RACING CAREER

Most recently the winner of the Frederico Tesio in his seventh start and first stakes try, this McGaughey trainee hasn’t had an easy path in the early stages of his career, racing over seven different tracks and taking six shots to break his maiden. 

Beginning in early July at Belmont, Perfo​​rm ran at 5 ½ furlongs on the dirt course, staying close to the leaders before losing steam in the stretch to hold on for place behind the overwhelming favorite. The following month saw a move to Saratoga where he ended up a bit too close to a quicker pace at seven furlongs, fading mightily late and finishing fourth by nine behind the winner Disarm. 

The third time wasn’t quite the charm, with this maiden seven-furlong sprint coming at Keeneland as the favorite, but even a change in strategy by taking the early lead was only enough to nab a distant show. Despite the decent finishes, a colt of his talent and connections was starving for a win, yet again took a step in the wrong direction when stretching out to a mile route at Churchill in November. A following layoff into late Janua​​ry and a slower than expected maturation process had this one nowhere near the Derby trail, now heading down to Florida for another pair of maiden attempts. First at Gulfstream, Perform once again found himself far too close to the pace at seven furlongs, fading to fourth and no match for eventual Derby winner Mage. 

Throughout his first five races, the clearly green Perform had actually been facing strong younger fields, losing to horses who would become some of the top three year old colts in his division, including Mage, Disarm, and Raise Cain. 

Finally however, the experience – and added ground – had paid off, this time at Tampa Bay Downs where Irad Ortiz took the irons for Perform and won comfortably over what was one of the weaker fields he had faced thus far. Surely going to the Tesio after all of these trials and errors wouldn’t be such a success, but a shocking move in the late stretch weaving through traffic put Perform in the winner’s circle for the second straight time, cementing his status in the Preakness after his upset at 10-1.

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LAST RACE TRIP NOTES

1st, Tesio – Bumped slightly with Summer Cause leaving the gate, then was allowed to settle at the rear of the field while to the outside of Circling the Drain. Rounded turn in the three-path and fell to last rounding the turn. Was three behind his nearest rival and five behind the main body of the race in early backstretch. Began to make progress on the backstretch and rounded the far turn while still and but seeking room while inside of Circling the Drain. Remained second to last entering the lane while on the rail and seeking running room and found himself in a bit tight with nowhere to go. Tipped to the four path briefly in search of running room, found none, came back to the two path while between horses. Dived to the rail to get past horses, and then scooted athletically to the three path with less than a sixteenth to go and was just up at the wire.

BLOODLINES

Even as the Tesio winner, Perform has taken a backseat to other Good Magic progeny, as Kentucky Derby winner Mage and likely Preakness foe Blazing Sevens have won graded races and outearned him early in their careers. Perform has taken a bit longer to find his stride than his sire and some other Good Magics but now seems to be coming around. 

His broodmare sire Tale of Ekati won right from the jump, ultimately retiring early to what has become a solid breeding career. If Perform isn’t quite as precocious as his siblings, he could be saving his best for Pimlico which will be his eighth different racing venue in eight starts. 

His dam, Jane Says, retired winless, and with his Tesio win, Perform is already the best of her three runners to date.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Trainer Claude McGaughey believes that going two turns is a benefit for his horse. “Two turns have helped him a lot. Things changed when we started going around two turns. If I didn’t think he fit with these, I would not be running him. We will have to wait and see, but his last two races around two turns have been pretty good.” 

This statement was echoed by part-owner Bill Farish of Woodford Racing, who told the Maryland Jockey Club after Perform’s Tesio win the connections had changed their opinion on his ideal distance in his young career. 

“He was a horse we had high expectations for. Just the way he was training early and the way he’s built and everything, we really thought he was going to be more of a sprinter,” Farish said. “He was pretty fancied his first start and just didn’t quite live up to it. He showed a lot of early speed and just didn’t relax in his races.” 

“The good thing about this horse is he’ll stay the distance,” said jockey Feargal Lynch. “That’s what I’m most excited about.”

Now with a bit more seasoning, maybe Perform has finally found his race, with a significant challenge coming at Pimlico this Saturday.