Gold Sweep, Muth Aim to Rebound in Hopeful After Losses

A troubled start led to a disappointing outcome for heavily favored Gold Sweep  when second in the July 15 Sanford Stakes (G3) at Saratoga Race Course. A month and a half later, his connections hope to put that performance in the rearview mirror when he takes on 10 rivals, led by Muth , Mission Beach , Timberlake , and Just Steel , in the $300,000 Hopeful Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Sept. 4.

The meet's closing-day feature on the Labor Day holiday card at Saratoga, which also includes the Bernard Baruch Stakes, the Hopeful is the most prestigious stakes race for juvenile males of the meet. Quite often a stallion-making race, it also propels some of its participants toward route races in the fall that determine championship honors, including the Nov. 4 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1).

The Hopeful can also expose juveniles with distance limitations, with its seven-furlong distance testing its participants over a long sprint.

Gold Sweep, a son of Speightstown   owned by Mike McCarty and trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, has not raced beyond the six furlongs of the Sanford, when he rallied from eighth to finish second to Yo Yo Candy , beaten 2 1/4 lengths. He appeared to cost himself more than that margin at the start when he stumbled and was bumped and forced inward.

The beginning of the race left him out of his element—at the back of the pack—compared to up-close trips of his first two starts when he was a debut second racing 4 1/2 furlongs at Churchill Downs May 18 and then a nine-length winner of the 5 1/2-furlong Tremont Stakes June 11.

The ease of his latter win, in which he earned a 94 Equibase Speed Figure, resulted in him being the odds-on favorite in the Sanford. He was upset by 46-1 longshot Yo Yo Candy, who also returns in the Hopeful.

Jose Ortiz rides Gold Sweep, a Joe Anzalone-bred colt out of the Giant's Causeway mare Wonder Brew . The chestnut was a $285,000 purchase by his owner in 2022 from The Saratoga Sale, Fasig-Tipton's select sale of yearlings in upstate New York.

Gold Sweep is one of two entrants for Asmussen, the other being Valentine Candy , a chestnut Justify   colt who scored at first asking at Saratoga July 22 in moderate time. He races for the partnership of Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt, Jackpot Farm, Whispering Oaks Farm, and Keith and Ginger Myers.

Also coming off a runner-up finish in graded company as the favorite is Southern California invader Muth, who was run down by stablemate Prince of Monaco  as the 1-2 favorite in the Aug. 13 Best Pal Stakes (G3) at Del Mar. He posted a 93 ESF in defeat, just below the 96 he ran in winning his debut at Santa Anita Park for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.

The Best Pal "had a pace duel and he got caught up in it, but the other horse ran a big race," said Baffert regarding Prince of Monaco, who is expected to race in the Del Mar Futurity (G1) Sept. 10. "Those are two really nice horses and that's why I wanted to split them up. We have a nice group of 2-year-olds."

Muth, a Good Magic   colt, was a $2 million purchase by bloodstock agent Donato Lanni for owner Zedan Racing Stables this year at the Ocala Breeders' Sales March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. He had worked an eighth of a mile in :09 3/5 in advance of that sale.

Baffert also entered Mission Beach, a debut maiden winner last month at Del Mar for the large partnership of SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Dianne Bashor, Robert Masterson, Waves Edge Capital, Catherine Donovan, and Tom Ryan.

Two other maiden winners of note include Timberlake and Just Steel, who ran ESFs of 96 and 99, respectively, in winning maiden races in their most recent outings.

Siena Farm and WinStar Farm's Timberlake, a son of Into Mischief  , scored in his second start, rolling by 9 1/4 lengths at Ellis Park July 21 when adding blinkers.

"He's very precocious and he continues to do well. He's always been a horse that stood out as a top talent. We'll see if he's a grade 1 talent on Monday," trainer Brad Cox said.

A couple of weeks after Timberlake's initial victory, BC Stables' Just Steel, a son of Justify, notched his first win in his third start, grittily taking an Aug. 5 maiden race by a nose for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Finishing second was Be You , who races in the Hopeful as a maiden, albeit one mere inches from victory.

Neither Timberlake nor Just Steel has stakes experience, though Timberlake is proven at the Hopeful distance, having raced that trip in his maiden win. Just Steel stretches out a furlong from his maiden score.

Lukas has won the Hopeful a record eight times, most recently in 2017 with Sporting Chance .