New Beat Kicks Off Memorable Day for Casse, Masterson

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

Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots

It was a rather slow week for Maiden Watch, which coined only three winners from a weekend of racing where the world's eyes were fixated on Dubai. Thousands of miles away from the sands of Meydan Racecourse, Robert Masterson's New Beatwhistled her way to a 3-length maiden score at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.

Daughter of Not This Time, #10 NEW BEAT ($17.20) breaks her maiden in Race 7 at the @fairgroundsnola with @Luissaezpty1 in the saddle for trainer @NormCasse. Congratulations to owner Robert Masterson! pic.twitter.com/A3OfYIuLx8

— TVG (@TVG) March 25, 2023

New Beat kicked off a banner day for her connections March 25—only a few hours later in the afternoon Southlawn upset the field for the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) and bagged a guaranteed starting slot for the May 5 Kentucky Oaks (G1).

Trained by Norm Casse, the son of Hall of Famer Mark Casse, New Beat had been brought along at a slower pace than her precocious stablemate, who graduated second-time out last summer at Ellis Park as a juvenile. New Beat didn't make her racetrack debut until only 5 weeks ago in a six-furlong dirt maiden special weight at Casse's Fair Grounds winter base.

Simply put, the race went disastrously for the daughter of Not This Time . Racing forwardly between horses, the filly clipped the horse's heel in front of her and took a nosedive on the far turn, all but losing her rider. She was able to recover but after falling so considerably out of contention, she crossed the wire last.

Three works later, New Beat was entered again; this time around two turns. Breaking on top, jockey Luis Saez beelined the filly away from traffic and firmly clear of her foes. Holding 1 1/2-length advantage through early fractions of :24.14 and :48.78, New Beat remained unchallenged turning for home. At the top of the lane, she drifted outward when failing to switch to her right lead but corrected herself with a furlong to go, rocketing under the wire a 3-length winner.

New Beat clocked the 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.30 on a fast main track.

Acquired by Deuce Greathouse, who also signed the ticket on Southlawn, on behalf of Masterson, New Beat is a daughter of the Carson City mare Nadadora. The mare, hailing from the family of the fine sire Belong to Me, is responsible for graded stakes winner Olympic Runner and multiple graded stakes placed Sammy Mandeville. Olympic Runner, trained by Casse's father, garnered the biggest win of his career when landing the King Edward Stakes (G2T) in 2021, scorching the turf mile in a Woodbine track record time of 1:31.72. Still in training with Casse's Palm Meadows string, the 7-year-old currently touts a bankroll of $471,932.

While Olympic Runner has done his best running on the lawn, New Beat's sire, Not This Time, has proven to be a prolific sire on the dirt. From just four crops to race, he has sired four grade 1 winners on the dirt, including this past weekend's exciting Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) victor Sibelius and the 2022 champion 3-year-old and Travers (G1) hero Epicenter .