Five Fastest Maidens, Presented by Taylor Made: Sept. 23-28

Wandering Eyes · September 30

5. CRISIS MANAGER, CD, 9/25, 1 1/16 miles (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure- 81 (4th)
(c, 3, by Liam's Map–Wilburnmoney, by Wilburn)
O-Highlander Training Center. B-The Elkstone Group (Md). T-Tom Amoss. J-Irad Ortiz, Jr.
You know it's a slow week for fast maidens when one race produces four of the top five, but fourth-place Crisis Manager gave a list-worthy performance when ground loss is considered: from his No. 12 post, he was marooned four-wide on both turns. Using data from Equibase's GPS charts (because it's the only game in town for these stats), he ran one second slower than winner Chillax but traveled 53 feet farther. Do the math, and the case can be made that Crisis Manager ran just as fast.

4. IGNITER, BAQ, 9/25, 1 mile (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure- 81
(c, 2, by Volatile–Malibu Prayer, by Malibu Moon)
O/B-Three Chimneys Farm (Ky). T-Rick Dutrow. J-Manny Franco.
Igniter was expected to improve off his wide-trip debut third behind talented Golden Tornado and Oscar's Hope, and he did, scoring at even money with a pace-stalking style. His Ned Evans owned/bred dam Malibu Prayer was a good one, taking the Grade I Ruffian with a 103 Beyer, then bringing $2 million at auction after her on-track career–and now each of her four foals to race has logged an 80 Beyer at least once.

3. MONEY MAN, CD, 9/25, 1 1/16 miles (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure- 82 (3rd)
(g. 3, by Dialed In–Oro Blanco, by Hold for Gold)
O/B-Everest Stables (Ky). T-Destin Heath. J-Frankie Dettori.
Money Man has the same running style as Mom and Dad, and his lack of gate speed repeatedly gets him bumped and squeezed and puts him in strategically difficult spots: he trailed by 13 lengths early in this race. But he's also honest, and now has rallied for three consecutive third-place finishes.

2. UP COUNTRY, CD, 9/25, 1 1/16 miles (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure- 85 (2nd)
(c, 3, by Practical Joke–A P Lucky, by Lookin At Lucky)
O-Calumet Farm. B-Wolverton Mountain Farm (Ky). T-Brendan Walsh. J-Tyler Gaffalione.
Revved up early by Gaffalione, Up Country secured a nice spot stalking pacesetter Woodson, briefly took the lead leaving the quarter pole but couldn't hold off Chillax while continuing to show Beyer improvement in his third lifetime start. His unraced dam A P Lucky is a half-sister to Grade II Beldame Stakes winner Horologist. Up Country was a 2022 $82,000 Keeneland November weanling from the Taylor Made consignment.

1. CHILLAX, CD, 9/25, 1 1/16 miles (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure- 90
(c, 3, by Bernardini–Keepshercool, by Smart Strike)
O/B-Godolphin (Ky). T-Bill Mott. J-Junior Alvarado.
Chillax had made Five Fastest Maidens once before–a statement that needs two asterisks. On July 13 at Saratoga he was third to Classicist with an 87 Beyer, and they finished 1-2 on that week's list. Then on Aug. 10 at the Spa, he was a rough-trip second to Worthy Charge with an 82 Beyer that failed to make the cut–but upon further review, as they say in the NFL, the Beyers for that race were upgraded by six points. Thus he should have been No. 2 that week as well. And four races back, Chillax missed the top five by fractions of a point. Now he has a five-race fig profile of 90-88-87-86-86, which looks more like a top allowance or low-level stakes runner than a recent maiden graduate.