Churchill Downs: Intricate patiently rolls to Golden Rod win

Intricate patiently waited for running room at the top of the stretch and then exploded home to comfortably win Saturday’s 80th running of the Grade 2, $399,498 Golden Rod at Churchill Downs by 5 1/4 lengths over 4-5 favorite Thorpedo Anna.

Intricate, who ran 1 1/16 miles over a fast track in 1:45.01 in a field of seven 2-year-old fillies, collected the $240,455 first prize and 10 points as part of the Road to the Kentucky Oaks series, which offers points on a scale of 10-5-3-2-1 to the top five finishers.

Tyler Gaffalione rode the winner for trainer Brendan Walsh and owners Bradley Thoroughbreds, Laura Leigh Stable, Scott Estes and Cambron Equine.

West Sunset, the winner of last month’s listed Rags to Riches Stakes, dictated the early pace through fractions of 23.30 and 47.31 seconds and 1:12.48 as Intricate relaxed along the rail about 3 1/2 lengths behind in third down the backstretch. West Sunset, long shot Dozen Diamonds and Thorpedo Anna left the final turn vying for the lead, but it was a pinned Intricate who found room between the tiring leader and a 68-1 outsider. Once clear, Intricate opened up and drew clear of the field for easy victory.

“She ran great today,” Gaffalione said. “She’s figuring things out and getting better with each start. I think the longer distance will definitely help her.”

Intricate paid $14.66, $4.90 and $3.54. Thorpedo Anna, under Brian Hernandez Jr., paid $3.20 and $2.72. Central Avenue, at odds of 7-1, rallied for third and returned $3.86 to show with Javier Castellano up.

Prior to the Golden Rod, Intricate broke her maiden in her second start while stretching out from a fifth in a debut sprint to a 3 1/2-length score at Keeneland around 1 1/16 miles on Oct. 13. She now boasts a record of two wins in three starts with earnings of $302,180.

“She’s a very easy filly to train and does it all by herself,” said Walsh, who used a third-place finish in last year’s Golden Rod to win this year’s Kentucky Oaks with Pretty Mischievous. “She’s just been starting to come around and really put things together today. We’ve always thought she’s a true two-turn filly. Last year this race worked out well for the development of Pretty Mischievous. We’ll see where we end up down the road with her but I’m sure we’ll entertain the Fair Grounds races like we did last year.”

Dozen Diamonds finished fourth and was followed by Gin Gin, Purloin, Here’s the Spider and West Sunset.

By Gun Runner, Intricate is out of the Distorted Humor mare Complex Analysis. The chestnut filly was bred in Kentucky by LBD Stable.