Golden Pal Primed for Woodford Stakes
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Photo: Rick Samuels
Golden Pal wins the Shakertown Stakes at Keeneland
He's back at home, looking forward to the Breeders' Cup World Championships right outside his shedrow and trainer Wesley Ward is quietly confident about getting the Keeneland meeting off on the right foot Oct. 8 in the Woodford Stakes Presented by FanDuel (G2T).
Ward's Golden Pal is the star of the nine-horse field for the $350,000, 5 1/2-furlong dash. The 4-year-old Uncle Mo colt, racing for the Coolmore-affiliated Westerberg, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith, is a six-time graded stakes winner. Among those victories are the 2020 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2T) over the same Keeneland lawn and the 2021 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) at Del Mar.
Golden Pal is undefeated in three Keeneland starts, including last year's Woodford, and Ward, asked if he's confident, spoke volumes in one word, responding, "Yup."
Prompted, he added, "This is my home track. It's his home track. It's where he trained his whole life. So I'm just looking forward to having the Breeders' Cup here at Keeneland, that's for sure. He won the Breeders' Cup at 2 here, so he loves the surface and he's lightly raced, and he's coming into this race phenomenal."
Ward is facing the likelihood that Golden Pal will head to the breeding shed after the Breeders' Cup and has only one regret.
"There's one goal which, unfortunately, if he's retired, which is likely, is not winning at Royal Ascot. He was second at (age) 2 and this year, the rider (Irad Ortiz Jr.) was looking back at the horse which had yet to load, which was scratched, unbeknownst to him. They opened the gate, and he almost fell off. The race was over in a millisecond."
That was the 2022 King's Stand Stakes (G1), which was billed as a showdown between two of the world's top sprinters—Golden Pal and Australia's superstar Nature Strip , who won by 4 1/2 lengths as Golden Pal faded to get home last as a narrow favorite.
"It would have been awesome to see the two crack sprinters right down to the line," Ward said.
The others in the Woodford have flashed enough talent to compete but lack Golden Pal's results—at least at the top levels.
Artemus Citylimits , a 5-year-old Temple City gelding, has compiled a remarkable record of finishing in the first three in 20 of 21 starts while climbing slowly out of the claiming ranks. Trainer Mike Maker gave him his first stakes chance Sept. 10 in the FanDuel Turf Sprint Stakes (G2T) at Kentucky Downs, and he delivered, leading until the final strides before being passed by Bran . That heat went in course-record time of 1:07.41.
Speed is his game, and Artemus Citylimits likely will keep Golden Pal company on the front end.
Steve Asmussen brings County Final back to Keeneland for the first time since he finished third in the 2021 Woodford. He has only one win in 10 starts since, racing from Texas to Virginia. His most recent start on Sept. 6 was a third in the Woodford Reserve Da Hoss Stakes at Colonial Downs.
Also in the Keeneland Woodford field is Oceanic , a Constitution gelding who posted the upset win in the Da Hoss.
Gear Jockey , a Rusty Arnold-trained 5-year-old son of Twirling Candy has four wins from 20 starts with the only stakes victory coming in the 2021 FanDuel Turf Sprint (G3T) at Kentucky Downs. He was sixth in last year's Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint.
All In Sync , Bad Beat Brian , Charcoal, and recent European import Cadamosto complete the lineup.
Keeneland, Saturday, October 08, 2022, Race 6Entries: Woodford S. Presented by FanDuel (G2T)
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1County Final (KY)
Ricardo Santana, Jr.
120
Steven M. Asmussen
30/1
2
2Bad Beat Brian (KY)
Christopher A. Emigh
120
Brittany A. Vanden Berg
15/1
3
3All in Sync (KY)
Florent Geroux
118
Steven M. Asmussen
20/1
4
4Golden Pal (FL)
Irad Ortiz, Jr.
124
Wesley A. Ward
4/5
5
5Gear Jockey (KY)
Luis Saez
120
George R. Arnold, II
8/1
6
6Oceanic (KY)
Julien R. Leparoux
120
Jordan Blair
6/1
7
7Artemus Citylimits (ON)
Tyler Gaffalione
120
Michael J. Maker
9/2
8
8Charcoal (KY)
Rafael Bejarano
120
Tracey J. Wisner
15/1
9
9Cadamosto (IRE)
Flavien Prat
118
Mark E. Casse
10/1
