Speed Boat Beach winning the Speakeasy. (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
Track Record Holder Leads Turf Juveniles In G3
Mac McBride/DMTC News
DEL MAR, Calif.—It’s not every day a horse breaks a track record in a maiden race, let alone his career debut. Even Flightline didn’t do that. But Speed Boat Beach did it at Del Mar this summer and he’s back to take on eight other juvenile rivals in the G3 Cecil B. DeMille turf mile Sunday.
What makes the story of this 2-year-old son of Bayern more interesting is that trainer Bob Baffert came back in his next race, after he set a new track record of 1:01.86 for five and a half furlongs on the dirt, and switched surfaces, putting Speed Boat Beach on the grass. And he won, taking the $100,000 Speakeasy turf sprint at Santa Anita.
After a disappointing run in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf last out, Speed Boat Beach stays on the turf for the Cecil B. DeMille but this time he’s stretching out around two turns.
“He was in a speed duel there,” Baffert says about his colt’s Breeders’ Cup race. “They weren’t going real fast and he just stopped. But he came out of it well.”
Speed Boat Beach finished ninth leaving open the debate of which surface he likes best.
“He runs well on both, maybe dirt,” Baffert says. “I just thought this race was coming up and we can find out how he handles two turns. He’ll probably end up on the dirt, but this was all there was.”
The Cecil B. DeMille is full of horses coming off of maiden victories. Kolomio, Ransomware, First Peace, and Game Time are facing winners for the first time, but they have one advantage over Speed Boat Beach. All four won going a mile on the turf.
Lloyd’s Logic comes in from the Pacific Northwest where he broke his maiden by 5 ¼ lengths and then won a $70,000 stakes race by 7 ¼ lengths at Emerald Downs in Washington. Now in the Jerry Hollendorfer barn, the son of The Factor is trying turf for the first time.
Ah Jeez has run four times at Del Mar, winning twice. He broke his maiden here in August and came back to take an entry level allowance race three weeks ago. He ran third to Speed Boat Beach in the Speakeasy.
The G3 Cecil B. DeMille is named after the film producer and director who is considered the founding father of American Cinema. It’s the fifth of nine races on the closing day card.
| THE CECIL B. DEMILLE FIELD |
| 1 Kolomio Joe Bravo Vladimir Cerin 20-1 |
| 2 Ransomware Ramon Vazquez Phil D’Amato 6-1 |
| 3 First Peace Mike Smith Mark Glatt 5-1 |
| 4 Ah Jeez Juan Hernandez Leandro Mora 3-1 |
| 5 Game Time Umberto Rispoli John Sadler 6-1 |
| 6 Ze’bul Abel Cedillo Ryan Hanson 5-1 |
| 7 Speed Boat Beach Flavien Prat Bob Baffert 5/2 |
| 8 Fleet Feet Drayden Van Dyke George Papaprodromou 12-1 |
| 9 Lloyd’s Logic Edwin Maldonado Jerry Hollendorfer 20-1 |
