Star On The Beach, a half brother to imminent Hall Of Famer Somebeachsomewhere, won his Canadian debut this past Sunday at Mohawk Racetrack and the freshman colt learned some valuable lessons in the process
that could help him conquer three of the big freshmen stakes that catapulted 'the Beach' to stardom.
With his trendy pedigree, Star On The Beach (Astreos-Wheres The Beach) drew a bid of $150,000 during last year’s Lexington Select sale in Kentucky by the Millers Stable of Deleon Springs, Florida, Jack Tramonte of Wadsworth, Mark Maynard of Fairview Park and Michael Maynard of Bay Village, Ohio.
“He’s a real good looking horse - a big, strong looking horse,” trainer Kelly O’Donnell told Trot Insider. “And then of course the way the brother was tearing up the racetracks I figured if this colt turned out to be a quarter as good as he was, we would be okay.”
O’Donnell, who has horses stabled in Pennsylvania and Ohio, says Star On The Beach trained down nicely with perfect manners.
“For the first six months you would have thought he was a gelding. He was just really quiet and laidback," said O'Donnell. "Now that he’s racing he’s starting to realize that he is a colt. He’s nipping and biting and playing a little bit more now that he’s getting into the racing action.”
Star On The Beach finished second to the undefeated George Teague-trained Delmarvalous in his first outing on June 2, a baby race at Chester, before stopping at the Meadowlands for one start on July 16. Despite finishing eighth, Star On The Beach shaved nearly four seconds off his first mile when he tripped the timer in 1:55.
From there, Star On The Beach ventured onto Canadian soil landing in the hands of trainer Tim Pinske.
“I was having a hard time getting him in because he’s Ontario-sired and I was just trying to get him into a couple of maidens just to get him started. I got him in once at Mohawk, so I sent him up there just to get a couple starts into him to see if he’s good enough for the Nassagaweya and the Metro and Champlain.”
In his third outing on August 2, Star On The Beach broke his maiden with a two and three-quarter length victory in 1:54.2.
“He raced very well and learned a lot there. I put Paul [MacDonell] down on him just because he knows the brother so well I figured he’d be a good guy to have drive him and maybe he could tell me anything I need to change – a little something here or a little something there.
“[Paul] ducked him off the gate and sent him right to the front and he learned how to go to the front and turned a horse loose. That horse kind of drew off by about three lengths going around the turn. [Star On The Beach] started creeping up on him and [Paul] tipped him out about halfway down the lane and he went by.
“It wasn’t a real fast last quarter [:28.4], but it was good enough for him. He learned how to go by a horse that he was following. I thought he might have paced home a little better, but [Paul] didn’t get after him, he just kind of rode him out there. He liked him, Paul said he seems like he’s going to have plenty of ability.”
“Well there’s some similarities there [to Somebeachsomewhere],” MacDonell told Trot Insider. “They’re both big, strong gaited horses. He might not be as fluid gaited as Beach, but few horses are. I was really impressed with him. He came to the wire fairly strong in his first start in Canada. He’s got potential, there’s no doubt.”
“This Sunday is going to be a real test to see if he’s good enough for the big ones coming up,” adds O’Donnell.
Star On The Beach (8-1) will start from the outside Post 8 in Race 10 as part of Sunday's card of harness racing at Mohawk Racetrack, facing the likes of highly-regarded Sportswriter (PP7, 8-5).
To view Sunday's entries, click here.