Trainer Brent MacGrath has made no secret of his desire to see his superstar pacing colt, Somebeachsomewhere, break a world speed record at the famed red clay oval called The Red Mile.
The venue, with its uniquely cushiony surface, is conducive to dizzying speed, and so is MacGrath's colt, who already has two world records to his name – the fastest mile paced by a three-year-old on a half-mile oval (1:49.2, set in the Confederation Cup at Flamboro Downs this past summer), and the fastest paced by a two-year-old (1:49.3, set during the Metro Pace, last year at Mohawk Racetrack).
And he has shown that he can go far faster. Though he didn't get the credit for the world record of 1:47, set in the Meadowlands Pace earlier this year, because he lost by a whisker to Art Official, he did stop the timers at the same instant.
MacGrath thinks there's even more in the tank, and he has set his sights on smashing the all-time Standardbred race record of 1:46.4, set by the late Holborn Hanover.
This Saturday, Somebeachsomewhere will go postward in one of two $134,000 divisions of the Bluegrass Stakes for three-year-old colt pacers. He won't have Art Official to push him to the limit – the only horse thus far to defeat Somebeachsomewhere, drew into the other Bluegrass division on Saturday – but if the timing's right, fans may see 'The Beach' make a bid for smashing the timers anyway.
MacGrath isn't promising, however.
"It's hard to know at this point whether the conditions will be right for it," he said on Friday afternoon. "The weather's supposed to be not great, but decent. If the track is fast and if horses are getting over it fast all day, we may go for it. But we have to keep the horse's best interests at heart, so if things aren't just right, we won't ask him for that kind of effort."
Since Somebeachsomewhere is entered in the final race on a 14-event afternoon card, MacGrath will have the luxury of some time to ponder. "At some point, (driver) Paul (MacDonell) and I will probably put our heads together and make the decision."
If conditions aren't optimal, the hulking son of Mach Three will have one more opportunity to shatter the record the following weekend, when he will contest the $700,000 Tattersalls Pace on October 4 at The Red Mile.
And if that doesn't work out? MacGrath says the notion of a time trial, rather than a race, has been raised, but that it's unlikely he'll go that route. "It's hard to make that work," he said. "It would represent an extra effort for him in a two-week period, and that's stressful. He still has to go to New York for the Messenger Stakes, and it would just make the timing awfully tight."
World record or not, it's a safe bet that Somebeachsomewhere will deliver an electrifying performance or two for race fans in Kentucky and around the world in the coming days. MacGrath says the touch of respiratory infection The Beach was found to be harbouring after the last start in the Simcoe Stakes, has cleared, and that his colt is feeling good and training well. With all systems go, these final few starts for the superstar pacer promise to be as exciting as his first.
(WEG)