Speed Boat Beach Conquers Two Turns in Cecil B. DeMille

The saga of Speed Boat Beach  motored on Dec. 4, when the brilliantly fast colt showed a dimension of a different kind in capturing the $100,000 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes (G3T) at Del Mar.

After the race, trainer Bob Baffert compared Speed Boat Beach to his sire, Bayern , whom Baffert trained to two grade 1 wins and earnings of more than $4.4 million.

"I think he might be like his sire, the older he gets, the further he'll go," Baffert told TVG. "Bayern didn't want to go long till late in his 3-year-old career. But it's good to know he can go two turns and he can go further. So now we have (more) options (on the) turf or dirt."

Bayern indeed did carry his speed later in his 3-year-old campaign, capping 2014 with a thrilling victory in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) over a star-studded field. Unlike his versatile 2-year-old son, however, Bayern raced exclusively on dirt in his 15 trips to the post.

Speed Boat Beach landed on everyone's radar during the fall Del Mar meet after winning for owners Michael Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman in a scintillating debut. The $200,000 Ocala Breeders' Sales Company March Sale of Two-Year-Olds-in-Training purchase scorched 5 1/2 furlongs on the dirt in track-record time of 1:01.86 over the highly regarded Hejazi .

Again strutting his speed, Speed Boat Beach sizzled five furlongs on the grass in :55.25 (only two ticks off the track record) in the Speakeasy Stakes at Santa Anita Park in a precursor to a run in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1T).

In a race where the Europeans ran 1-2, Speed Boat Beach could never find his stride over the Keeneland turf on Future Stars Friday and finished a dull ninth.

Instead of putting the colt back on the dirt, Baffert opted to give him one more try over the lawn in the Cecil B. DeMille. Breaking from the 7 post, Flavien Prat steered Speed Boat Beach inward and the colt quickly engaged Game Time  for early dominance. The pair zipped through fractions of :22.82, :47.30, and 1:12.08. Stride for stride at the head of the lane, Game Time and Umberto Rispoli put up a fight to the end, with Speed Boat Beach pulling clear of his stubborn rival by a half-length under the wire.

Favored Speed Boat Beach ($5.40) raced the mile in 1:35.38 on a firm course.

First Peace , the second choice following an impressive maiden win Oct. 29 at Santa Anita, finished 1 3/4 lengths behind the top two.

"It looked like the other horse was going to come back and get him, but he dug in and came back," Baffert said. "It's very nice to see something like that. He's just that kind of horse. We always thought he was that kind of horse. The Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint was just a toss, we'll just forget about that."

Bred in Florida by Caperlane Farm, Speed Boat Beach is the first foal out of the Pioneerof the Nile  mare Sophia Mia.

Baffert, earning his first Cecil B. DeMille win, isn't opposed to taking Speed Boat Beach back to the dirt if lucrative out-of-town purses beckon next spring.

"He's all racehorse," Baffert said. "Dirt, turf, the good ones just take their track with them. I think we'll have a lot of fun with him."

Video: Cecil B. DeMille S. (G3T)