Beach Bomb, a dual group 1 winner in her native South Africa, now has two graded wins this year in the United States.
Replicating her front-running performance in the 1 3/8-mile The Very One Stakes (G3T), Beach Bomb raced a furlong longer in the $150,000 Orchid Stakes (G3T) March 29 at Gulfstream Park—with another victorious outcome. She controlled a reasonable pace and withstood late bids from Silvology and La Mehana. Beach Bomb prevailed by a head over runner-up Silvology with La Mehana, bidding up the inside after hung up in traffic on the last of three turns, a neck further behind in third.
Beach Bomb was timed covering 1 1/2 miles on firm turf in 2:24.29. She returned $5.20 to win as the slight post-time favorite over La Mehana.
Winning jockey Luis Saez said he was worried about the extra distance for his mare. "But she kept responding, and a good thing she held on," he said.
Graham Motion trains the 5-year-old daughter of the late Lancaster Bomber for Gaynor Rupert's Cayton Park Stud. Last year, following her move to the U.S., she twice placed in stakes for Motion in two-turn grass routes before finishing a close eighth in the three-turn Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T) at 1 3/8 miles.
Motion credited a winter break as beneficial for Beach Bomb, who noted that South African imports sent to him last year had to quarantine for two months in the U.S.
"So I think having a little break after Breeders' Cup really allowed them to grow up and kind of be themselves," he said.
The Rupert family's Drakenstein Stud bred Beach Bomb out of the South African champion Dynasty mare Beach Beauty.
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Far Bridge Wins Pan American in Seasonal Debut
Multiple grade 1 winner Far Bridge showed his depth of class in his seasonal debut March 29 with a hard-fought victory in the $200,000 Pan American Stakes (G3T) at Gulfstream Park.
Jockey Joel Rosario gave LSU Stables' 5-year-old son of English Channel a stalking trip along the rail in the early going of the 1 1/2-mile race on the turf. By the final turn, they had eased forward to challenge Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Harry Colburn's pacesetter Corruption. The front-runner, a 4-year-old gelded son of Medaglia d'Oro , led the field of nine challengers for the first 10 furlongs in honest fractions of :23.67, :47.67, 1:11.30, and 1:35.37.
As the field rounded into the stretch, Far Bridge unleashed his power but Corruption was not so easily dismissed and stayed shoulder-to-shoulder with the 4-5 favorite down the lane. Far Bridge pushed forward enough to be a neck in front at the wire, stopping the timer in 2:22.73—a tenth of a second off the 2:22.63 track record. Padiddle, a 43-1 longshot, finished four lengths back in third.
The Pan American became Far Bridge's fourth career graded stakes win and elevated his earnings to more than $1.92 million. The winner paid $3.80 for a $2 win bet.
Far Bridge, bred in Kentucky by Calumet Farm, is trained by Christophe Clement, who has now won three of the last four runnings of the Pan American, and four overall.
"They just ran in 2:22 and change, so I feel he was tight enough," said Clement's son and assistant Miguel Clement. "He ran very well. It was definitely impressive. Class prevailed today."
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