“This is a strong colt with great bone and muscle”, said Coteau Grove Broodmare Manager Jacob Cyprian. “He has a beautiful head with quality. We sold his half-brother for good money so hopefully this colt will do the same.”

Out of Grade III-winning Lady Shipman (Midshipman), Golden Pal won seven graded stakes from 5-5 1/2 furlongs, including the GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint followed by the GI Turf Sprint in 2021. He also annexed consecutive editions of the GII Woodford S. at Keeneland, in addition to the 2022 GII Shakertown S.

The post First Foal for GISW Golden Pal appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Saturday, October 22, 2022
3rd-HSN, ¥13,400,000 ($89k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1800m
MATENRO EAGLE (JPN) (c, 2, Sharp Azteca–Doppia Vendetta {Brz}, by First American) is a son of a dual Argentinian group winner who was purchased by J S Company for $40,000 carrying this colt in utero at Keeneland November in 2019, having previously produced a pair of colts by Fast Anna. Doppia Vendetta is a half-sister to Brazilian champion 3-year-old filly Old Tune (Brz) (Wild Event). Like Sharp Aza Tack (5×4), one of three stakes winners for Sharp Azteca and a candidate for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, Matenro Eagle (5×3) is inbred to Quiet American. B-Kinya Murakami

Sunday, October 23, 2022
3rd-TOK, ¥13,400,000 ($89k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1400m
DOUBLE JOKE (c, 2, Practical Joke–Double Date, by Rahy) is one of two in this heat for Godolphin and was acquired for $80,000 out of the 2020 Fasig-Tipton November Sale. The chestnut is out of a half-sister to Canadian Horse of the Year Peaks and Valleys (Mt. Livermore) and the late Alternate (Seattle Slew), the dam of GISW Higher Power (Medaglia d'Oro) and MGSW 'TDN Rising Star' Alternation (Distorted Humor), who passed away at Pin Oak Stud Oct. 15. Godolphin is also represented by its homebred FROST CITY (c, 2, Frosted–Texas Twirl, by Hard Spun), the first foal out of an unraced half-sister to MGSW & MGISP Cowboy Cal (Giant's Causeway). B-William Humphries & Altair Farms LLC (KY)

4th-HSN, ¥13,400,000 ($89k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1200m
JASPER ROYAL (c, 2, Violence–Sumthingtotalkabt, by Mutakddim) is the latest to make the races for his now 19-year-old dam, whose notable produce include GSW and GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint runner-up Lady Shipman (Midshipman), the dam of Golden Pal (Uncle Mo), who will be favored to repeat in the Turf Sprint at Keeneland in 16 days' time; and MSP Just Talkin (Midshipman). Jasper Royal cost trainer Hideyuki Mori $140,000 after breezing an eighth in :10 1/5 at this year's OBS March Sale. B-SF Bloodstock (KY)

JUZCAR (c, 2, American Pharoah–Blue Bahia, by Wildcat Heir) is a third-generation product for this breeder, who raced Blue Bahia to a pair of stakes victories and better than $317,000 before she produced this first foal. The bay, who carries Storm Cat 4x4x4 in his pedigree, was knocked down to Katsumi Yoshida for $380,000 at OBSMAR after covering a furlong in :10 1/5. B-Dennis Drazin (KY)

5th-TOK, ¥13,400,000 ($89k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1800mT
COLLECTANEA (c, 2, Collected–Dance With Kitten, by Kitten's Joy), a half-brother to recent dirt maiden winner Suetonius (Carpe Diem), gets his career started on the grass, and with good reason, as his dam is a full-sister to two-time GI Woodford Reserve Turf Classic hero Divisidero, who stands alongside Collected at Airdrie Stud. Dance With Kitten relocated to Japan in 2020 and is the dam of a yearling colt by Yoshida (Jpn) and a weanling filly by two-time Horse of the Year Kitasan Black (Jpn). B-Shadai Corporation (KY)

The post Violence Half To Lady Shipman Down to Debut in Japan appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

“Mr. Mabee, my name is Randy Lowe,” he said. “You don't know me, but could I invest this in your company?”

Mabee opened the envelope and found a check for $100,000. Still plenty of money today, and this was 1986. Mabee looked at Lowe.

“Is this real?” he asked. “Where did this come from?”

So Lowe told him. He had always played the Pick 6. It was the only bet, he felt, that might change your life if you could actually hit one time. A few weeks previously, he had gone to Santa Anita with $120 in his pocket. It was as much as he could scrape together, as an insurance agent wearily accustomed to doors closing on his pitch. He staked $96 on his Pick 6. Add the price of his seat, something to eat, there wouldn't be much left. He was 29 years old, struggling to pay his bills, going nowhere.

