$1M City of Light Colt Leaves Serious Impression

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 graded/group winners, or have dams that are graded/group winners. BloodHorse research shows maiden winners, in particular, who meet these criteria are more likely to go on to be graded stakes winners.

Gulfstream Park

A pair of newly minted 3-year-olds put their talents on display under the Florida sunshine Jan. 13 at Gulfstream Park. The card fielded two super-charged maiden special weight fields, one sprinting six furlongs and the other traveling a mile. Both winners from those events are not only high-priced graduates of the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and trained by Hall of Famers, but showcased themselves as horses to watch in the looming spring season.

The more impressive performance belonged to the Courtlandt Farms-owned Conquest Warrior , a colt who may surface on many early Derby lists after his hair-raising maiden victory. One look at Conquest Warrior and one need not wonder why the strapping specimen commanded $1 million in the auction ring. A towering individual with the refined features of his sire, City of Light  , Conquest Warrior was given all the time he needed to develop under the watchful eye of Shug McGaughey. And even after his sterling maiden win, McGaughey indicated that the colt would point for an allowance race next instead of jumping into pre-Derby stakes company.

When everything goes wrong and you still win!

What a performance from $1m colt Conquest Warrior at @GulfstreamPark! @jose93_ortiz @Claudemcgaughey pic.twitter.com/SF6I6EMD3N

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) January 13, 2024

"We'll let him learn some more and hopefully he'll break better next time," McGaughey said. "We've had high hopes for this horse. Mr. Adam (Donald Adam of Courtlandt Farms) gave a good penny for him. He's a big, grand-looking horse. He's trained right. He's got a good mind.

"His first race was good at Aqueduct (third, Dec. 2) and then he came over here today, got squeezed at the break pretty good. Jose (Ortiz) said he got squeezed again over at the turn but he was able to overcome it once he got him to the outside and finished up good. I'm pleased with him and we'll see where he takes us."

Squeezed was right. Once the gates opened, Conquest Warrior was pinched sharply by horses to either side of him at the break and taken back to second to last in the field of 10. Brought along off the pace, the colt advanced swiftly around the bend before being forced to slam on the brakes again at the quarter pole. Swung into the eight-path down the lane, he refused to taste defeat, thundering by his rivals for a half-length score. He was timed in 1:38.57 on a dirt track left dried and sandy after a day of sunshine following a week of intermittent showers.

Conquest Warrior's female family traces back to the brilliant race mare Althea through her stakes-winning daughter Aurora, the dam of grade 1 winner and sire Arch, 2010 Spinster Stakes (G1) victress Acoma, and 2001 UAE Horse of the Year and graded stakes winner Festival of Light.

Earlier on the card, the Todd Pletcher-trained Turn Up the Trees  was hammered down to 3-5 at the windows following a sparkling bullet half-mile breeze from the gate in :47.43 Jan. 6 at Palm Beach Downs. The bright bay son of Liam's Map   vied for the early command and proved best when his rivals engaged hm at every pole. Although racing a bit greenly down the lane, he held sway by a determined half-length under the wire. His time of 1:12.20 mirrored the slow times the track had been producing throughout the afternoon.

WATCH: Todd Pletcher on Debut Winner Turn Up the Trees

"He'd been training well," Pletcher said. "I thought his last gate work was very promising, so we came in with high hopes, and any time you can win first time out you don't take that for granted."

Turn Up the Trees was acquired by owner St. Elias Stables for $500,000 at Keeneland September. The colt's pedigree is extremely versatile, showing a potency for either surface. His sire was a grade 1 winner himself on the dirt, with his best runner being the Pletcher alumnus Colonel Liam  , a grade 1 winner on the turf, and his dam, Clearbrook (Smart Strike), was graded stakes-placed routing on the grass.

#5 TURN UP THE TREES ($3.20) set the early pace and held off a rallying Celtic Pride for a successful debut in the 6th at Gulfstream.

The son of @LanesEndFarms's Liam's Map was piloted by Johnny Velazquez for @PletcherRacing and St Elias Stable. pic.twitter.com/ukkor9WUwp

— TVG (@TVG) January 13, 2024