Hoist the Gold soon will be making his fourth trip from Kentucky to California in the past year, but for the first time it will be as a graded stakes winner. Dream Team One Racing Stable's 4-year-old homebred son of Mineshaft earned his way to the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint with a three-quarter length victory in the Grade 2, $350,000 Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix Stakes on Friday's opening day of the Keeneland fall meet in Lexington, Ky.
Ridden by John Velazquez for trainer Dallas Stewart, Hoist the Gold broke smoothly from the rail post, then tracked early leaders Sibelius and Doctor Oscar in third before swinging off the fence at the three-eighths pole. He rallied past those two on the turn for home, then held off 5-2 favorite Nakatomi to score his first career stakes victory in the “Win and You're In” Challenge Series race for the Breeders' Cup Sprint.
The win earned him a fees-paid slot in the Sprint and a travel allowance for the world championships to be held at Santa Anita Nov. 3-4. Hoist the Gold tries to become the first Phoenix Stakes winner to also win the Breeders' Cup Sprint in the same year since champion Runhappy in 2015, when Keeneland hosted the Breeders' Cup.
Hoist the Gold, winning for the fourth time in his 24th career start, covered the six furlongs on a fast track under sunny skies in 1:09.13 after chasing fractions of :21.79, :44.83, and :56.75. He paid $14.04 to win. Nakatomi finished a neck in front of 3-1 second choice Bango. Necker Island was fourth in the field of 11, followed by Sibelius, Gulfstream Way, Manny Wah, Doctor Oscar, Top Gunner, Voodoo Zip, and Baytown Bear.
“(Trainer) Dallas Stewart and I talked in the Paddock and I watched his (Hoist the Gold's) races – seems like when he's close to the pace he's much better,” said Velazquez. “So I told him I'm going to come out of there and get him third at least and we'll have a really good chance. Once I got him back and got behind those two horses I was in a great position where I thought I wanted to be. But I almost messed up a little bit when I asked him a little too much the first sixteenth of a mile.”
Stewart hasn't been shy in pitching Hoist the Gold against some of the country's top horses.
Last December, Hoist the Gold made his first trip to California where he finished third to Taiba in the G1 Malibu. On Kentucky Derby day at Churchill Downs, he finished second to G1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Cody's Wish in the G1 Churchill Downs Stakes, then tired to be eighth behind Cody's Wish again when stretched out an extra furlong for the G1 Metropolitan Mile Handicap.
Over the summer, Stewart sent Hoist the Gold to Del Mar twice, finishing eighth to The Chosen Vron in the G1 Bing Crosby and sixth behind Anarchist in the G2 Pat O'Brien. He's hoping for bigger things in the Breeders' Cup.
“When you show up with a nice horse and a jock (John Velazquez) that's won five Grade 1s for you, you got a lot of confidence,” Stewart said. “I didn't worry about a thing down the backside. It played out perfect. He got him out. The horse loves this track. He came home good, so we know where we're going November 4: back west (for the Qatar Racing Breeders' Cup Sprint-G1). It's great to be here. It's a great day. We got a great thing going with horse racing; we just gotta keep rolling.”
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