Star-Studded Maidens Find Winner's Circle

This column highlights the performances of maidens who have made no more than five starts and who either sold for more than $500,000 at public auction, have siblings that are grade/group winners, or have dams that are grade/group winners. BloodHorse research shows maiden winners in particular who meet these criteria are more likely to go on to be graded stakes winners.

Belmont Park

Allen Stable's Radio Days  made a successful debut Oct. 31 for trainer Shug McGaughey on a sloppy, sealed track at Belmont Park. The Gun Runner   filly, a $750,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase by agent Robbie Medina out of the Hinkle Farms consignment, won the six-furlong test for 2-year-old fillies by 1 1/2 lengths.

Jockey Dylan Davis guided Radio Days from last of seven into fourth as a half-mile went in :46.61. The filly rallied through the stretch to take the lead a furlong from the finish and edged clear to complete the distance in 1:11.64.

Radio Days had been training consistently on the Belmont main track, most recently getting four furlongs in :48.05 from the gate to be the third fastest at the distance Oct. 23. Prior to that, an Oct. 9 breeze from the gate was timed in :47 1/5, the second-fastest half-mile of that day.

Bred by Hinkle Farms, Radio Days is out of the unraced Sky Mesa   mare Remembered, who is also the dam of grade 1 winner Bowies Hero . Hinkle Farms purchased the mare for $550,000 from Pope McLean's consignment to the 2018 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale in foal to Gun Runner.

Keeneland

The last week of the fall meet at Keeneland gave rise to several maiden winners with star-studded pedigrees. The first and most prestigious of the bunch was Clarkland Farm's Marr Time , another winner out of the blue hen mare Leslie's Lady , who produced grade 1 winner and top sire Into Mischief  , four-time champion Beholder , and grade 1 winner and young sire Mendelssohn  .

The 2-year-old Not This Time   filly, ridden by Florent Geroux for trainer Brad Cox, raced up to the lead early in her Oct. 28 debut and posted fractions of :22.84, :46.74, and :58.93 through five furlongs before wrapping up six furlongs in 1:11.96 on a fast track. She won by 2 3/4 lengths.

Fred Mitchell of Clarkland Farm explained the reason for the filly's name was that "my wife's father was John Wesley Marr. When the time changed, he would never change his clocks, and we always stayed on Central time. So about this time of the year, we'd always be two hours behind. So with her being by Not This Time, we chose Marr Time. It'll be a nice memory for the kids and the grandkids to have, and she can come back and join the broodmare band."

Later the same day at the Lexington oval, Wertheimer et Frere homebred Zatip  won his second start, taking a 7 1/2-furlong maiden test for 2-year-olds for trainer Graham Motion.

The Tapit   colt, who finished fifth in his Oct. 1 debut on the turf at Laurel Park, was ridden to victory on a wet, fast track by James Graham. Through the early going Zatip vied with Coffee With Alex  and while he had his head in front as a quarter-mile in :22.98, he was 1 1/2 lengths behind the leader as a half-mile went in :46.08.

However, in the stretch Zatip had forged a one-length lead and pulled clear to win by 4 1/2 lengths in a final time of 1:28.44.

Zatip is out of the grade 1-winning Gone West mare Zaftig , who has also produced stakes winner and grade 2-placed Spinoff  as well as stakes-placed Rugbyman .

The following day yielded another winner for Cox with first-time starter Naval Aviator . The 2-year-old Tapit colt, owned by Marc Detampel, is out of the grade 3-winning Cherokee Run mare Cherokee Queen .

Ridden by Geroux, Naval Aviator broke a bit slow and was last of seven at the start of the 1 1/8-mile maiden test. The colt eventually moved up to fourth as six furlongs went in 1:15.17, found a path between horses entering the stretch, and made a long drive to win by a half-length in 1:53.86 on a fast track. The race was originally scheduled for the turf.

Naval Aviator was bred by Doug Branham, Felicia Branham, and the Tapit Syndicate.

Oct. 30 produced yet another maiden winner for Cox and Geroux, and one with large shoes to fill. Famed , an Uncle Mo   half sister to multiple grade 1 winner Essential Quality  , outran a field of 10 other juvenile fillies by 7 3/4 lengths.

In her first start, Godolphin homebred Famed finished one length behind winner Sweet Dani Girl  in a Sept. 26 maiden test going six furlongs at Churchill Downs. Sweet Dani Girl complimented that runner-up finish when she returned to win the Oct. 29 Myrtlewood Stakes at Keeneland in her second effort.

Famed is out of the Elusive Quality mare Delightful Quality.