, the 3-year-old son of Jimmy Creed has developed into a monster.
Conagher was tons the best in a six-furlong Keeneland allowance, pressing the pace before seizing command to win by 6 3/4 lengths in 1:09.95. He was every bit as impressive in a seven-furlong allowance optional claimer at Churchill Downs last Friday, carving out splits of 22.31, 44.72 and 1:08.25 seconds on his way to a 5 1/2-length victory in 1:20.62.
The latter victory produced lofty speed figures of 104 (Beyer) and 106 (Brisnet), stamping Conagher as a graded stakes-caliber sprinter in the making. I’m excited to see where this Michael Tomlinson trainee heads next.
Last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf third-place finisher shrugged off a long layoff to dominate the Penn Oaks in her 2022 debut.
Racing one mile over a soft and extremely slow turf course at Penn National, Haughty settled in fourth place early on before charging home under a hand ride to win by 4 3/4 lengths. The pedestrian final time of 1:44.43 seconds was a testament to the challenging conditions, but Haughty clearly handled the soft ground with aplomb.
With this excellent comeback run under her belt, Haughty surely looms as a major player for the Belmont Oaks (G1). Trainer Chad Brown has won the rich prize three times under its current format and a fourth win may come courtesy of Haughty.
Recent Watch List winners
Terrific Ohio-bred 4-year-old brought her career record to a near-perfect 7-for-8 with a blowout victory in the Best of Ohio Diana at Belterra Park. Breaking from the outside post, Amadevil pressed quick fractions of 22.03 and 45.34 seconds before kicking away from her rivals to dominate by 5 3/4 lengths as the 1-5 favorite.
Amadevil stopped the clock for six furlongs in 1:10.94 seconds to pick up the third stakes win of her career. It’s unlikely to be her last, given the speed, talent and consistency Amadevil has displayed over the last year.
Midnight Memories had every excuse to lose a 6 1/2-furlong allowance optional claimer on Sunday at Santa Anita. As noted in the Equibase result chart, the 3-year-old daughter of Mastery “stumbled badly leaving the gate” and “got crowded between rival(s)” to wind up racing in last place through a modest opening quarter-mile in 23.01 seconds.
But Midnight Memories accelerated strongly in the second quarter-mile, gaining a couple of lengths while racing wide, and she fought on gamely down the homestretch to close the rest of the gap and beat pacesetting Smitten by Kitten by a neck in 1:16.56 seconds. Midnight Memories is now undefeated in two starts and looks bound for stakes company in the near future.
Upcoming entry
Zelenskyy Strong was tons the best in his debut sprinting 4 1/2 furlongs against maiden special weight company at Gulfstream Park last month. The son of five-time juvenile stakes winner Uncaptured carved out fractions of 23.07 and 46.15 seconds on his way to victory by 10 3/4 lengths in 52.27 seconds.
Zelenskyy Strong will seek to keep his momentum going in Thursday’s eighth race at Belmont Park, the Tremont (post time 6:45 p.m. EDT). All eight entrants are debut winners undefeated in one start, so there isn’t a lot of form to analyze. But Zelenskyy Strong’s blowout margin of victory hints he has as strong a chance to win as any other.
Here is my complete, updated list of Horses to Watch.