Golden Pal Takes Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint
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Photo: David Coyle
Golden Pal wins the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Keeneland
Randall Lowe took the long road, but he found redemption with his homebred Golden Pal in the Nov. 6 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2T) at Keeneland, the first of the Breeders' Cup World Championships' 14 races.
The 4-5 favorite, Golden Pal is the first foal out of another Lowe homebred, Lady Shipman, who came up a neck short in the 2015 TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) at Keeneland to Mongolian Saturday.
Golden Pal delivered unequivocal redemption for his dam and for Lowe with a powerful frontrunning victory for trainer Wesley Ward, who won this race last year with Four Wheel Drive. The son of Ashford Stud's Uncle Mo finished three-quarters of a length ahead of a fast-closing Cowan, who was a length in front of longshot European challenger Ubettabelieveit. The final time for 5 1/2 furlongs on good turf was 1:02.82.
"Wesley has believed in this horse from day one," Lowe said from the winner's circle. "I've been telling everyone about this horse. It has been a long haul, but we did it."
Randall Lowe and Wesley A. Ward in the winner’s circle
Golden Pal shot out of the gate and gained an advantage by a couple of lengths down the backside when jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. took a hold of him and allowed those in close pursuit to catch him. The colt regrouped and rerallied, quickly restoring a comfortable lead by the time he reached the top of the stretch. Cowan and jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. continued battling furiously and were gaining with every stride at the end but couldn't catch the winner.
Golden Pal paid $3.60, $2.80, and $2.60. Cowan paid $8 and $5.80, and Ubettabelieveit paid $8.60. The $2 exacta paid $34.20, and a $1 trifecta paid $292.40.
"He's just amazing. 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," Ward said. "When he accelerated past the quarter pole, I knew we were OK. 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 (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."
Ortiz gave all the credit to Golden Pal for doing "the hard job."
"I just sat on him waiting for the time to go. He ran great. He really has a lot of potential," the rider said.
Golden Pal and Irad Ortiz Jr. head to the winner's circle
Cowan's trainer, Steve Asmussen, said he was disappointed to see the son of Kantharos finish another close second.
"Hopefully, one of these days it will be his turn. But he's obviously a very quality horse," Asmussen said. "I thought he'd win every day since the Indian Summer, and I'm disappointed he was second."
Jockey Rowan Scott, who was aboard Ubettabelieveit, the first Breeders' Cup starter for trainer Nigel Tinkler, said he thought his mount "ran a blinder."
"He was just a little bit slow here because his usual running style is coming from off the pace," Scott said. "He picked up well, but the first two were away and gone. I'm really happy with him."
Lady Shipman, a daughter of Midshipman , was an extraordinarily good racehorse with 11 black-type wins, including the Royal North Stakes (G3T). In 2015, she set track records at six furlongs at the Ocala Training Center in the OBS Sprint Stakes (1:08.80) and at 5 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga Race Course in the Smart N Fancy Stakes (1:00.46). She was retired with a 13-2-2 record from 21 starts and earned $902,387.
Golden Pal is Lady Shipman's only foal to date. She was bred this year to Spendthrift Farm's first-year sire Omaha Beach .
Uncle Mo has now sired two Breeders' Cup winners, getting his first with Nyquist in the 2015 Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1). The sire is represented by four other starters during Breeders' Cup weekend. He was also represented in the Juvenile Turf Sprint by Lipizzaner, who was fourth by a nose. His daughter Girl Daddy finished third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), and he has Harvest Moon in the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) and Yaupon in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1).