Golden Pal flies to 2nd career Breeders' Cup win in Turf Sprint
Del Mar, Calif.
Ever seen a five-furlong race decided in one stride? Don’t blink. Golden Pal just did it.
Last year’s winner of the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint looked like he was shot out of a cannon Saturday afternoon at Del Mar. Golden Pal (5-2) was never threatened by the other 11 horses as he ran away to a 1 1/4-length triumph in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
“He’s very quick, and he’s very agile,” winning trainer Wesley Ward said. “My only concern with the race today was the first jump. I knew if he broke with them, his quickness and his agility to just bounce around like he did. Then not only did he break with them, he broke in front of them.”
The 3-year-old Uncle Mo colt now on a five-race winning streak on U.S. tracks was clocked at 55.22 seconds, up from the originally announced 54.75. Golden Pal was clocked at revised fractions of 22.25 and 43.91 on a sun-drenched, firm course.
“He was all the way running,” said jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., who, like Ward, won this race for the first time. “He ran like a shot. He just tore his face the whole way. He’s faster than ever.”
Ortiz has won all four times he has been on Golden Pal, who had been ridden by Frankie Dettori to a seventh-place finish in the Nunthorpe Stakes (G1) on Aug. 20 in England and by John Velázquez last month in his triumph in the Woodward (G1) at Belmont Park.
“Johnny rode a great race on him last time,” Ward said. “We had a discussion with Coolmore (the colt’s owner). One guy has won one, the other guy has won three. We went with the rider who knew the horse so well, so I imagine that we’ll stay with him.”
Yes, that hints that Golden Pal will race at age 4. While Ward hopes so, M.V. Magnier of Coolmore seemed to say so.
“I was just talking to Wesley about that,” Magnier said. “He’s very keen for us to continue to keep him in training. We may look at the King’s Stand (G1) at Ascot (next June).”
Regardless of what happens in 2022, Ward believes in 2021 that he has never seen better than Golden Pal.
“He’s got the title,” he said. “He’s the best horse I’ve ever trained. Bruce Headley, a great trainer, once told me when he had Kona Gold, ‘Stay in there long enough, and you’ll get one as good as this.’ I hope everyone in horse racing has a horse like this, as special as he is. He’s just fast, he’s mature, and he has so much upstairs, as well. He has so much natural ability. What a horse.”
The full order of finish was: Golden Pal, Lieutenant Dan, Charmaine's Mia, Emaraaty Ana, A Case of You, Gear Jockey, Kimari, Glass Slippers, Extravagant Kid, Chaos Theory, Fast Boat, and Caravel.