Almost everybody was out after the first leg, a 35-to-one blowout. A professional gambler heard that Lowe was still in, asked to see the remaining lines, and offered $10,000 for his ticket. Lowe held his nerve and, though three of the next four legs were also won by outsiders, was still clinging to a live bet come the final leg. He had four shots.

It wasn't a typical Santa Anita day at all, and he peered down the track into a cold fog. “I was sitting there all by myself, nervous as nervous could be,” Lowe recalls. “It was a six-furlong sprint. As soon as the race started, I was yelling. Turning in, there were five horses across the track, and only one I didn't have. I remember looking up and saying, 'Please God, please don't let that horse beat me.' We ended up running one, two, three, four.”

The tension didn't end there, though. How many others could possibly be left standing? This really could change his life. Then the voice of track announcer Trevor Denman.

“Ladies and gentlemen, one ticket wins the Pick 6 today.”

Lowe rushed downstairs to the phone booth, which had to be unlocked by request, and called home.

His father could hear Lowe panting. “What's wrong?”

“I just won the Pick 6.”

“Well, what did it pay?”

“$156,000.”

“What!?”

“I don't know what to do. Do I take it in cash or what?”

After the IRS took their share, Lowe asked for $100,000 as a check and the rest in bills. For a couple of months, he carried that check around with him. He'd take it out and stare at it, asked banks about interest rates. Then he heard that Mabee, doyen of Californian racing, was starting up an insurance division. So Lowe took up his post by the elevator and waited.

Mabee heard him out, shook his head, and gave Lowe his check.

“I don't have partners,” he said.

But then he added that if Lowe believed in him, to quite that extent, then he should make an appointment at his head office in San Diego and they could see whether there might be a vacancy for him somewhere.

A week later Lowe drove down the coast, checked into a hotel and presented himself at Mabee's office.

“And where does he take me for this interview?” he says, grinning. “Del Mar racetrack.”

Mabee had a couple of runners on the card. The first would win, he declared, proposing a $1,000 exacta with the three horse.

“Okay,” Lowe said. “But you're going to lose your money. The one is going to finish second.”

And that's just how it played out. Next race, Mabee was betting the four horse.

“Again, you're going to lose your money,” Lowe said. “The nine will win.”

Sure enough, Lowe was right again. Long story short, he put Mabee on six consecutive winners and a couple of exactas into the bargain. Mabee looked at the young man in bewilderment.     “If you can sell insurance as well as you pick racehorses,” he said, “we can go very far.”

Before long, Lowe was getting calls from his workaholic boss at 5 a.m. asking for counsel not just in handicapping but in placing his horses. Gradually he became a fixture in Mabee's entourage. At the time, remember, his boss was on the board of the Breeders' Cup, chairman at Del Mar, and building up the Big Bear Markets grocery chain.

“John was a very honest, stand-up kind of guy,” Lowe recalls. “He wasn't the kind anyone could push around, but he was very fair. He demanded that things be done in the right way. He used to tell me that meetings were for people who like to waste time. If you had an idea, you should just go ahead and do it.

“And it was a friendship that really blossomed. I just couldn't believe that a man of his importance and stature would take an interest in somebody who really didn't have much of anything. A lot of the times, I couldn't afford where they were staying. So, I'd try to find a cheaper hotel and John would say, 'Nonsense!' And he'd get me a room. He made me feel like part of the family. And, you know, that rubbed some people the wrong way… I mean, I'm a Chinese guy. I used to stand in the back of pictures. But John would say, 'What you doing back there? You come down here and stand right near me.'”

Before long, anyone seeking insurance from Mabee's company in Los Angeles was being referred to Randall E. Lowe. He would be taken into even the biggest meetings: with Bob Lewis, or Saudi princes. Mabee's former partner in the Los Angeles Chargers, Barron Hilton, kept calling him Mr. Lowe. “No, sir,” he would say. “Please, just 'Randy'!”

Lowe's first venture into racehorse ownership had been, let's say, enterprising. Having identified a potential claim, he approached his uncle: “I got two-thirds of what I need, can you loan me the rest?” Then he went to his father, and said: “Dad, I got two-thirds of the money, can you lend me the rest?” Finally, he went to his mother–his parents had divorced–and you know what he said. That horse won a couple of races, and Lowe did even better with one claimed from Mabee himself, winning seven in a row. And meanwhile he has honed that freakish acuity as a handicapper, winning the Pick 6 201 times since that fateful day in 1986.

Obviously, we can't expect Lowe to share the secret. “But I have been handicapping ever since I was seven years old,” he says. “My dad used to stare at the Racing Form, spread on the dining room table, and I'd look from the other side and ask questions. He would tell me what he knew, my uncle would tell me what he knew, my cousin the same. And I started reading books and gradually put the whole thing together, my own formula.”

