Test Score's Not This Time Half Sis Graduates at Laurel

This column highlights the performances of 2-year-old maidens who have made no more than five starts and who either sold for more than $500,000 at public auction, have siblings that are graded/group winners, or have dams that are graded/group winners. BloodHorse research shows maiden winners, in particular, who meet these criteria are more likely to go on to be graded stakes winners.

Laurel Park

Another Maiden Watch, another promising 2-year-old for red-hot stallion Not This Time . The Taylor Made stallion has scaled new heights in 2025 with his offspring on both the racetrack and in the sales ring. At the drop of the final gavel at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Not This Time led all stallions with a gross of $38,580,000. As of Sept. 23, the son of Giant's Causeway sits atop the 2-year-old sire list with 20 juvenile winners to date.

Third-generation Amerman Racing homebred Screen Test was one of two maiden special weight winners Not This Time sired this past weekend. Unveiled in August at Colonial Downs for trainer Graham Motion, Screen Test ran modest at best when fifth while sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf. Stretched out to a two-turn mile Sept. 19 at Laurel Park, the filly took a shine to the longer trip just as her grade 1-winning half brother Test Score had before her. 

Squeezed at the start of the maiden special weight, Screen Test and jockey Jorge Ruiz made their way to the rail and settled into a comfortable mid-pack position behind early fractions of :23.34 and :47.21. Gaining ground on her rivals at the top of the bend, the filly was forced to steady around the turn but quickly recovered, wresting the lead down the lane with an emboldened stretch drive.

Screen Test hit the wire 3 1/2 lengths in front in a final time of 1:36.35 over a firm turf course. She became the third winner for her dam Joy of Learning. The Kitten's Joy mare added grade 1-producer next to her name this past summer when her 3-year-old Lookin at Lucky colt, Test Score, rolled to victory in the Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes (G1T) on Fourth of July weekend. Also trained by Motion for the Amermans, Test Score had become a graded stakes winner earlier in 2025 when capturing the Transylvania Stakes (G3T) during the Keeneland spring meet.