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Nine-Month Layoff No Problem For Breeders’ Cup Winner Golden Pal In Saratoga’s Quick Call

Stakes action for the 2021 meet at Saratoga Race Course kicked off in exciting fashion on Thursday's Opening Day as highly regarded turf sprinter Golden Pal returned to the Spa with vigor, posting a three-length victory in the Grade 3, $120,000 Quick Call for 3-year-olds going 5 ½ furlongs over the Mellon turf course in front of 27,760 fans in attendance.

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.

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Avie’s Flatter Chases Connaught Cup Crown Sunday At Woodbine

Multiple stakes winner Avie's Flatter, who cruised to victory in his return to action in June, faces eight rivals on the E.P. Taylor Turf Course in Sunday's Grade 2 $175,000 Connaught Cup Stakes, at Woodbine.

Bred and owned by Ivan Dalos (Tall Oaks Farm), the five-year-old son of Flatter, trained by Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee Josie Carroll, romped to an impressive 5 ¼-length score over the Tapeta on June 13 at Woodbine.

The victory, at seven furlongs, was the first race in nearly a year for Avie's Flatter, whose previous outing was a fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 Seagram Cup last July.

Sporting a record of 5-3-2 from 14 starts, the bay's most recent effort had Dalos beaming.

“It was nice to see him come back. You always hope for that kind of effort, but you never know. We always knew he was a good horse. Last year wasn't a good year for him. He had all kinds of problems, but it looks like he's back to his old self.”

Avie's Flatter won his career debut by 2 ½ lengths on the main track at Woodbine in August 2018. He then rallied to finish fourth in the Grade 1 Summer Stakes on the Toronto oval turf one month later.

He ended his two-year-old campaign with consecutive wins at Woodbine, taking the Cup and Saucer Stakes by 5 ¼ lengths on the grass in October and the Coronation Futurity by a half-length in November, en route to Sovereign Award honours as Canada's champion two-year-old male.

The Ontario-bred made his three-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Transylvania Stakes in April 2019 following a 4 ½-month layoff. He rallied to win the 1 1/16-mile turf by a half-length.

That 2019 season yielded a second in the first two jewels of the Canadian Triple Crown, the Queen's Plate and Prince of Wales Stakes, respectively, before a third in the final jewel, the Breeders' Stakes.

In three 2020 appearances, Avie's Flatter finished third in an allowance race in June, second in the Grade 2 Eclipse on July 4 and fourth in the Seagram Cup just over three weeks later.

“When he was a two-year-old and he started breezing, he showed that he had talent,” remembered Dalos. “When you breed a horse, you always hope you breed a good one, but they don't all turn out to be like that. I don't recall him being a troublesome horse. I think he was pretty mature. He always had a good mind.”

Dalos is hoping for a repeat of his latest performance, the first victory in 26 months for Avie's Flatter, who is a half-brother (same dam, different sire) to Canadian classic winner Avie's Mineshaft.

“That would be nice to see. Hopefully, he can come up with the same type of race he had in his last start.”

Trainer Mark Casse, who won the 2015 Connaught with Lockout, sends out Chuck Willis, Olympic Runner, Proven Strategies and Tap It to Win. Silent Poet, trained by Nicholas Gonzalez for Stronach Stables, is back to defend his title.

Hall of Fame jockey Robin Platts has won a record eight editions of the Connaught, including back-to-back runnings (1968-69) with James Bay. Plate Glass won the two first runnings, in 1912 and 1913.

The Connaught Cup is race 7 on Sunday's 12-race card.

First post time is 1:10 p.m. Fans can also watch and wager on all the action via HPIbet.com.

FIELD FOR THE $175,000 CONNAUGHT CUP

POST – HORSE – JOCKEY – TRAINER

1 – Avie's Flatter – Luis Contreras – Josie Carroll

2 – Silent Poet – Justin Stein – Nicholas Gonzalez

3 – Olympic Runner – Rafael Hernandez – Mark Casse

4 – Tap It to Win – Patrick Husbands – Mark Casse

5 – Proven Strategies – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Mark Casse

6 – Gray's Fable – Gary Boulanger – Roger Attfield

7 – Holiday Stone – David Moran – George Weaver

8 – Chuck Willis – Kazushi Kimura– Mark Casse

9 – Eskiminzin – Slade Callaghan – Carlos Grant

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‘Remarkable’ Arklow Headlines Saturday’s United Nations

If ever the timeworn cliché about not getting older but getting better could be applied to a horse, it would be Arklow.

The son of Arch is now seven and has earned $2,750,746 in a 32-race career that dates to 2016. Even more impressive is that he has won a graded stakes race in each of the past five years.

He became a Grade 1 winner in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic in the fall of 2019 and now, almost two years later, will be among the favorites at Monmouth Park for Saturday's Grade 1, $500,000 United Nations Stakes, the supporting feature on the 14-race TVG.com Haskell Stakes card.

The United Nations will be contested at a mile and three-eighths on the grass, where Arklow excels.

“Winning a graded stakes five years in a row is a remarkable thing,” said Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox, who saddled Arklow before his most recent victory in the Grade 3 Louisville Stakes at Churchill Downs in his only 2021 start. “I think it's a pedigree thing. He's an Arch. He felt like a horse that would always improve with age.”