Soon after Lowe entered Mabee's life, so did Best Pal–the best horse ever raced by his Golden Eagle Farm, runner-up in the Kentucky Derby and winner of such iconic West Coast prizes as the Hollywood Gold Cup and Santa Anita Handicap. And fate decreed that many years later Lowe would honor his mentor by naming a horse for a combination of the stable (Golden) and its champion (Pal).

This chapter of Lowe's remarkable story traces to a Barretts sale in the fall of 2005. Mabee had died three years earlier, and Lowe had just broken up with a girlfriend. Seated today alongside his wife Brenda, he laughs at the memory. “You can print this if you want,” he says. “I said, 'The heck with these women, I'm just going to own racehorses instead!' And that's why I went to the auction.”

By that stage, having done so himself, Lowe had resolved to move his horses up in the world. There had been good claims, bad claims, plenty in between. But he figured that if ever he was going to find a Best Pal, he would have to change tack. So at the Pomona auction he bought a $28,000 weanling filly by Mutakddim (a son of Seeking The Gold who had raced in Europe) from the estate of Leon Rasmussen, the dosage theorist.

Lowe named her Sumthingtottalkabt and she won five for Wally Dollase, just falling short at stakes level but often melting the clock, both mornings and afternoons. Lowe decided she had enough speed to try his hand at breeding, and paired her with Midshipman.

The result was Lady Shipman, who missed by a neck in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint of 2015, but racked up 11 stakes and over $900,000. Her very first foal, by Uncle Mo, is Golden Pal, now limbering up for a Breeders' Cup treble after brilliantly avenging his dam's defeat in the equivalent race last year, having already won the GII Juvenile Turf Sprint in 2020. And, throughout, it has almost felt as though somebody up there is taking a benign interest.

Lady Shipman herself, for instance, fell well short of her reserve in a 2-year-old sale. She had worked nine-and-four, no medication and no whip, and Lowe wanted $210,000. She was led out at just $35,000. In turn, moreover, Lowe thought so much of Golden Pal as a yearling that he raised the bar higher yet at the September Sale. This time, however, bidding stalled at $325,000.

With Lady Shipman, people had more or less mocked him to his face. “You don't have any money,” they said. “And yet you're sitting there holding out for what you think is 'fair'!”

“Well, I didn't want people to take advantage of me,” he recalls with a shrug. “So I didn't sell her. And with Golden Pal, I told all these different trainers what the horse would be. And nobody believed me.”

The unchecked box against the colt had been sesamoiditis, but Coolmore remained interested. Lowe was so confident that he gave them 60 days to see how the horse came along. After what he recalls with a grin as “59 days and 23 hours”, the colt was returned. Okay, no problem, Lowe would send him to Wesley Ward. He had seen how the trainer adored the colt at the sale, but couldn't find a buyer.

Soon Golden Pal was showing so much speed that Lowe found himself turning down multiples of his sale reserve until, after that first Breeders' Cup, yielding to a renewed offer from a Coolmore partnership.

Now Lowe is once again showing his faith in Lady Shipman, her Omaha Beach colt another RNA in the same ring last week at $385,000. Lowe is undaunted. Eventually, people have always had to come round. “This was my fourth time trying to sell a horse,” he says. “And this time I didn't even try to talk anybody into buying him. But I'm telling you now: this horse is very, very fast. I'll just race him myself and I'll show everybody. I'll win the Breeders' Cup with him, too!”

Despite producing a champion at the first attempt, Lady Shipman has certainly charted the full spectrum of this business, having meanwhile lost both her next two foals. But Lowe is ecstatic with Golden Pal's weanling full-sister, Luvwhatyoudo; while she's now in foal to Essential Quality.

Whatever happens from here, it has already been a remarkable odyssey. When Golden Pal won his first Breeders' Cup in the silks of Ranlo Investments LLC, few realized that this was one guy with one horse. Sure, Lowe has had plenty of other horses over the past 38 years; and right now, indeed, has an interest in five. But he still watches the big names spending the big money, and wonders how many of them will ever find a horse this fast.

He hopes that the friends who bought Golden Pal will prioritize a third Breeders' Cup, but understands they have vast experience and a corresponding agenda. If they want to raise the bar by trying him on dirt–albeit the plan is apparently the GII Woodford S., on grass, on October 8–then he wishes them all possible luck.

After all, this is a man who got through college living off 50-cent enchiladas, twice a day, requesting extra chips and a glass of water. Somehow, from $20 a week, he needed to salvage something to take to the windows after getting into the racetrack for free before the last race.

