Carmel Coast Heads From Debut Win to Frizette
Trainer Whit Beckman debuted a couple of promising 2-year-olds at Saratoga Race Course.
One a colt, the other a filly.
The colt, named Hero Declared , created a huge buzz on the backstretch. So much so that when he made his first start Aug. 16 at the Spa, he was bet down to a huge 3-5 favorite.
Hero Declared ran second that day, but he was nearly 18 lengths behind It’s Our Time , a 5-1 shot who was the real monster in the race.
Six days earlier, the filly, Carmel Coast flipped that script. Off modest works, she was sent off as the 5-1 fifth choice in a field of seven.
Needless to say, it was Carmel Coast who turned in the electrifying effort, leading throughout under jockey Kendrick Carmouche and winning the Aug. 10 maiden race at the Spa by 5 1/2 lengths.
“We were expecting a good performance but she exceeded our expectations a little bit,” Beckman said. “She never did anything wrong in her works. But she wasn’t flashy and she flew under the radar.”
With the secret out on the daughter of Omaha Beach , much more will be learned about her upside Oct. 4 when she faces 10 rivals in the $400,000 Frizette Stakes (G1) for 2-year-old fillies at Aqueduct Racetrack.
After carrying her speed over 6 1/2 furlongs in her debut, Carmel Coast will be asked to extend to a one-turn mile in the Frizette, a Breeders’ Cup Dirt Dozen race that will award credits for starting fees for the Oct. 31 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1). The winner will receive a $30,000 credit, while the runner-up and third-place finisher will receive $15,000 and $7,500, respectively, to the $2 million race Oct. 31 at Del Mar.
“Her race was impressive and I don’t think running longer will be a problem,” Beckman said. “From the first time he got on her, Kendrick has been talking about running her long. With her pedigree, she can handle the mile. If she can jump up and win it will be a great steppingstone to the Breeders’ Cup.”
Owned by Legion Racing, MHM Stables, Ed Stefanski, and William Conlin, Carmel Coast was bought for $120,000 from the Four Star Sales consignment at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Select Yearling Sale. She was bred by Hunter Valley Farm out of the Arch mare Carmel Beauty.
Carmel Coast is one of six entrants coming off a maiden win in a field that also includes the stakes-winning Iron Orchard .
The daughter of Authentic has dominated the New Yok-bred ranks, winning the restricted Seeking the Ante Stakes and a restricted maiden race by a combined 12 1/4 lengths, each time as an odds-on favorite.
Trained by Danny Gargan, Iron Orchard is owned by CSLR Racing Partners and R. A. Hill Stable.
Trainer Todd Pletcher, a four-time Frizette winner, will send out a trio of starters.
Leland Ackerley Racing’s Lovely Christina , a daughter of Vekoma , was second behind Carmel Coast, then flattered the debut winner by taking her subsequent start Aug. 31.
Pletcher also entered Spendthrift Farm and Mike Repole’s Steer Clear , a Street Sense filly who was a front-running winner of her second start, and Repole’s Icecreamforevryone , a Gun Runner filly who was a troubled second in her Aug. 23 debut behind Frizette starter Five Bars , a Maxfield filly owned by Stuart S. Janney III and trained by Shug McGaughey.
Entries: Frizette S. (G1)
Belmont at the Big A, Saturday, October 04, 2025, Race 6
- Grade I
- 1m
- Dirt
- $400,000
- 2 yo Fillies
- 2:49 PM (local)
