Tales from the Crib: Hit Show

Mar 09, 2023 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Four years ago, on the first Saturday in May 2019, Gary and Mary West felt the exhilaration of winning the Kentucky Derby (G1) with their homebred Maximum Security – for a few minutes. Then they felt the crushing blow of his disqualification for veering out on the far turn, the first time in Derby history that the apparent winner was demoted for interference in the race itself. 

Actress was still a work in progress, as evidenced by three ensuing losses. After a close third in the Delaware Oaks (G3), she trudged on for fourth in the Alabama (G1), and appeared to lose focus in the stretch when sixth in the Cotillion (G1).

Blinkers were added for the Comely (G3), and Actress put it all together in resounding fashion. Instead of dropping out of it early, she stalked in third behind slow pace, delivered the coup de grace turning for home, and widened her margin to 8 1/4 lengths. Tapella, the non-threatening fourth, would become the dam of 2023 Triple Crown nominee Hoosier Philly. 

In early 2018, Actress missed narrowly in the Houston Ladies Classic (G3). She placed second again in the Azeri (G2) at Oaklawn Park, leaving future Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) heroine Blue Prize back in seventh. That turned out to be her final curtain call, and Actress left the stage with a record of 9-2-4-1 and earnings of $545,150.

Actress came full circle by retiring to her birthplace, the Justice family’s Dell Ridge Farm near Lexington, Kentucky, where the Wests’ mares reside. Champion Maximum Security was born and raised there, along with other West-bred stars including Life Is Good. Dell Ridge has bred its own high-profile horses as well – like Violence (sire of champion and Kentucky Derby favorite Forte) and champion Honor Code.

Bred to Medaglia d’Oro to begin her life as a broodmare, Actress produced a filly named Hot Rumor. She would break her maiden over a mile at Horseshoe Indianapolis for Brad Cox, likewise the trainer of her famous half-brother.

Actress next went to the court of Candy Ride. The Wests’ racing manager, Ben Glass, had long been a believer in the unbeaten stallion, who had already sired one of their champion colts, Game Winner.

The hero of the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1), Game Winner looked like their top chance for the 2019 Kentucky Derby, until the unheralded Maximum Security burst onto the scene that spring.

By the time they entered the starting gate, the roles were reversed. Maximum Security was the better-fancied of the pair at 9-2, while Game Winner drifted up to 6.80-1. Game Winner found himself impossibly far behind front-running Maximum Security early, but he finished with good courage, despite an awfully wide trip. He crossed the wire sixth, a position elevated to fifth upon the disqualification of Maximum Security.

“He kept up with them,” Ryan noted. “He was right up with them, as if he was the same age. 

“His age didn’t deter him from keeping up with the big boys.”

As that implies, the youngster was tough.

“But tough in the right way,” Ryan adds. “He was always on the right path, headed in the right direction.”

Indeed, he was at the same time the cuddly type who was always up for a hug.

“He liked to be loved on,” Ryan said, in that respect taking after his “sweetheart” granddam Milwaukee Appeal.

“A bit of a character,” the good-feeling colt was eager to go.

“He was wanting to get on with it, wanted to be in the front, to get out there first in the morning.”

Hit Show (spot him as the gray on the left of the photo) was growing up on the same farm as another 2023 Derby contender, Practical Move, but there’s no babyhood rivalry to play up. They were in two different fields at Dell Ridge, and their paths diverged from there.

Midway through his yearling year, in the high summer of 2021, Hit Show was sent to Ocala, Florida, to Jorge Villagomez, who prepares the Wests’ prospects for the racetrack. 

“They’re great people,” Villagomez said. “I’m so blessed to be part of the organization and work for them.”

Once the babies acclimated to their new environment at the Nelson Jones Training Center, they were ready for their early lessons. As a May foal, Hit Show figured to need time to grow and mature. So it was only to be expected that he didn’t stand out from the pack in the preliminary schooling phase.

“At the beginning, he was just like any student, going through his ABCs,” Villagomez said. “He was just another horse.

“But once we started breezing, he separated himself.”

Moreover, Hit Show was progressing with each and every breeze.

“He showed some talent, but he kept getting better,” Villagomez revealed. “With every breeze, he kept improving and getting better.

“Once you hook up with other horses breezing a half-mile, you separate yourself from the others.”

Thus when the time came for their report cards, so to speak, and the juveniles were sorted by the ability they’d hinted at so far, Villagomez ranked Hit Show among the elite group.

“I’m glad he came through!” Villagomez said of his pupil’s living up to his grade.

As part of the Wests’ “A-team,” Hit Show was earmarked for the Cox barn. Graduating from the Villagomez academy early last summer, he returned to Kentucky and wasted no time posting his first work at Lexington’s Thoroughbred Training Center on July 6. The gray later moved to the racetrack, appearing on the worktabs at Ellis Park and Churchill Downs.

Hit Show made his premiere at Keeneland on Oct. 9, and he immediately flashed star quality in the seven-furlong maiden. The 1.35-1 favorite, he raced just off the pace, in traffic, and showed professionalism to split foes in upper stretch. Hit Show ran up the score from there in a 5 1/4-length rout.

Favored to follow up in an allowance on the Nov. 26 “Stars of Tomorrow II” card at Churchill Downs, Hit Show could get no nearer than fourth after a troubled start. But the top two – Confidence Game and Rocket Can – have since become notables on the Derby leaderboard themselves.

Hit Show secured better early position in a Dec. 17 allowance at Oaklawn, rolling as the 8-5 favorite, and he again justified 13-10 favoritism in his stakes debut in the Feb. 11 Withers (G3). Held over the same 1 1/8-mile trip at Aqueduct as the Comely, won by Actress, Hit Show emulated his dam by romping home.

Now Hit Show is on course to bring the Wests back to the Kentucky Derby. And fellow homebred Punchbowl, yet another Cox pupil, is poised to join the Road to the Kentucky Oaks. 

Might the Wests be in line to pursue an Oaks-Derby double? Ryan and Villagomez are rooting for them, emphasizing how much the Wests have supported the Thoroughbred industry as well as what good people they are.

Beyond their prominent role on the racing scene, the Wests are dedicated philanthropists, with a particular interest in health care for low-income seniors. Their nonprofit Gary and Mary West Foundation has contributed more than $280 million in grants in this much-needed sphere.

If their story culminates in an official Kentucky Derby win, after the rollercoaster ride with Maximum Security, it would be a plot worthy of a novel or movie. You might even call it the makings of a Hit Show.

Photo credits:

Actress and Hit Show as a foal by Lindsay Kloster/Dell Ridge Farm
Hit Show winning the Withers by Coglianese Photos