“When Lady Shipman ran at the Breeders' Cup, we were in front one step before the wire and then her head came back,” he recalls. “One more half-step, we win the race. And then I probably would have sold her, and we wouldn't have had Golden Pal. Now all these different people are telling me to sell her. But every time I've ever been to see her, at all those different racetracks and now on the farm, she has come up and put her head on my shoulder, like she wants a hug. Every single time. And looks for her peppermints. So it would be very hard to sell. Sometimes there's more to life than just making money.

“It's impossible, what's happened. For a person who used to stand there at Hollywood Park, begging people as they're leaving the track, 'Excuse me, sir, could I have your Racing Form, your program?' It's taken a long time. It's almost like life is played like some kids' board game. You go this way, you go that way. All I know is that when I hoisted that Breeders' Cup trophy up in the air, I was thanking John Mabee.”

Lowe remembers seeing an old movie as a boy. About kids his own age: one was selling newspapers, one was shining shoes, that kind of thing. And they pooled their few cents and befriended a racetracker who would place their wagers. Every time, they lost. But then they won the big pool. Their friend got so excited that he had a heart attack, dropped to the floor.

“The kids are waiting for him outside,” Lowe recalls. “His car is still there. But he never comes out. And I always think that watching that movie, growing up, gave me inspiration. Because my motto has always been that if you believe in anything enough, and you want it bad enough, it will happen. You might not do it today. You might not do it tomorrow. But if you believe to the day you die, it will happen.”

The post How A Golden Touch Introduced Best of Pals appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

“He's got a brilliant mind this horse and takes everything in, but he knew it was race day,” said winning trainer Wesley Ward. “The plan was, unless he broke super sharp, that I'd like him to come from behind. Irad [Ortiz, Jr.] worked him from behind the last few times, so he knew he could do it. Julio Garcia, our main rider at home, works him from behind every week. I'm glad he showed a little versatility today. I'm glad Irad gave him a couple of reminders on the shoulder and got him going the last little part. Right after the race he gave him a little pet and a tap and he said there was a lot more left in him.”

He added, “You're always concerned [about the close finish], but I have a of confidence in this horse. He's certainly the best horse I've ever had. Every time you lead him over he proves more and more what a joy [it is] to be around a special horse like this. It would make every single trainer get up in the morning. He's a once in a lifetime horse and I've been blessed to have a few of them, but this guy is certainly the best.”

On a potential dirt start in the six-furlong GII Phoenix S. Oct. 7 at Keeneland, Ward said, “We'll talk it over with everyone involved in the ownership of the horse and see which direction they want to go, but it's important to them to show what the horse can do on the dirt as well. Through all these issues he's had throughout his career–minor issues–I've kept him on the grass to keep him sound, but he's never been as sound as he is now. It would be a good time to try him and it would be a good time to try him on his home track.”

“When they opened the gate he was moving at the same time and they outbroke me,” Ortiz said. “They were in front of me and that's not his style. He's always in front of everyone the first couple of jumps. We've been working covered up in behind horses, that was how Wesley wanted me to work the horse, and today when that happened I wasn't afraid to take a hold or drop in and sit and wait because I was working with the horse. It worked out good. He's pretty fast out of there; probably the fastest horse I ride on the turf in my whole career.”

As for the poor effort at Royal Ascot, Ortiz said, “Last time didn't work out, honestly, he missed the break. I was a little aggressive and he stopped bad, so we didn't want the same thing to happen. Wesley let me do whatever, he didn't say instructions or anything. I love riding for him. I felt somebody was coming [Thin White Duke], but my horse was fighting with the other horse [True Valour], but my horse was responding well, so I know he's going to be there if I ask him too.”

A neck short in the G2 Norfolk S. at the 2020 Royal meeting, Golden Pal captured the Skidmore S. at the Spa and the GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint S. at Keeneland. Kicking off 2021 with a win in Saratoga's GIII Quick Call S., he was seventh when shipped across the pond for York's G1 Nunthorpe S., but returned to winning ways back at Keeneland in the GII Woodford S. last October. Securing his second win at the World Championships in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint S. at Del Mar, the son of Lady Shipman romped in Keeneland's GII Shakertown S. Apr. 9, but was eased to 16th as the heavy favorite after a slow start in the G1 King's Stand S. at Royal Ascot June 14.

Pedigree Notes:
Golden Pal is the first foal out of ultra-talented turf sprinter Lady Shipman, who came up just short in her Breeders' Cup bid, but won a total of eight stakes, including a track record-setting score in Saratoga's 5 1/2-panel Smart N Fancy S. That record of 1:00.46 was broken by Carotari in 2019, when he covered the distance in 1:00.21. Lady Shipman failed to get in foal to Gun Runner for 2019 and her 2020 Justify foal died. The 10-year-old mare produced an Omaha Beach colt now named Lieutenant General in 2021 and an Uncle Mo filly named Luvwhatyoudo in 2020. She was bred back to Essential Quality. Lady Shipman's MSP full-sister Just Talkin summoned $675,000 in foal to American Pharoah at the 2019 FTKNOV sale.

