Performer keeps winning streak alive in $200,000 Discovery S. (G3)

Speightstown’s 3-year-old colt Performer joined the ranks of graded stakes winners Saturday with a hard-fought victory over multiple graded winner Tax in the $200,000 Discovery S. (G3) at Aqueduct. 

Performer is Speightstown’s seventh graded stakes winner this year and his 52nd lifetime graded stakes winner. Performer’s win pushed his sire’s lifetime progeny earnings past the $105 million mark. 

Trained by Shug McGaughey for Phipps Stable (also his breeder) and Claiborne Farm, Performer was making his first stakes start following a pair of allowance wins and a maiden win. He chased a hard-ridden Carlos L. through six furlongs in 1:12.34 before taking over the lead, then refused to let Tax by in the stretch, ultimately winning by 1 1/4-lengths in 1:50.36 for the 1 1/8-miles on a fast track.

“He’s had a really good 3-year-old year; ran four times and won four times. It was the first time around two-turns and we moved him up a little bit in class,” said McGaughey. “He beat a very nice horse who ran second, and I’m very pleased he got it done today around two turns.”

Performer’s only blemish in five starts is a third in his debut as a 2-year-old. Undefeated in four outings this year, he has earned $257,000. He is out of Grade 2-placed Protesting and is a half-brother to Tropical Park Derby winner Breaking the Rules.