Beaton closes in on sixth $1 million training season

MILTON, ON. Trainer Anthony Beaton sent out three two-year-old winners at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Thursday (Aug. 6), pushing him to within a few hundred dollars of a sixth $1 million training season.

The Waterdown, Ont. horseman has 495 lifetime wins and $14.9 million in stable earnings, and Thursday’s card did plenty to close the gap on that sixth seven-figure year.

Twin B Copacabana led the way, looping to the front early and holding on for a head win in 1:51.1. The filly, a $90,000 purchase out of the yearling sales ring, races for Copacabana Stable of Waterdown, Ont.

Captain Cavalier backed her up in the winner’s circle. The colt cost $333,333 at the Lexington Selected Sale, and he’s already carrying the family name that matters most to this stable. He’s a half-brother to Beaton’s flagship pacer Nijinsky, and he races for a four-way ownership partnership.

Waves Of Fortune rounded out the trio in 1:52.3. Picked up for a fraction of Captain Cavalier’s price at $23,944 at the Standardbred Horse Sale, the colt is part-owned by Beaton himself alongside partners Lisa Lefort, David Mercer and Teresa Davidson. Lefort is also Beaton’s wife, adding a family stake to what was already a big night for the barn.

It’s worth sitting with that gap for a second. Captain Cavalier at $333,333 and Waves Of Fortune at $23,944 came out of the same barn on the same card roughly 14 times apart in purchase price, and both found the winner’s circle within the space of a few races. It’s the kind of result that shows the Beaton operation isn’t just built on the marquee yearlings. The bargain buys are pulling their weight too.

Nijinsky remains the standard the rest of the barn gets measured against. His two-year-old season in 2023 was a quiet one, just a single win and no fanfare. Everything changed in 2024, when he broke through as a three-year-old to win the North America Cup and claim the O’Brien Award, then went on to run second to stablemate Legendary Hanover in the Meadowlands Pace. Thursday’s card was a reminder the pipeline behind him hasn’t slowed down, with three more sales purchases, at three very different price points, finding the winner’s circle in a single night.

Beaton has now banked a million-dollar season five times in his career. A sixth is now just a matter of the next start or two, with his string of two-year-olds racing through the Mohawk stakes ladder over the coming weeks.

by Harnesslink Media