Owned by Donegal Racing, Joseph Bulger and the estate of Peter Coneway, Arklow is back for a second straight crack at the United Nations. Sent off as the 13-10 favorite in 2020, he finished fourth. Thereafter, Cox added blinkers and Arklow has posed for winner's circle photos in three of his next four contests, all graded stakes, including the Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup at Del Mar in the final race of his 2020 campaign.

“He's really moved forward since we've added the blinkers,” Cox said. “His only defeat with them came in the Breeders' Cup. The blinkers seem to have picked his head up and are keeping him in the race mentally. I've always said I hate to put blinkers on a horse that's made a couple of million dollars, but once we did it he turned the corner.”

The horse's only loss in those four races after the equipment change was a sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf in November.

“We give him time off,” said Cox when addressing Arklow's longevity and successes. “It had been somewhat of a long year and then he got a break. I think that plays a big role. The owners of this horse are always willing to give him time. Once he's done so much, he gets a little vacation. He's rewarded them in staying consistent.”

Another astounding thing about Arklow is that he's stayed as sound and as willing as a young colt.

“We see all the signs that he still loves to do it,” said assistant trainer Blake Cox, who is overseeing the contingent of five horses, including Mandoloun, which the stable will run in all five graded stakes on Saturday's Haskell Stakes card. “He does so much after the wire and it's the way he does it. He's a mile-and-a-half horse and he's a grinder. He picks up every pole and you can't even pull him up. It's crazy. He tells you when he's ready.”

Arklow put in the last of his serious work for the United Nations at Monmouth Park on July 11 with a four-furlong breeze and has been training forwardly since. On Thursday, he was out on the track for a routine morning gallop, went to the gate and backed out, and then visited the paddock for a lesson.

“You don't see horses like this one anymore,” said Blake Cox, Brad Cox's son and assistant. “He handles everything thrown his way. He's a tough horse, no question. I think he likes a little give in the ground. I really do. It can rain as much as it wants or not, and he'll be fine.”

The horse's connections will be in attendance on Saturday, rooting for their iron horse.

“Winning the United Nations would mean a lot for everybody. He's already got a Grade 1 and we'd like to get another one for him,” said Blake Cox. “If everything goes right, I really think he can get the job done.”

It will be a busy and potentially-lucrative day for the Cox team on Saturday. In addition to Arlow in the Grade 1 United Nations and Kentucky Derby runner-up Mandaloun in the Grade 1 Haskell, they're sending out Grade 1 winner and Juddmonte Farms homebred Juliette Foxtrot in the Grade 3 WinStar Matchmaker Stakes, Grade 2 winner Vault in the Grade 3 Molly Pitcher Stakes, and Grade 3 winner Night Ops in the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup Stakes.

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Royal Ship Looms The Horse To Beat In Saturday’s San Diego ‘Cap

The Brazilian-bred 5-year-old Royal Ship has found his footing on dry land of late and could take a lot of beating at Del Mar Saturday as he heads a field of nine in the 80th edition of the $250,000, Grade 2 San Diego Handicap.

The gelded son of Del Mar's 2008 Del Mar Futurity winner, Midshipman, fired two big shots at Santa Anita this spring, winning the Grade 2 Californian and being beaten a head in the Grade 1 Gold Cup. Both races were on the main track, a relatively new chapter for the South American who had raced primarily on the turf.

The bay will go postward Saturday with a couple of sizeable pluses in his sails. First, he's trained by Hall of Famer Richard Mandella, always a good thing for a horse, especially so if you've come north from South America, a Mandella specialty. Then Royal Ship also gets the advantage of being guided by Hall of Famer Mike Smith, a man who has ridden more stakes winners then there are sailboats on San Diego Bay on a Sunday afternoon. The likely race favorite will pack topweight of 124 pounds and break from Post 4.

Second highweight at 123 and likely the favorite's chief threat is CRK Stable's Express Train, a hard-knocking colt by Union Rags who has won a graded stakes and been placed in three others thus far in 2021. The John Shirreff's trained 4-year-old will get the saddle services of his regular partner, J. J. Hernandez, as they start their journey from Post 5 right alongside Royal Ship.

Here's the full field for the San Diego from the rail out with weights and riders:

Daniell or Daniell's Rushie (121, Umberto Rispoli)
John Sondereker's Kiss Today Goodbye (120, Victor Espinoza)
Joe Peacock's Sheriff Brown (118, Edwin Maldonado)
Royal Ship
Express Train
Martin or Martin's Mo Mosa (120, Ramon Vazquez)
Summer Wind Equine's Magic On Tap (120, Abel Cedillo)
Hronis Racing's Tripoli (118, Tiago Pereira)
Hronis Racing's Heywoods Beach (118, Trevor McCarthy)

The San Diego is considered the shore track's key prep race for its centerpiece – the $750,000 TVG Pacific Classic, which this year will be run on Saturday, August 21. It goes at a mile and a quarter for 3-year-olds and up.

Also on the Saturday card is the Osunitas Stakes, an overnight for fillies and mares that carries an $80,000 purse. The mile on the turf has drawn a field of nine, including a pair out of trainer Richard Baltas' barn in Nasty and Ippodamia's Girl.

First post Saturday is 2 p.m. for the 11-race card.

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