Verity Emerges From Slop With Powerful Beaumont Victory

Opening day at Keeneland looked different than usual April 6. With constant storms pelting the bluegrass throughout the weekend, the traditional opening Friday card was delayed and the Sunday card stepped up to become the introduction to one of racing's most prestigious meets. Those storms continued intermittently Sunday afternoon, keeping a large portion of the typical opening day patrons at their homes. However, top-class racing remained the same, capped by the emergence of a 3-year-old filly rising the ranks. That filly was Godolphin homebred Verity, who aced her stakes debut with authority while conquering the $365,000 Beaumont Stakes (G2) by 5 1/4 lengths. "We were just glad that they ran the races today," said Godolphin director of bloodstock Michael Banahan. "We were hoping that they would. We thought she'd handle it fine and she'd run well on it." The daughter of Nyquist exited a pair of sprint victories on the Tapeta at Turfway Park for trainer Eoin Harty, but her runner-up finish on debut by a head at Churchill Downs last fall and a small field made connections confident the Beaumont was the perfect spot to test stakes waters. "She was quite impressive up at Turfway, and she showed plenty of speed," said Banahan. "You have to be a pretty good horse to win up at Turfway. I felt she would transfer to the dirt." Banahan's presumption was correct as jockey Vincent Cheminaud managed to establish a solid stalking position to the outside of favored Stunner. Stunner set a solid pace for the seven-furlong and 184-foot contest with fractions of :22.22 and :44.89. Cheminaud drew even with Flavien Prat and Stunner passing the quarter pole and established irreversible command by the 3/16-pole. From there, it was up to Verity how much she wanted to win by as she drew away to stop the clock in 1:27.18. Stunner was a clear second by 4 3/4 lengths over Volleyballprincess. A bit overlooked by the bettors, floating from 9-2 on the morning line to 6-1 despite the scratch of morning line favorite Eclatant, Verity paid $14.26 to win. Out of the stakes-winning and grade 2-placed Bernardini mare Moiety, Verity joins Cavalieri and Tenma as a third graded stakes winner this season for Darley stallion Nyquist, who stands for a $175,000 fee in 2025. Banahan sees plenty of upside on this emerging filly, mentioning they feel confident she'll be able to handle more ground. "With this graded stakes win under her belt, she can go anywhere," Banahan said. "The way she galloped out there today, it looked like the further she was going the better. I think we get up to some of those mile races, we'll be fine. She has plenty of speed, so she can sprint as well."