Heywoods Beach

Heywoods Beach broke his maiden in his fourth career start on May 16, 2020, taking a one-mile turf race at Santa Anita Park by a half-length for owner Hronis Racing and trainer John Sadler.

He raced on both dirt and turf over the next two years, picking up two more wins for an overall record of 17-3-2-3 heading into the 2022 Grade 3 Cougar II Stakes over the main track at Del Mar on July 24. Heywoods Beach, who was making his second start of the year after finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile Stakes on turf, had finished third behind Tizamagician a year prior in the Cougar II and faced that rival again.

In the 2022 edition, he pressed the pace set by Tizamagician into the final of the race’s three turns before engaging that foe. The two dueled in early stretch, but Heywoods Beach methodically wore down Tizamagician to earn his first stakes win by a length.

In his next 2022 start, Heywoods Beach tired late to finish eighth of 11 in the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap Presented by The Japan Racing Association on turf Sept. 3 at Del Mar. But he rebounded right back to tally the second graded stakes win of his career Oct. 2 in the Grade 3 Tokyo City Cup Stakes at Santa Anita, holding off longshot Win the Day by a head in the 1 ½-mile dirt race.