Prospect Watch: Don’t miss these 6 well-bred maidens
Another busy week of juvenile racing awaits at racetracks across the U.S.
From Belmont to Keeneland to Santa Anita, plenty of well-bred prospects are entered to race in a bevy of competitive maiden special weights. Let’s check out half a dozen of the most exciting names in the entries, including a couple of half-siblings to Breeders’ Cup winners.
Friday
Belmont Park Race 4: Maiden special weight (6 1/2 furlongs, 2:20 p.m. EDT)
No. 9 Celestial
Pedigree: Quality Road—Come a Callin, by Dixie Union
Purchase price: N/A
Trainer: Bill Mott
It is safe to say that Come a Callin is off to a fantastic start as a broodmare. Her first three starters all have won stakes, including 2017 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winners and champion 2-year-old filly Caledonia Road.
Can Celestial boost Come a Callin’s resume to four stakes winners from four starters? Only time will tell, but the beautifully bred daughter of Quality Road has put together a lengthy work tab for trainer Bill Mott (a 14 percent winner with first-time starters this year) and looks like one to watch in the long term.
Keeneland Race 6: Maiden special weight (six furlongs, 3:55 p.m. EDT)
No. 6 Social Matrix
Pedigree: Jimmy Creed—Rose and Shine, by Mr. Sekiguchi
Purchase price: $500,000
Trainer: Brad Cox
If you are wondering why Social Matrix sold for half a million dollars as a yearling, just check out her pedigree. The daughter of Grade 1-winning sprinter Jimmy Creed is a half-sister to British Idiom, the 2019 champion 2-year-old filly and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner.
Conditioned by high-percentage trainer Brad Cox, Social Matrix has turned in a couple of bullet workouts at Turfway Park and has the pedigree to be a factor on debut, though it is worth noting that Cox trainees often improve off their initial run.
Santa Anita Race 8: Maiden special weight (six furlongs, 7:29 p.m. EDT)
No. 8 Aqua Julia
Pedigree: Exaggerator—Sluice, by Seeking the Gold
Purchase price: $160,000
Trainer: Richard Baltas
A daughter of Preakness winner Exaggerator, Aqua Julia was produced by the stakes-winning mare Sluice, who already has achieved renown as the dam of 2009 Spinster (G1) winner and Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic runner-up Mushka.
Mushka was incredibly versatile, winning graded stakes on dirt, turf and synthetic, so there is no telling what surface will ultimately suit Aqua Julia best. In any case, she is put together a flashy work tab at the San Luis Rey Training Center (including a bullet half mile in :47 1/5) and looks like a potential star in the making.
No. 9 Brocade
Pedigree: Into Mischief—Storm Crossing, by Tiznow
Purchase price: $750,000
Trainer: Bob Baffert
A daughter of two-time leading sire Into Mischief (who sires 15 percent winners from first-time starters), Brocade has put together a solid series of workouts at Los Alamitos, Del Mar and Santa Anita, including a half mile from the starting gate in :47 4/5 on Sept. 24. The $750,000 yearling acquisition looks like a promising prospect for trainer Bob Baffert, who has gone 5-for-13 (38 percent) to start the Santa Anita meet.
Saturday
Belmont Park Race 4: Maiden special weight (six furlongs, 2:11 p.m.)
No. 4 Chanceux
Pedigree: Speightstown—Rosalind, by Broken Vow
Purchase price: N/A
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
From top to bottom, Chanceux has the pedigree to be a classy colt. Sire Speightstown counted the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Sprint among his four graded stakes wins, while dam Rosalind was a durable filly who won the Ashland (G1) and placed in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
Chanceux doesn’t have the flashiest work tab under his belt, but he did clock five furlongs in 1:00 3/5 at Belmont on Sept. 3, and three-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. is named to ride. Regardless of how Chanceux performs on Saturday, his pedigree holds promise for the future.
Keeneland Race 5: Maiden special weight (six furlongs, 3:08 p.m.)
No. 4 Classic Moment
Pedigree: Classic Empire—Victory Party, by Yankee Victor
Purchase price: $350,000
Trainer: Steve Asmussen
2016 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Classic Empire is off to a hot start at stud, siring 28 percent winners from first-time starters, so Classic Moment definitely warrants respect on debut. The Steve Asmussen trainee has not been on fire in the mornings, with his most noteworthy workout being five furlongs in 1:00 3/5 at Indiana Grand. But Asmussen has compiled a stellar 28-for-83 (30 percent) record debuting 2-year-old males in dirt sprints at Churchill since 2016, a powerful stat that suggests Classic Moment bears watching.