Add superstar Captaintreacherous, who received a bye into the estimated $800,000 final on July 13 along with Twilight Bonfire and Wake Up Peter, and the chance of “Beach” gaining a measure of revenge gets even better.
“When Somebeachsomewhere lost to Art Official in 2008 [in a world record of 1:47] it was probably his best race,” recalled Ohio-based trainer Brian Brown, who sends out Beach Memories on Saturday.
Beach
Memories is owned by Strollin Stable of Marion, Ohio, AWS Stables of Lima,
Ohio, King McNamara of Naples, Florida and Country Club Acres of Findlay,
Ohio. The gelding has eight wins and a second in 17 career starts and
banked $158,717.
The
top seven finishers will advance to the Pace Final and the connections of the
elimination winner will select their post position for July 13. The draw
for the Pace, along with the William Haughton Memorial and Mistletoe Shalee
will be held live on Saturday at the Meadowlands.
When
Brown attended the Harrisburg Sale in 2011 he had two major goals in mind.
“When we go
through the catalogue we pick out as many Pennsylvania breds as possible, and
then we go by the family,” he explained. “We really wanted some by
Somebeachsomewhere and we wound up with five that first year.
“We
actually liked that the breeding on this colt was a little bit older,” he continued.
“His dam [Allamerican Memoir] is a half sister to Memphis Flash [1:50,
$829,295]. He raced over ten years ago and stood here in Ohio at one
time. I thought it was a pretty good family. This colt was a first
foal and looked nice.”
Beach
Memories initially overcame a serious physical issue as a two-year-old, and as
a result, was a bit slow to develop.
“When
we had him in Florida of his two-year-old season he had atrial fibrillation,
stood in his stall for a month and was way behind,” Brown noted. “We took
him to a clinic where they basically slowed down his heart rate with medication
until it went back to normal. Generally, they flip right back with the
first treatment, yet his took three doses. Then, I rushed him a little to
get him to the races and that didn’t work out. He was better near the end
of last year.”
Beach
Memories has carried that forward momentum into a successful first half of his
sophomore season.
“The
colt has not really gone a bad race this year,” said Brown. “He did break
in one race [on April 27 at The Meadows]. His mouth was a little sore, we
changed his bit and that made him worse. When Dave Palone took a hold of
him he threw his head.
“One
of his best races came when he finished fourth in his elimination for the North
America Cup [on June 8 at Mohawk]. We just got stuck at the back, and it
was just too hard to catch them even though he came home in :26.3.
“The night
of his Hempt elimination [on June 22 at Pocono Downs] he paced in 1:49.4 and
finished sixth, but scoped sick. Matt Kakaley said he was also trapped in
along the rail.”
Last week,
in a $50,000 consolation for the Max Hempt at Pocono Downs, Beach Memories
bounced back by equaling a world record of 1:48.3 for three-year-old geldings
on a five-eighths mile track with Yannick Gingras driving.
“He
paced a wicked :26.3 third quarter, but if you set world records there have to
be fractions like that in there,” noted Brown. “It’s great to go fast,
but it’s all about money. Yes, it’s nice to win a $50,000 race, but
obviously we want to get into the big ones like the Meadowlands Pace.
“I’ve
never had a horse like this. I jog him five miles a day with a training
trip in between races of about 2:10 or 2:15. He’s just a natural
athlete. I believe they just learn how to go that fast. It’s tough
to go from 1:54 to 1:48 the next week.”
If
Beach Memories advances to the Pace Final on July 13, Brown will be looking for
a driver.
“Dave
Miller will drive him in the elimination,” he said. “He’s committed to
Twilight Bonfire, so if we make the final we’ll see who’s available. We
have post nine on Saturday, but Dave told me it’s all about position not post
position.
“I
don’t know if anybody can figure out how this elimination is going to shake
out. I’m sure you’re going to have ten drivers wait until the wings
fold. It would certainly be a nice feather in my cap to win the
Meadowlands Pace.”
