Horses to Watch: Lady Speightspeare, 4-for-4, poised for big 2022
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 soon.
New to the Watch List
Digging deeper into a result from last weekend, Lady Speightspeare is well worth following after she rolled to a convincing triumph in Saturday’s Grade 2 Bessarabian at Woodbine.
Lady Speightspeare’s victory was noteworthy on multiple levels. For starters, the 3-year-old daughter of Speightstown was tons the best. After tracking fractions of 23.47 and 45.65 seconds, Lady Speightspeare took command and sprinted the final furlong in a quick 12.01 seconds to win the seven-furlong sprint by four lengths in 1:21.03.
But there were other impressive factors, too. Winning the Bessarabian brought Lady Speightspeare’s record to a perfect 4-for-4, including a victory in the Natalma (G1) last season. It also proved Lady Speightspeare can hold her own against graded stakes-caliber older rivals. Lastly, it demonstrated Lady Speightspeare is a multi-surface threat capable of winning on both turf and synthetic.
In short, Lady Speightspeare appears poised for further success in 2022, and I am excited to see what she can accomplish.
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Amadevil
As far as stakes races go, I am not sure there is a more likely winner anywhere in North America this week than Amadevil in Saturday’s sixth race at Mahoning Valley, the $75,000 First Lady Stakes (post time 2:34 p.m. EST).
The six-furlong sprint appears ripe for conquest by Amadevil, a 3-year-old daughter of Dominus conditioned by hot trainer David Wolochuk (a 32-percent winner this year). The bay filly is unbeaten in five starts against fellow Ohio-breds at Thistledown, and all her victories have been achieved by a minimum of 5 1/2 lengths.
Speed is Amadevil’s greatest weapon, and she has led from start to finish in four of her five starts. This includes back-to-back stakes wins against older rivals, highlighted by a 6 3/4-length romp in the Michael G. Mackey Memorial Angenora Stakes. On that occasion, Amadevil had little difficulty dueling the Grade 1-placed Esplanande into submission, and Esplanande just happens to be the morning line second choice in the First Lady.
If Amadevil produces her typical effort while racing at Mahoning for the first time, she can cruise to another unchallenged victory and bring her career tally to a perfect 6-for-6. I am excited to see how she performs Saturday.
Off the Watch List
Big Runnuer
I was looking forward to betting Big Runnuer after the talented Eddie D (G2) winner ran 10th with a troubled trip in the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. But he has only posted three timed workouts since then (the most recent coming May 29), so with his status unclear, I will reluctantly drop him from my watch list.
Danceteria
I am not sure Danceteria appreciated racing over yielding turf in the Fair Grounds (G3) on Feb. 13, a race in which he failed to produce a rally and finished eighth. But the 6-year-old gelding has not posted a timed workout since then, so as with Big Runnuer, I am going to drop him from my watch list.