Golden Pal Considered for Late 2022 Trip to Australia

Trainer Wesley Ward confirmed a report from RSN that star American turf sprinter Golden Pal  is under consideration for a trip to Australia, though such an excursion wouldn't happen until late 2022 at the earliest, the trainer said Dec. 14.

The principal 2022 goal for the Uncle Mo   colt is a title defense in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T), which next year will take place at Keeneland, Ward's base. The 3-year-old colt is 2-for-2 at the Lexington track, having won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2T) there in 2020 and the Woodford Stakes Presented by TVG (G2T) in October. The latter race preceded his most-recent Breeders' Cup triumph.

Golden Pal races for Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, and Westerberg. That Coolmore-affiliated partnership bought him from breeder Randall Lowe last summer.

"They're thinking stallion—if he can do what he did here over there, with one race, that would be massive for him to excite the breeders over there to breed to him," Ward said.

Coolmore's Tom Magnier did not mention a specific target to RSN when he first mentioned to the publication the possibility of an Australia trip for Golden Pal.

"There haven't been too many American sprinters come to Australia so it's gonna be something different that we're looking to do," he told RSN.

If things go how Golden Pal's connections hope, he could be the world traveler next year. The King's Stand (G1) in England at Royal Ascot is a summer target. He narrowly missed in the Norfolk Stakes (G2) at Royal Ascot as a 2-year-old.

Ward said he has run one horse previously in Australia, Ken and Sarah Ramsey's Cannonball , who after a third-place finish in the 2009 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint traveled overseas to finish 10th in the 2009 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint (G1) at Sha Tin in Hong Kong and ended up ninth in the 2010 Coolmore VRC Lightning Stakes (G1) at Flemington in Australia. The gelding ended up staying in Australia and racing for different connections.

Golden Pal is currently with Ward at Keeneland. "He's doing unbelievable," the trainer said.

The colt's first intended race of 2022 is April's Shakertown Stakes (G2T) at Keeneland. The Shakertown is race Ward has won three of the past six years, including twice with Bound for Nowhere  (2018, 2021), a horse he also owns.

With Bound for Nowhere, Ward has the firepower for a possible Shakertown entry, though he seemed reluctant to pair them together given Golden Pal's brilliance.

"Nah, if it comes down to it, I'm not putting that Bound for Nowhere against that guy right now," he said.

A Florida-bred out of the graded stakes-winning Midshipman   mare Lady Shipman , Golden Pal is 5-for-8 with earnings of $1,299,056. He won this year's Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar by 1 1/4 lengths in his customary front-running style under Irad Ortiz Jr.