When bloodstock agent David Ingordo bought Heywoods Beach for Hronis Racing in 2019, trainer John Sadler did not expect to get a marathon dirt runner.
"We thought he was a turf horse," Sadler said. "The first half of his career was all on grass. He ran good, was stakes-placed and won two or three turf races. Then when we switched him to dirt, he liked it."
Not only did Heywoods Beach like the dirt, the longer the race, the better. With his victory in the 1 1/2-mile Tokyo City Cup (G3) at Santa Anita Oct. 2, Heywoods Beach was winning his second graded stakes this year at that distance, following the July 24 Cougar II Stakes (G3) at Del Mar.
Ramon Vazquez, who won the Zenyatta Stakes (G2) with Midnight Memories earlier on the card, rode Heywoods Beach. It was the jockey's third consecutive ride aboard the 5-year-old horse, having partnered him in the Cougar and when unplaced on turf in the Sept. 3 Del Mar Handicap (G2T).
Storm the Court, the 2019 champion 2-year-old male, dueled with Tizamagician on the lead early in the Tokyo City Cup though fractions of :24.37 and :48.68. Meanwhile, Vazquez let Heywoods Beach amble along in fourth.
As the field rounded the clubhouse turn, 4-5 favorite Tizamagician drew even with Storm the Court, taking the lead between calls on the backstretch. Vazquez had Heywoods Beach on the rail in third, and they were able to get through inside of Storm the Court to take command with three furlongs left.
Into the stretch, Heywoods Beach drew ahead by 1 1/2 lengths, but Win the Day, who ran last early, was closing. Heywoods Beach held him off by a neck at the wire, stopping the clock in 2:31.98. He paid $9 to win.
Santa Anita previously carded the Tokyo City Cup during the spring, but changed the race to the fall. That way it can serve as a prep for the 1 5/8-mile Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes (G2), formerly the Breeders' Cup Marathon, slated for Nov. 4 at Keeneland as part of the Breeders' Cup undercard.
For Heywoods Beach and Tizamagician, the Tokyo City Cup acted as a tiebreaker at the distance. Tizamagician, the 2021 Tokyo City Cup winner, won the 2021 Cougar II while Heywoods Beach ran third, and this year Heywoods Beach defeated Tizamagician by a length in the Cougar II.
Following the 2021 Cougar II, Heywoods Beach went to the sidelines for more than 10 months.
"He injured his hind foot last year," Sadler said. "There was nothing broken, but he was sore on a hind foot. We just turned him out until he got sound and brought him back."
SF Bloodstock LLC bred Heywoods Beach, a son of Speightstown —Unfold the Rose, by Catienus, in Kentucky. Ingordo bought the colt for $180,000 from consignor Eddie Woods at the 2019 Ocala Breeders' Sales June 2-year-old sale. Kosta Hronis named the youngster Heywoods Beach because that is the most popular beach in Speightstown in Barbados.
