The KYD (Grade 1)- $5,000.000 Purse
CD- For Three Year Olds
One Mile and One Quarter on the Dirt
May 4, 2024

The 2024 KYD is behind us, and in it we would something that has only been accomplished once before in the race, and that was by the first ever winner: Fuji Ninja in 2004. That is the only other time, ever, that we have officially had a winner go wire to wire. Now, Bad Debt accomplishes the same feat with an impressive victory for Hippyheart. Fuji Ninja is one of two horses to ever win the first two legs of the TC, and perhaps Bad Debt is peaking at the right time. After all, last week, he opened a lot of eyes with an impressive work, and that would translate here into the KYD. He would need to hold off Poison Arrow at the wire, as that one made a valiant late charge, as he so often does, but would run out of time in the end. Bad Debt will go down in history as a KYD winner, and Hippyheart puts his name on the list of winning trainers for the first time. Jockey A Beschizza is also a first-time winner. Congratulations to them! We did have a scratch for the race, as Backroads Bounty would be pulled from the race, allowing Fun Runner to draw in. The winning time was 2:03.28 on the surface listed as good. Let’s take a look at it now:

(½ Mile- :47.87)- Bad Debt is not messing around at the start of the race and goes right to the lead for Hippyheart. He will lead by about a length and half around the opening turn before Maxmillion Farm’s Blazing cuts into that lead a little bit with an outside run. He is in the second position, and a half length ahead of our pick to win, Jerry Garcia Racing’s Excoriator. Good Knights is right there with that one while on the rail for Our Athletes. Test The Waters is fifth for Mb Stables and has a clear lane in front of him as well. Behind them, we have a group of four, with Winned looked good at the moment for Team 7 Illusions, running with Martyparty’s Crickets on the outside. Closer to the rail, we have two runners saddled by Fractious: Power Grid and Fire Chase. Moving into the heart of the pack at this point, Walk Em Down (Mb Stables) is a length clear of Im Sorry So Sorry (Martyparty) and Jurassic Park (Smokey Stover) on the inside and Fujisan (Alydar Stables) and Poison Arrow (Mb Stables). Next is Team Leader (Fractious), who is a length ahead of Awad (D J C Racing Stables) and post time favorite Baffert (Royalty Stables). Trailing are Ocean Storm (Greyfriars Stable), Fun Runner (Asgar), and Doc Rivers (D J C Racing Stables).

(3/4 Mile- 1:12.52)- Heading down the backstretch, we don’t see a lot of change in the running order. Bad Debt is still out front, and is still seeming to be very comfortable at the front end as he has no problem at all handling the mildly wet racetrack. Blazing settles for being a length behind him in second and did not push the envelope harder to challenge for the lead. Excoriator is in a good spot for the moment, potentially able to come between the top two, and Crickets did well to show early speed on the outside. Test The Waters runs with Good Knights now and Power Grid is within a length. Fire Chase backs off a bit which may have simply been a case of looking to get out of heavier traffic. Winned will keep him company to his outside. A little further back, Im Sorry So Sorry and Jurassic Park are still glued to one another, and Walk Em Down moves to the outside. For now, Poison Arrow is 13th, and six lengths off the lead. Fujisan and Team Leader are next, with the group of trailers being led by Baffert, who is nine lengths from the front. Ocean Storm, Awad, Fun Runner and Doc Rivers had even more work to do, but at this point even if I knew one of them was a deep closer, I would not have wanted to be behind Baffert, which we know will make a bid.

(Top of Stretch, 1.8F To Go)- Bad Debt leads the way while rounding the turn, and shows no signs of letting up. His advantage would only increase to be about a length and a half as Blazing is not able to keep up with him at the same pace. There’s a lot of closers in this race, so Hippyheart was certainly not going to start celebrating right but the excitement was certainly picking up. For Blazing, he had lost touch with the leader, and now would hope to hang on to a purse-cashing position. It did not seem as though the bigger challenges would come from the likes of Excoriator or Crickets, as neither of them were gaining on Bad Debt, either. Test The Waters, Power Grid, and Good Knights were running evenly, but Fire Chase was becoming one to watch as he looked to make an outside bid. Further back, Poison Arrow was advancing, and there was a gap available for him to come between Crickets and Fire Chase to stay out of traffic and make his bid. We weren’t seeing much out of Im Sorry So Sorry, Jurassic Park, or Walk Em Down at this point. Baffert was also gearing up to make his run but had a little more traffic to have to work his way through. For now, he had passed Fujisan with much greater aspirations. Ocean Storm was also looking for position to make a run and had passed Team Leader and the disappointing Winned. At the back, time was running out for Fun Runner, Doc River and Awad.

(Finish- 2:03.28)- With a furlong to go, Bad Debt was continuing to run well, so if anyone else wanted to win this race, they would have to make a pass with the leader still running strongly. Poison Arrow would be up for the challenge, and easily made his way through some of the others that were lacking additional stretch response. He would still have Fire Chase battling with him, but that one would not be a hindrance to his greater mission. Poison Arrow showed plenty of fight, and Bad Debt may have started to get a little leg weary in the closing moments. Approaching the wire, we would have a tight finish in store, but it would be Bad Debt hanging on at the end, narrowly over Poison Arrow in what proved to be a very tight photo. Fire Chase was a length behind them in third, and while all of the attention was on the excitement at the front, Baffert worked his way up to fourth by a head over Blazing. Then, we get to the heart of the pack, with the margin between Excoriator, Ocean Storm, Fujisan, Fun Runner, Team Leader, Crickets and Good Knights being less than a length. The rest of the finishing order will read Power Grid, Walk Em Down, Doc Rivers, Test The Waters, Im Sorry So Sorry, Jurassic Park, Awad, and Winned.

About The Winner- Bad Debt, trained by Hippyheart and ridden to victory by A Beschizza, is a three-year-old colt by Grandeur de Prada, and is out of Doubtless. He was bred in California as a first quarter two-year-old, and they have been together throughout. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his fourth in nine starts and second graded win. His career earnings are now $3,860.600.

Track: Good
Time: :47⁴  1:12²  1:37³  2:03¹

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 8 – 11 Paid 226.40
$1 Trifecta: 8 – 11 – 6 Paid 1,656.80

Scratched: Backroad Bounty, Best Of West

— NS

Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES, TC 2024, THE TRIPLE CROWN