Photo:

NYRA / Coglianese Photo

In this biweekly series, racing analyst J. Keeler Johnson shares promising horses from his handicapping watch list, reviewing runners who have recently caught his eye and previewing horses scheduled to run back in the near future.

Results

Saturday

Belmont at the Big A, race 1: Last year’s Breeders’ Futurity (G1) winner Locked returned to action with a stunning performance in a $62,500 allowance optional claimer, becoming my latest watch list winner.

Making his 3-year-old debut after a knee injury derailed any Kentucky Derby ambitions, Locked started as the 2-5 favorite against five rivals, even while tackling a seven-furlong distance seemingly shorter than his best.

I say “seemingly” because Locked crushed his competition in a manner suggesting he may actually be a top-tier seven-furlong sprinter. Showing much-improved tactical speed compared to last year, the son of Gun Runner tracked fractions of 22.83 and 45.09 seconds in second place, seized a 3 1/2-length lead through a swift six furlongs in 1:08.85 seconds and extended his advantage to 7 1/2 lengths at the finish line, which he reached in the excellent time of 1:21.02.

Conditioned by Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, Locked appears poised for a big winter campaign, with the Pegasus World Cup (G1) looming as a target for early 2025.

Santa Anita, race 1: A new member of my watch list is Accuracy, a 3-year-old daughter of Arrogate trained by Michael McCarthy.

Accuracy never threatened to win her first two starts at Del Mar, finishing third in maiden special weights over 6 1/2 furlongs and one mile. But when she took her game to Santa Anita for a 1 1/16-mile maiden special weight, the result was spectacular. Accuracy led all the way through fractions of 22.60 seconds, 46.39 seconds and 1:10.82 to dominate by 15 lengths in the strong time of 1:42.44, earning a massive 108 Beyer Speed Figure from Daily Racing Form.

How good is Accuracy? There’s no way to know yet. If she can reproduce this level of form in the future, then the sky is the limit.

Keeneland, race 7: Although Knightsbridge was beaten when returning from a nearly seven-month layoff in the seven-furlong Perryville (G3), the Godolphin homebred put forth a good effort. After settling a couple lengths behind fractions of 22.01 and 44.75 seconds, he shifted outside and gradually gained ground to finish third by one length.

As a son of Nyquist out of a mare by Bernardini, Knightsbridge has the pedigree to shine running one mile and farther, so stretching out in distance next time may get Knightsbridge back on a winning track. He’s worth watching again.

Gulfstream Park, race 8: The undefeated Rated by Merit is new to my watch list after bringing his record to 3-for-3 with a decisive victory in the seven-furlong FTBOA Florida Sire Affirmed.

The 2-year-old son of Battalion Runner dueled with Neoequos through fractions of 22.74 and 45.45 seconds, then edged away from his pace rival to prevail by 3 3/4 lengths. Neoequos pulled 7 1/4 lengths clear of the rest.

Rated by Merit’s winning time of 1:22.55 seconds towered over the time of 1:25.23 seconds required by 2-year-old fillies to complete the FTBOA Florida Sire Susan’s Girl on the same card, and it yielded a 99 Beyer, the highest number assigned to any juvenile so far this year.

I suspect Rated by Merit has the talent to step outside the Florida-bred ranks and hold his own on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. I hope to see him stretch out around two turns in the near future, perhaps in the 1 1/16-mile FTBOA Florida Sire In Reality on Nov. 30 at Gulfstream.

Entries

Thursday

Horseshoe Indianapolis, race 5: After 16 months away from the races, Bishops Bay is finally back in the entries. Last year’s Peter Pan (G3) and Ohio Derby (G3) runner-up is entered as a main-track-only entrant in a $50,000 allowance optional claimer taking place over 1 1/16 miles on turf.

With clear weather in the forecast for Horseshoe Indianapolis, Bishops Bay will likely scratch and await a different spot. But if this race does come off the turf, you can bet Bishops Bay will be ready for his return. He enters off back-to-back bullet five-furlong workouts at Horseshoe Indianapolis for trainer Brad Cox, who wins at a 28 percent rate with horses returning from layoffs of 90 days or more per Brisnet statistics.