Dakota Gold Takes Down Nownownow Field at Monmouth

Trainer Danny Gargan probably won't need to do any more convincing with owner Dean Reeves about sending Dakota Gold  to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T).

The horse stated his case emphatically Sept. 26 at Monmouth Park.

Dakota Gold, a New York-bred son of Freud  , turned in an eye-catching performance on closing day at Monmouth, capturing the $500,000 Nownownow Stakes for 2-year-olds by 2 1/2 lengths.

Ridden by Isaac Castillo, Dakota Gold stormed from off the pace in the one-mile grass feature, flashing under the wire in 1:36.31 over a turf course labeled "good" to improve to 2-for-2.

After winning his debut at 5 1/2 furlongs in an off-the-turf maiden special weight race at Saratoga Race Course by 4 1/2 lengths Sept. 2, Dakota Gold showed why Gargan was so eager to get him on the grass.

"I just couldn't wait to get him on the grass," said Gargan. "We knew he had this kind of turn of foot on the grass. There was some pace in the race and he just flew by. When the jockey asked him he just galloped by. It was pretty impressive. You get lucky and get a horse like this once in a while. I think this horse has as much talent as any younger horse I've ever had."

Dakota Gold, owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, will likely get a chance to show off that talent next in the Nov. 5 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar, said Gargan.

"There was a New York-bred race today at Belmont at seventh-eighths on the dirt (the Bertram F. Bongard Stakes)," said Gargan. "Dean and I discussed it and I really wanted to run here. I'm just glad I got the opportunity to do it and Dean gave me a chance. I told him if we win this we can go to the Breeders' Cup, so I think Dean is going to let me going to the Breeders' Cup."

For the 23-year-old Castillo, the win was a highlight of his young career.

"This is the biggest win of my career, the biggest purse I have ever won," he said. "It's incredible. It feels great. This is a fantastic horse, a championship-type horse."

Sent off at 5-1 in the field of nine, Dakota Gold was back in the pack as There Are No Words  and Grooms All Bizness  set early fractions of :21.41 and :45.56 to the half, at which point Dakota Gold was sixth. Castillo swung Dakota Gold wide coming out of the turn and he breezed past the field, with Royal Spirit  rallying for second. It was another six lengths back to 4-5 favorite Coinage  in third.

Dakota Gold was bred by Sequel Thoroughbreds and Ron Bowden and is the second registered foal out of the Lemon Drop Kid   mare Dakota Kid. The mare has since produced Ramblin' Wreck, a yearling Redesdale  colt, and this year foaled a Mucho Macho Man   colt.

Reeves Thoroughbred Racing purchased Dakota Gold for $83,000 out of The New Hill Farm consignment in 2019 at The Saratoga Fall Sale, Fasig-Tipton's mixed sale is New York. The juvenile has earned $355,000.

Video: Nownownow S. (BT)

Speaking Takes Smoke Glacken

In the $119,000 Smoke Glacken Stakes that served as the supporting feature, New Jersey-bred Speaking  dazzled a field of open company 2-year-olds with a 3 1/4-length victory.

Trained by Eddie Owens Jr. and ridden by Gerardo Corrales, Speaking turned in a sharp winning time of 1:10.12 for the six furlongs on a fast track. Forty Stripes  was second, 2 1/4 lengths ahead of Practical Coach  in third.

"He doesn't know he's a Jersey bred—and we're not going to tell him, either," said Owens. "He showed us a lot of potential in the mornings so we have had high expectations for him. His first race he did everything professionally, so we knew he was going to be a very nice horse.

"Today he was eye-popping. Very nice. I don't know what we have in store for him yet. We made no long-term plans. We'd like to get him to try two turns. But we're taking it race by race right now. We'll see what we find for him next. Wherever we go next I love the way he ran today. He showed us a lot. He did it with ease."

Speaking, a Holly Crest Farm homebred, returned $3.60 to win as the favorite in the field of eight. The recently-gelded son of Mr Speaker   is now 2-for-2 with earnings of $118,125. He is out of the Silver Deputy mare High Noon Nellie, who also produced dual Monmouth stakes winner Stiffed . High Noon Nellie's latest foals are a yearling Jump Start  filly named Let Her Run and a weanling Sea Wizard  colt. She was bred back to Sea Wizard for 2022.

Video: Smoke Glacken S. (BT)

Monmouth Realizes Increased Handle

Monmouth Park showed an increase in overall handle and nearly doubled its on-track handle for this year's 55-day meet compared to a year ago as the track concluded its 76th season Sunday.

"We were happy to have our fans back, we had another memorable TVG.com Haskell Invitational (G1) and we feel good about how Monmouth Park is positioned as we move forward and return to some sense of normalcy during these COVID-19 times," said Dennis Drazin, chairman and CEO of Darby Development, the operators of Monmouth Park. "This wound up being a transitional year coming out of the worst of COVID-19 a year ago. We overcame some challenging weather, especially early in the meet, purses were very good and the quality of racing was excellent."

Monmouth Park's overall handle for the meet was $173,511,161 compared to $167,511,608 a year ago. The return of fans had a significant impact, with the on-track handle increasing to $15,216,978 compared to $8,917,436 a year ago. The simulcast handle was down slightly from $158,594,172 in 2020 to $158,294,183 this year.

Monmouth conducted 44 days of live racing a year ago.

Jockey Paco Lopez wrapped up his eighth riding title at the New Jersey track with a flourish Sunday, booting home six winners to bring his final total to 109 wins for the meet. Runner-up Castillo had 55 wins. Lopez's eight titles are second in track history to Joe Bravo's 13.

Wayne Potts captured the training title with 38 wins after winning the abbreviated Meadowlands-at-Monmouth meet last fall.

Colts Neck Stables, with 14 wins from 35 starts, was the leading owner.