Fast Bullet, by 2012 North American leading sire Speightstown, dazzled on Dec. 6 at Hollywood Park with a brilliant 7 1/4-length win in the Thursday feature at the Inglewood, Ca. racetrack. The brilliant performance earned the talented colt a 109 Beyer Speed Figure, and stamps Fast Bullet as one of the top horses in the country in the sprint division heading into 2013.
Coming off a respectable sixth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) on Nov. 3 in what was his first start in nearly a year, Fast Bullet sped out of the gate and never looked back in Thursday’s race. After establishing his spot on the front end, jockey Martin Garcia kept a measured hold on his mount around the turn. When he made the quarter pole, Martin Garcia shook the reins and Fast Bullet responded immediately, drawing away from the field with every stride. He wrapped up the 6 1/2-furlongs in 1:15.74, the fastest time at the distance for the Hollywood meet.
Trained by Bob Baffert, Fast Bullet has now won three of four starts with earnings of $87,000 for Zayat Stables. The speedy 4-year-old chestnut could potentially target the $150,000 Palos Verdes S. (G2) at six furlongs on Jan. 19 at Santa Anita Park. He had been entered in last weekend’s Vernon Underwood S. (G3) at Hollywood, but was scratched in favor of this allowance race after the track came up uncharacteristically deep last Sunday.
Speightstown is winding down a banner year in 2012 that saw the former Eclipse Champion Sprinter sire 20 stakes winners, including a pair of Saratoga Grade 1 winners, and lead all North American sires in North American progeny earnings with over $9.1 million to date.
