The Five Fastest Maidens For the Week of April 14-20

Keeneland and Gulfstream Park showcased several impressive maiden winners this week, with five standouts posting notable Beyer Speed Figures that signal potential future stakes contenders.

Nevada Beach topped the rankings with a 90 Beyer in his one-mile debut at Santa Anita Park on April 19. The Omaha Beach colt, owned by the partnership of Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, rallied impressively under jockey Juan Hernandez to become trainer Bob Baffert’s 30th maiden graduate from his current 3-year-old crop.

Strategic Focus matched that 90 Beyer figure at Aqueduct on April 19, overcoming a challenging trip to win at one mile. The Gun Runner colt, racing for Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables, rallied from next-to-last while traveling widest around the turn under Dylan Davis. Bred by Alter’s Racing Stables, Strategic Focus sold for $500,000 at Keeneland after his breeder Happy Alter had purchased the colt’s fourth dam for just $500 at OBS in 1994.

Clicquot secured the third position with an 86 Beyer in her dominant frontrunning victory at about seven furlongs at Keeneland on April 17. The Quality Road filly, trained by Brendan Walsh for X-Men Racing IV, Madaket Stables and SF Racing, rebounded from a troubled debut to win by six lengths under Irad Ortiz, Jr. The Don Alberto-bred filly showed notable talent despite appearing to dislike left-handed encouragement.

Vibe, the $3 million Keeneland September sale-topper from 2023, earned an 85 Beyer while breaking his maiden at Gulfstream Park on April 19. The Into Mischief colt, trained by Todd Pletcher for a partnership including Repole Stable and West Point Thoroughbreds, benefited from added distance and the addition of blinkers in his second career start.

Rounding out the top five was Sweet Scorecard, who posted an 84 Beyer in a stunning turnaround performance at Indiana Grand on April 16. The Vekoma filly, owned by 514 Racing LLC, improved her previous career-best Beyer by 40 points while winning by 15 1/2 lengths. Despite being hammered down from 8-1 morning line odds to 1-2 favoritism, the Tim Eggleston trainee went unclaimed for her $12,500 tag.

Each of these impressive maiden winners demonstrated the potential to advance to higher-level competition in the coming months, with several showing the kind of talent that could translate to stakes success.