The slowest raw time in recent Lecomte Stakes history also produced the lowest Beyer Speed Figure in recent Lecomte Stakes history, but trainer Brad Cox believes Disco Time will continue improving through the winter and into the spring of his 3-year-old season, and that the figure he earned Saturday does not define the colt.
That figure came back a paltry 78, more like an above-average maiden for a 3-year-old this time of year than one from a Grade 3, $250,000 Kentucky Derby qualifying race. Disco Time, making his first start around two turns and stakes debut following seven-furlong and one-turn mile victories last fall at Churchill Downs, beat Built by a neck in the Lecomte, running 1 1/16 miles over a sloppy, sealed track in 1:47.07.
“It was just soup,” Cox said of the racing surface. “It was a tough track. I don’t exactly know what to make of it.”
The figure actually fell in line with Disco Time’s first two, a 77 from his maiden win, an 81 in his allowance race, but Cox said Disco Time didn’t seem like a horse stuck at the same level.
“Knowing the horse, seeing him develop physically, it’s hard for me to imagine he didn’t improve,” Cox said of the Juddmonte homebred by Not This Time. “I thought he overcame a lot and overall I thought he got a good bit out of it.”
Near the pace in shorter races, Disco Time rallied from 10th, spun very wide into the homestretch, and eventually ran down Built in the final 50 yards.
“It’s encouraging to think the longer the distances get, the better he’s going to get,” Cox said.
Disco Time will run back in February, the Risen Star on Feb. 15 at Fair Grounds perhaps a more likely target than the Rebel at Oaklawn a week later, though Cox wasn’t ready Sunday to commit.
A race before Florent Geroux guided Disco Time to a wide-rallying Lecomte win, he did the same for Cox and Wathnan Racing with Hit Show, who came from last at the half-mile pole to win the Grade 3, $175,000 Louisiana Stakes by 1 1/2 lengths. Bouncing back from a subpar showing in his most recent start, the Clark Stakes in November, Hit Show earned a 98 Beyer more in line with his standard than the Clark’s 89.
Cox talked after the Louisiana about trying to pick off a Grade 1 with Hit Show, a 5-year-old stallion prospect, and won’t wait long to try and do so. The Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 1 is set as the horse’s target rather than the Mineshaft on Feb. 15 at Fair Grounds.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.