Friday, Saratoga
TROY S.-GIII, $300,000, Saratoga, 8-5, 4yo/up, 5 1/2fT, 1:00.92, fm.
1–GOLDEN PAL, 124, c, 4, by Uncle Mo
                1st Dam: Lady Shipman (GSW-Can, MSW & GISP-USA,
                                   $902,387), by Midshipman
                2nd Dam: Sumthingtotalkabt, by Mutakddim
                3rd Dam: Nannetta, by Falstaff
($325,000 RNA Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Westerberg Limited, Mrs.
John Magnier, Michael B. Tabor and Derrick Smith; B-Randall E
Lowe (FL); T-Wesley A. Ward; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr. $165,000.
Lifetime Record: GISW-US & GSP-GB, 11-7-2-0, $1,638,431.
 Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick
   Rating: A+.
2–True Valour (Ire), 122, h, 8, Kodiac (GB)–Sutton Veny (Ire), by
Acclamation (GB). (19,000gns Wlg '14 TATFOA; €100,000 2yo
'16 GBMBR; $225,000 6yo '20 FTKHRA). O-R. Larry Johnson;
B-Mr P. O'Rourke (Ire); T-H. Graham Motion. $60,000.
3–Thin White Duke, 118, g, 4, Dominus–Aberdeen Alley, by
Distorted Humor. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O-Philip A.
Gleaves, Steven Crist, Ken deRegt and Bryan Hilliard; B-Phil
Gleaves (NY); T-David G. Donk. $36,000.
Margins: HD, NK, HF. Odds: 0.30, 11.00, 30.25.
Also Ran: Arzak, Yes and Yes, Spycraft, Carotari.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

The post Golden Pal Returns to Winning Ways appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

“Look at all the special running backs in history,” Ward said. “What makes them so special? They are naturally blessed with talent is what it comes down to. They are extremely fast and a lot of them have the mind for it as well. He's got both.”

Nearly two months after a disappointing appearance as the favorite in the G1 King's Stand S. at Royal Ascot in June, Golden Pal returns to competition Friday in the GIII Troy S. presented by Horse Racing Ireland at Saratoga Race Course. He drew post five in the field of seven going 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf.

Golden Pal is two for two at Saratoga and has won six straight–all in stakes company–in the U.S. since dropping his maiden debut in April, 2020. Overall, he has won six of 10 starts and earned $1.4 million, second in the Ward stable career standings to Judy the Beauty (Ghostzapper).

“He's certainly extremely accomplished here, having won two Breeders' Cups and is shooting for his third,” Ward said. “The only thing he's lacking is over there. He hasn't really come through for me going overseas.”

In his second start as a 2-year-old, Golden Pal was second by a neck to The Lir Jet (Ire) (Prince of Lir {Ire}) in the G2 Norfolk S. at Royal Ascot. Last summer at York, he was seventh in the G1 Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe S. On June 14 in the King's Stand, he got away slowly under Irad Ortiz, Jr., who had his head turned looking at a horse acting up behind the gate, was rushed up, weakened and was eased.

“This year I was just devastated with what happened at the break,” Ward said.

Golden Pal is the first foal out of Lady Shipman (Midshipman), who won 11 stakes during her distinguished career for Randall Lowe. During the height of her career, Lowe said he turned down a high offer of $3.5 million to sell Lady Shipman. He bred Golden Pal and when he failed to reach his reserve price at auction as a yearling, raced him as a 2-year-old. Following Golden Pal's victory in the GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, Lowe sold him to the Coolmore partnership of Mr. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith and Westerberg Ltd., which kept him with Ward. The bay completed his 2021 campaign for his new owners with a 1 1/4-length score in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar.

Clearly, Golden Pal has become a Ward favorite.

“He's just such a joy to be around,” Ward said. “Every horse has a different personality, as people do. And this guy has just got a wonderful personality. He's always positive. He'd be a positive person if was a human. He's just a real cool guy to be around.”

Ward has been very careful with Golden Pal, balancing training with a light racing schedule throughout his career. He ran four times as a 2-year-old, another four times last year and will have four, possibly five, starts in this–his final–season on the track. Ward was especially enthusiastic about the way the colt performed in his debut this season, winning the GII Shakertown S. at Keeneland by 4 3/4 lengths Apr. 9.

