Diana day 2021, Saratoga: An excellent card headed by the prestigious Grade 1 on turf and supported by the first Graded stakes at the Spa this season for juveniles. Yet the best horse on show last Saturday may have been running in an allowance race. Indeed, the best TWO may have been in that event.
It took a photo to separate Beau Liam and Witsel, while their eight rivals were left gasping between six and 32 lengths behind. Interestingly, these two colts may have seen each other before, as they were both led out unsold at the Keeneland September Yearling Sales in 2018.
They failed to reach their reserves in Lexington, where one attracted bids up to $385,00 and the other up to $72,000. No prizes for guessing which is which as you read on.
It is possible they were both preparing for the G1 H Allen Jerkens Memorial on Travers day next month. Then again, trainer Steve Asmussen, who has a strong contender for the Jerkens in Jackie's Warrior, has mentioned going up to a mile with Beau Liam. Will Beau Liam and Witsel be good enough to take such a step up in class? Probably.
Which one will come out on top if they do clash again? Not so easy to say. Beau Liam was a game winner, Witsel a stubborn loser, and impressive in defeat.
Make no mistake, this was a stakes race in all but name. The winning time, 1:22.90, may not look exceptional if we compare it to Ducale’s 1:23.16 when breaking his maiden with ease in the last race on the day, nor compared to allowance winner Baby Yoda’s 1.10.28 over six panels in the second race, but they ran over a fast track and Beau Liam’s race was run on a muddy/sealed track after persistent rain during the middle part of the program.
With track conditions changing twice as racing progressed, using times as a tool became a waste of time.
Different routes
You may know the famous words written by sports columnist Red Smith about Saratoga: “From New York City you drive north for about 175 miles, turn left on Union Avenue and go back 100 years.”
Smith died in 1982 and his words still count. Participants come from all corners of the racing world, indeed the world, to be at the Spa.
These two colts took quite different routes to get there. While the winner came up a priority lane we have seen several high-class runners use in the past, the runner-up made it there virtually unnoticed. Witsel was a ‘cheap RNA’ at the sales as a yearling and his debut was definitely off-Broadway. More on that further down. Let’s take a closer look at the winner first. He was the one someone tried to buy for $385,000.
Beau Liam, a Liam’s Map son bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings and sporting the Stonestreet silks, made a winning debut over 6 furlongs at Churchill Downs in late May. Romping by 7½ lengths over a fast track, while not even favourite for the 9-runner affair, the scopey Asmussen trainee stopped the clocks in 1:08.62.
The Aristides Stakes on the same day was won by Bango, who prevailed by half a length and completed the distance in 1:09.65. Bango is not a top-class sprinter, but he is a solid Graded stakes performer, and Beau Liam went into many a notebook after his debut – as a future stakes horse, which he was bred to be.
He is out of the Dehere mare Belle Of Perintown, who won the listed Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill Downs as a juvenile and the G2 Silverbulletday at Fair Grounds at 3. She is also the dam of Strike It Rich (Unbridled's Song), a G3 winner on turf who became the dam of Sea Foam, a Medaglia D’Oro son who has a been one of the more successful New York-breds in recent years, with wins in the Albany Stakes, New York Derby and Notebook Stakes. Furthermore, Tomlin, a daughter of Belle Of Perintown by Distorted Humor, won three times and managed third in the G2 Santa Ynez Stakes and G3 Miss Preakness Stakes.
Led out unsold
Witsel, bred by Elm Tree Farm, came back home after a trip to the Keeneland Sales, where he failed to reach his reserve and was led out after a $72,000 bid. He was put into training with Carlos Munoz and – unlike Beau Liam – he managed to get a run in as a 2-year-old. It came late in the season though, as Witsel turned up for a maiden event over 6 furlongs at Tampa Bay Downs last December. He went off at 5/1 that day, close to what Beau Liam paid when he won at Churchill Downs. Sometimes, these young horses who win impressively when not favorite are the ones to follow as they were probably not quite ready and won easily on pure talent.
Witsel met nothing of any consequence at Tampa but, when a horse wins a sprint by over 13 lengths (see video below), we should always take note. One camp certainly did. Witsel was snapped up by two of Chad Brown’s main clients, Peter Brant and Robert LaPenta.
The colt left Munoz, a trainer who saddled six winners from 143 starters in 2020 and has six winners from 76 starters to date this year (up to July 19). Munoz’s team has stepped up a good notch the past two seasons, but his operation is still local and a far cry from Chad Brown’s, where top-level winners at every leading track in the land is the norm.
Witsel went from being a star on a small stage to being a new kid on a shed row where champions cool off every day. His dam, the Grand Slam daughter Bailzee, won her first two races (over 5½ and 6 furlongs at Aqueduct at 3) but, although she managed second in a restricted stakes, she failed to win again. But she hit the board in 11 of her 22 races. Before Witsel, Bailzee produced two ordinary sprint winners.
Until this year’s Saratoga meeting, not many of us had even heard of this son of Nyquist. That’s likely to change. Witsel headed Beau Liam for a few strides as they locked horns coming down the stretch but the even-money favorite fought back to beat him by a nose.
Both colts looked really well, and very fit, in the preliminaries, and let’s not overlook the fact that Witsel was coming off a 7-month-plus layoff. This was an excellent run in defeat. The pair passed the winning post six lengths clear of Mahaamel, a Todd Pletcher-trained Shadwell colt who had raced twice previously - as runner-up to Shug McGaughey’s smart First Captain and as an easy maiden winner from Askin For A Baskin (both over 7 furlongs at Belmont).
Mahaamel had more experience than Beau Liam and Witsel, but he had no chance whatsoever when they turned up the heat. Neither had Wudda U Think Now, a more seasoned 4-year-old, who finished fourth, having been runner-up in the Affirmed Success and in allowance company on his two preceding outings (behind Following Sea).
His presence did not give us a strong, convincing formline indicating how these two 3-year-olds might stack up against older horses, but the impression is that they will be able to beat much better in due course.