By Randy Moss
Last week's maiden races produced yet another budding Juddmonte star plus a potential Royal Ascot candidate.
5–MOVIE NIGHT, CD 2, 5-16, 6f
Beyer Speed Figure- 84 (video)
(f, 3, Speightstown–Savvy Star, by Medaglia d'Oro)
O/B-WinStar Farm (Ky); T-Will Walden; J-Luan Machado.
As she charged to the quarter pole with an eye-catching rally, her second start looked eerily similar to her runner-up debut at Keeneland–sloppy track and all. But she caught a much softer field last week and stormed away by eight lengths at 3-5 odds with a Beyer one point higher, earning 'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard honors. By the late Speightstown, she's a half-sister to WinStar's Stellify (Justify), who took last September's $2-million Ladies Marathon at Kentucky Downs, and is out of a half-sister to WinStar's 2014 GI Haskell winner and GI Kentucky Derby runner-up Bluegrass Cat as well as two other Grade II winners.
4–EZ TINA, WO 3, 5-17, 5f (AWT)
Beyer Speed Figure- 85 (video)
(f, 2, Golden Pal–Risk Model, by Into Mischief)
O-Breeze Easy & Resolution Road Stables; B-I-Hope Farms (Ky); T-Wesley Ward; J-Pietro Moran.
The $600,000 yearling is already the third winner for first-crop stallion Golden Pal (by Uncle Mo) and may have punched her ticket to Royal Ascot with this precocious score. Ward had another sharp first-out winner in Munnings 2-year-old filly Ruiva (on our Five Fastest Maidens list two weeks earlier), and both will get turf workouts at Keeneland to determine whether they are suited to make the trans-Atlantic trip.
3–LASKAY, WO 1, 5-17, 6 1/2f (AWT)
Beyer Speed Figure- 85 (video)
(g, 4, Yorkton–Western Taffy, by Candy Ride {Arg})
O/B-Chiefswood Stables Ltd (ON); T-Katerina Vassilieva; J-Rafael Hernandez.
Two races before Ez Tina (above) at Woodbine on Sunday, Laskay romped by 8 3/4 lengths in an entirely different debut situation. For starters, Laskay is a 4-year-old gelding who had a setback in March of last year but came into this with an uninterrupted slate of 16 breezes since Jan. 1. Also, he was one of two in the six-horse field entered for a $40,000 claiming tag–with no takers. Laskay is a three-generation product of Mark Krembil's Chiefswood Stables; his father Robert bought third dam Rose of Tara (Ire) (a half-sister to English classic winner Salsabil) for $1.95 million in 2002.
2–HIGHGROVE, BAQ 2, 5-14, 6 1/2f
Beyer Speed Figure- 88 (video)
(f, 3, Frosted–Bell Court, by Street Sense)
O-Madaket Stables & Mill Ridge Farm; B-Circle N Thoroughbred & Mill Ridge Farm et al (KY); T-Brad Cox; J-Manny Franco.
She was hustled to the front by Franco then spurted away nicely through the lane to solidly defeat fellow firster Long Term Market, the Klaravich/Chad Brown favorite. Co-bred and co-owned by Mill Ridge Farm in partnership with Sol Kumin, Highgrove RNAed for $90,000 as a Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling and earned half that in one start.
1–DEEP FLAME, CD 7, 5-17, 6f
Beyer Speed Figure- 95 (video)
(c, 3, Into Mischief–Barbadia, by Speightstown)
O/B-Juddmonte (Ky); T-Brad Cox; J-Irad Ortiz Jr.
After two strong showings in defeat (including a 92-Beyer 2nd last month at Keeneland), Deep Flame streaked to an even higher Beyer performance in this seven-length victory. His Juddmonte pedigree is predictably solid: the names that pop up in a 2-dam examination include Country Grammer, Obligatory, Etoile Montante and Bonny South. And Juddmonte narrowly missed making this week's list twice–their colt Silver Talent (by Constitution out of dual Grade I winner Paulassilverlining) won Thursday with an 83 Beyer.
There was no quelling DEEP FLAME 🔥 ($2.80) in the 7th at @ChurchillDowns. The @JuddmonteFarms colt easily put away a nice field under @iradortiz. @bradcoxracing trains the three-year-old by @spendthriftfarm's Into Mischief. pic.twitter.com/m2GkhLtwGP
— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) May 17, 2026
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