Running away with the Shakertown in April | Coady

“It was a big race the spring,” Ward said. “He was only coming off a Breeders' Cup to Keeneland. We had to train him with the weather at Keeneland and take him up to Turfway and breeze him. He certainly wouldn't have been 100% going into the race fitness-wise, because we had to contend with the weather, but he just came on with just a powerful race. I was so looking forward to going over to Ascot with him as he just trained well from that point forward.”

Golden Pal has had three breezes at Saratoga, two of them bullets, over the Oklahoma turf training track since July 15.

“We've had ample spacing and he's here and he's ready,” Ward said.

In his two previous starts at Saratoga, Golden Pal was an easy and impressive winner. He broke his maiden by 3 1/2 lengths in the 2020 Skidmore S. when a return trip to Europe was scuttled due to weather. In 2021, he wowed the crowd on opening day with a 3-length victory in hand in the GIII Quick Call S.

From Saratoga, Golden Pal will return to Ward's home base at Keeneland to prepare for the Breeders' Cup. The prep in Kentucky could be an experiment, a surface change.

“We may go to the (GII Stoll Keenon Ogden) Phoenix, which is on the dirt, for stallion value,” Ward said. “We'll see if he can do it. There's no reason why he can't. In another trainer's barn he probably would have been a dirt horse, but he had a lot of physical issues along the way that kept me from running him on the dirt just to keep him sound.”

Golden Pal's only dirt start was in his first career race at Gulfstream Park.

While the Breeders' Cup is the career-ending target, Ward said one more race might be in the offing.

“It may or may not culminate in Australia,” Ward said. “It all depends on how we finish out the year, but Coolmore has expressed an interest in showcasing him for the breeders in Australia in the Southern Hemisphere.”

The post “He’s Here and He’s Ready;” Golden Pal Restarts Final Campaign in Friday’s Troy appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Hard-knocking Just Might (Justin Phillip) has won no fewer than eight stakes, but will try to secure his first graded score here. The chestnut won three straight black-type events at the Fair Grounds: the Nov. 25 Thanksgiving Classic S., the Dec. 26 Richard Scherer Memorial S. and the Jan. 22 Duncan F. Kenner S, but was second last out in the Colonel Power S. Feb. 19.

The post Golden Pal Makes Seasonal Bow in Shakertown appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Ridden by John Velazquez, the Wesley Ward runner went right to the front, fought off a challenge from Firecrow on the turn for home, then pulled away down the stretch under steady encouragement to win by 2 1/4 lengths. He covered 5 1/2 furlongs on good turf in 1:03.12 after fractions of :21.51, :44.53 and :56.67

“He was very game,” said Velazquez. “Before the race – I never rode him so I asked Julio (Garcia, an exercise rider and jockey for trainer Wesley Ward). He said, 'Just put your hands down and he'll run for you; even if he gets passed he'll run for you.' I left him alone and when the other horse (Firecrow) came to him and put the head in front, I was like, 'Hey, we got to come back and run.' I got after him, and he gradually got away from the other horse. It took me two or three jumps to engage him back into the race, and after that he was pretty good.”

Extravagant Kid, an 8-year-old turf veteran from the barn of Brendan Walsh, closed to be second, with County Final another half length back in third, Johnny Unleashed fourth, Inhalation fifth, Firecrow sixth and Charcoal seventh.

“We are delighted,” said Walsh. “We can never be disappointed with this horse. He ran great again. The winner is a very, very good horse. Extravagant Kid is a model of consistency.”

Owned by Mr. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith and Westerberg, Golden Pal was winning for the fourth time in seven career starts. He paid $3 to win as the 1-2 favorite. He was bred in Florida by Randall E. Lowe.

Golden Pal was coming off his worst performance, a seventh-place finish in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes at York racecourse in England on Aug. 20. One of his other defeats came when narrowly beaten in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot in June 2020. Out of the crack sprinter Lady Shipman, by Midshipman (she finished second against males in the G1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland in 2015), Golden Pal ran off three consecutive victories following the Norfolk, including a victory at Keeneland in the G2 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

The post Golden Pal Regains Winning Ways In Woodford Stakes Over Keeneland Turf appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Golden Pal shook off eight months of rust from his previous outing in the Grade 2 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint on November 6 at Keeneland. That three-quarter length win came after another astounding Spa stakes win in the Skidmore at 5 ½ furlongs last August.

Golden Pal gave Coolmore partners Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith and Westerberg another graded stakes triumph on the NYRA circuit less than a week after respective victories with Santa Barbara and Bolshoi Ballet in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks and Grade 1 Belmont Derby on Saturday.

