Monday Morning Message with Jason Beem Jan. 29, 2024

A good Monday morning to you all! Hope everyone had a good weekend and found some winners at the windows. I was excited to see a horseplayer on Twitter took home the $1.8 million payday on Sunday in Gulfstream’s Pick 6. I think most horseplayers go into a sequence hoping to make a score and often, that means hoping to make a few thousand or maybe 10 grand. Six-figure scores are obviously few and far between, but $1.8 million is just another level. Incredible job by that horseplayer. Our game is so great in that sense; you can bet some and hit for a fortune.

From top to bottom, I really enjoyed the Pegasus World Cup card. The race itself wasn’t all that dramatic, but compared to past Pegasus World Cups, at least it brought us some uncertainty down the lane! Ryan Moore’s ride on Warm Heart was certainly a beauty and even though Integration was probably a little low on the board at 3-2, he’s still got a major future the remainder of this year.

I think the highlight of the day for me on Saturday was seeing Didia get back to her winning ways in the Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1). I had the good fortune to call Didia’s first start here in the United States back in July of 2022, when she ran at Colonial Downs. It was just an optional claiming race, and I remember at the time when she got here there was a little buzz, but she wasn’t even favored in the race. She got a perfect trip and was able to win by a length, getting up in the final strides. I remember our television analyst at the time, Jessica Paquette, beaming over this horse and the performance. I thought she was the beneficiary of a really good trip and was a total play-against next time out. You can guess how that ended up for me.

Didia came back in the Old Nelson S. at Colonial and rallied to get up late and win by a neck at 3-1. Jessica maintained that she was the second coming, and I maintained she’d had two really good trips and just got up to win. Didia proceeded to follow that up with a stakes win at Fair Grounds and then soared to a pretty easy win at Churchill in the Grade 3 Modesty. Her career here in the States has been masterfully handled by trainer Ignacio Correas. She was supposed to come to the Beverly D. this past summer at Colonial, but a little injury kept her out. She was never going to win the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1) after being so far back in her start before this weekend, so I was thrilled to see Jose Ortiz have her close up. I didn’t think she could possibly lose turning for home and although she had to fight, she won nicely.

Didia reminds me a little bit of the great filly Megahertz. Just kind of has a low-to-the-ground running style that for some reason makes me think of her. If you don’t know about Megahertz, go back and watch some of her old races. She was so fun to watch. Great turf horses that have that big kick down the stretch are some of the most fun horses to watch. I’m so glad Didia has continued to build on the success she’s had here in the States since that quiet little Monday at Colonial back in 2022. What a cool horse.

Hope everyone had a good Pegasus and really looking forward to this weekend. Loads of Kentucky Derby preps, and I feel like we’ll start really getting a better picture of the three-year-old class after Saturday.