Irad Ortiz, Jr. nudged Golden Pal coming out of the gate and the talented bay responded swiftly, blitzing through the opening quarter-mile in a torrid 21.92 seconds over good turf. Jaxon Traveler kept close company in second as the field came around the far turn, but Ortiz, Jr. did not call on his charge until just past the quarter-pole.

Golden Pal extended his advantage in mid-stretch and was wrapped up past the sixteenth-pole, completing the journey in 1:02.99.

Florida invader Omaha City closed late for second, edging Jaxon Traveler by a half-length.

Rebel Posse, Second of July and Kentucky Pharoah completed the order of finish. Fauci and main track only entrants Mr. Sippi and Fire Sword were scratched.

Ortiz, Jr., who has never lost aboard Golden Pal in three starts, said he was pleased with the effort.

“He's a nice horse. I'm happy he came back where he left off,” said Ortiz, Jr., who piloted Charlie'sarchangel to victory in the first race on Opening Day. “He broke really nice for me. When I asked him, he responded really well. I didn't want to ask too early. I didn't want him to do too much, he's been off for a long time.”

Trainer Wesley Ward, who won his first graded stakes at the Spa, could not help but sing high praises on behalf of his talented colt.

“He's so extremely talented and quick,” Ward said. “He's a big horse and he moves like a cat and that's where he really has an advantage. I was a little concerned going into the race that I didn't have a gate work into him, but he's so smart that he overcame that in the first jump. When they said 'go,' he was gone.

“I like sprinters off layoffs,” Ward continued. “I think they run their best races off layoffs, more so than the distance horses. I think they need spacing in between because they are so fast and put so much into it, especially the first part of the race.”

Ward said the long term goal for Golden Pal is the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint on November 6 at Del Mar.

“The bigger races are here in the next months and heading into the fall and then the Breeders' Cup, so this is when you want to see them do this,” Ward said.

Upping his consistent record to 5-3-2-0, Golden Pal added $66,000 to a bankroll which now stands at $659,056. He returned $2.40 as the 1-5 post-time favorite.

Bred in Florida by Randall E. Lowe, Golden Pal is out of the Midshipman mare Lady Shipman, who notched two of her 11 stakes triumphs at Saratoga in the 2015 Coronation Cup and Smart N Fancy.

Live action resumes Friday with a 10-race program headlined by the Grade 3, $150,000 Forbidden Apple for 4-year-olds and upward going one mile over the inner turf course. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern.

The post Nine-Month Layoff No Problem For Breeders’ Cup Winner Golden Pal In Saratoga’s Quick Call appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

“He's a nice horse,” said winning pilot Irad Ortiz, Jr., who had ridden Golden Pal in both of his wins last term. “I'm happy he came back where he left off. He broke really nice for me. When I asked him, he responded really well. I didn't want to ask too early. I didn't want him to do too much, he's been off for a long time.”

Golden Pal is expected to take on the G1 Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe S. at York Aug. 20.

Bought back for $325,000 as a KEESEP '19 yearling, the son of brilliant turf sprinter Lady Shipman (Midshipman) was a close second at 1-2 in his main-track Gulfstream unveiling last April, and missed by a neck in the G2 Norfolk S. at Royal Ascot that June. He broke through by an emphatic 3 1/2 lengths in this venue's Skidmore S. in August, and justified heavy favoritism at the Breeders' Cup, holding on by 3/4 of a length after showing the way.

“He's so extremely talented and quick,” said trainer Wesley Ward. “He's a big horse and he moves like a cat and that's where he really has an advantage. I was a little concerned going into the race that I didn't have a gate work into him, but he's so smart that he overcame that in the first jump. When they said 'go,' he was gone.”

As for the time off, Ward explained, “I like sprinters off layoffs. I think they run their best races off layoffs, more so than the distance horses. I think they need spacing in between because they are so fast and put so much into it, especially the first part of the race.”

Thursday, Saratoga
QUICK CALL S.-GIII, $120,000, Saratoga, 7-15, 3yo, 5 1/2fT, 1:02.99, gd.
1–GOLDEN PAL, 124, c, 3, by Uncle Mo
1st Dam: Lady Shipman (GSW-Can, MSW & GISP-USA, $902,387), by Midshipman
2nd Dam: Sumthingtotalkabt, by Mutakddim
3rd Dam: Nannetta, by Falstaff
($325,000 RNA Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Mrs. John Magnier, Michael
Tabor, Derrick Smith & Westerberg; B-Randall E Lowe (FL); T-Wesley A.
Ward; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr. $66,000. Lifetime Record:
GSP-Eng, 5-3-2-0, $659,056. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for
the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Omaha City, 120, c, 3, Temple City–Lady Of Harrods (Aus), by
Dubawi (Ire). ($5,500 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Mohamed & Bibi N.
Jehaludi; B-Spendthrift Farm LLC (KY); T-Amzadali Jehaludi.
$24,000.
3–Jaxon Traveler, 122, c, 3, Munnings–Listen Boy, by After
Market. ($80,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP; $140,000 2yo '20 OBSAPR).
'TDN Rising Star' O-West Point Thoroughbreds & Marvin
Delfiner; B-A. Leonard Pineau (MD); T-Steven M. Asmussen.
$14,400.
Margins: 3, HF, 6 1/4. Odds: 0.20, 36.00, 4.20.
Also Ran: Rebel Posse, Second of July, Kentucky Pharoah. Scratched: Fauci, Fire Sword, Mr Sippi.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

Pedigree Notes:
Golden Pal is one of 40 graded winners for his top sire, but is the only one out of a Midshipman mare–two are out of mares by Midshipman's sire Unbridled's Song. He is the lone stakes winner from a small number of mares so far for Midshipman.

Lady Shipman, perhaps among the most talented runners in recent memory to have never won a Grade I–she missed by a neck in the 2015 GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint–was also bred by Lowe and he still owns her. She produced an Omaha Beach colt Mar. 24 and is back in foal to Uncle Mo. A Violence half-brother to Lady Shipman RNA'd for $170,000 earlier this week at Fasig-Tipton July.

The post Golden Pal Back and Still Brilliant in Quick Call appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Golden Pal (Uncle Mo) is the first foal out of Randal Lowe's homebred Lady Shipman, who ran second in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint in 2015, the last time the World Championships were held at Keeneland. Racing for Lowe, Golden Pal went one better with a front-running 3/4-length triumph over Cowan (11-1).

Golden Pal is named in honor of owner/breeder Lowe's mentor, John C. Mabee. Mabee operated Golden Eagle Farm, and his best horse was Best Pal, hence Golden Pal. The colt is 35-year industry veteran Lowe's first winner in the Breeders' Cup.

It was the second straight victory in the Juvenile Turf Sprint for trainer Wesley Ward, who won the race last year with Four Wheel Drive. Coming off a win in the previous race, the TAA Stakes with Rocketry, jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. piloted Golden Pal through the 5 1/2 furlong contest over Keeneland's “good” turf course and stopped the clock in 1:02.82.

Golden Pal out-broke the rest of the field at the start, leaping out to a two-length advantage in the backstretch. Ortiz tried for a sixteenth of a mile to gently ease the colt back off the bridle, but before the half-mile pole the jockey had to reach down and grab the reins hard to slow Golden Pal down. Even with the head-tossing and giving up his early lead, Golden Pal marked the first quarter in 21.62 seconds.

Stablemate Blame the Booze was also prominently placed early, but Golden Pal surged ahead by the quarter pole to again have a two-length lead over the rest of the field.

Meanwhile, Ubettabelieveit totally missed the break and spotted the field several lengths out of the gate. The Nigel Tinkler-trained colt wove through the field around the bend and was making up a ton of ground in the stretch.

Cowan also came from off the pace, inching into Golden Pal's lead in the final strides to nab second, beaten three-quarters of a length for trainer Steve Asmussen and jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr. Ubettabelieveit rallied to finish another 1 3/4 lengths back in third, while Lipzzaner was fourth.

“He's just amazing,” Ward said of the winner. “I got a little worried on the backside. Irad kind of lost a little momentum there and took a pretty good hold of him, but then he just accelerated down the lane. When he accelerated past the quarter-pole, I knew we were O.K. I got a little worried on the last part and was hugging onto my son, but we got there. He's a champion colt. Thank God (Randy Lowe) gave him to me to train. I really appreciate it. (Next year's Breeders' Cup) is where we're heading, but first we're going to Royal Ascot. Here we come. He's going to get them this year!” 

Bred in Florida by owner Randall Lowe, Golden Pal is out of the Midshipman mare Lady Shipman. The 13-time winner earned over $900,000 on the track, including multiple Grade 1 placings.

Her first colt finished second in his debut at Gulfstream in April, then traveled to Royal Ascot and was just beaten a neck in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes in June. Waiting until August to run Golden Pal again, Ward sent him out to finally break his maiden in the listed Skidmore Stakes at Saratoga. After giving his owner Lowe a first Breeders' Cup victory, Golden Pal's record stands at two wins and two seconds from four starts for earnings of $623,056.

Lowe said the colt will be given a break before coming back to Keeneland in April, then pointing to the Group 1 King's Stand at Royal Ascot and the Group 1 Nunthorpe after that, before a return to the Breeders' Cup next fall.

The post Golden Pal Proves Deserving Favorite To Give Ward Back-To-Back Wins In Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post