BackTrack: Kona Gold Tops Rival Big Jag in Palos Verdes

If you were looking for a true battle of guts and glory on the last weekend of January, perhaps your attention was focused on the Georgia Dome. The day before the Titans-Rams thriller in Super Bowl XXXIV, however, Southern California strapped in tight and braced itself for the $200,000 Palos Verdes Handicap (G2), the latest rumble between Big Jag and Kona Gold.

For more than a year now, these two brutes have dominated the West Coast sprint division. Big Jag, that 7-year-old mountain of muscle, steams around the track with invincible force that belies his massive shape. Heaven help anyone who stands in his way. He's a classic fullback, cut from the same timber as Roger Craig and Herschel Walker. Kona Gold, nimble-footed and agile, is a four-legged version of Barry Sanders, so elusive to pursuers but never afraid to drop his shoulder and plow straight into the defense. Whenever they meet, just light the fuse and step back.

"It's amazing," remarked jockey Jose Valdivia Jr., Big Jag's other half. "You look at their form and they haven't really run that many times, they're 7- and 6-years-old, but man, they've got the cylinders of a 3-year-old, both of them. They're serious racehorses.

The rivalry began inauspiciously last January, when Kona Gold smashed the Santa Anita track mark for 5 1/2 furlongs in the El Conejo Handicap. Big Jag gave futile chase that day. but he soon squared the account, surging with relentless vigor to nail Kona Gold in the final desperate yards of last year's Palos Verdes.

They toed the mark five weeks later, and once again, Big Jag prevailed, this time in the seven-furlong San Carlos Handicap (G2). The battles were intense, and the tension was running high. Things soon cooled down, however, when Kona Gold went to the sidelines.

His feet were sore," recalled trainer Bruce Headley, the man who keeps the Java Gold gelding sharp as a talon. "He had lightly bruised feet, so we just pulled the shoes off of him, turned him out in a grass paddock, and when his feet got hard and he was running around like crazy, we brought him back in and started over with him."

By late fall, they were back in full swing, each with a fighting chance to take the big one, the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1). Neither of them, however, could get by Artax, though Kona Gold came close, missing by just a half-length. And there was Big Jag right behind in third, closing with his usual fire.

Round five figured to be a barnburner, Kona Gold outbroke the field in the six-furlong Palos Verdes, but the eager Freespool quickly darted by at the rail. With Old Topper present to keep Freespool honest, Alex Solis tucked Kona Gold into third, just off the heat of a :21.86 quarter.

"I was concerned about Freespool," Solis later explained, "because I know he's a horse with such good speed that if you let him get away, he's going to get three in front and steal the race. I had to make sure I stayed within good range and saved enough horse for when Big Jag comes."

Big Jag, however, was already several lengths behind Kona Gold, struggling to get a grip of the cuppy track.

"He felt like his old self, but to me, it wasn't the ideal ground," said Valdivia. "He's so big, he needs to have a firm footing for him to get a hold of, and if he doesn't, he's not really happy about it. At the three-eighths pole, I'm already under a drive on him, and I'm thinking that I'm not going to get any part of it."

Zipping through a :44.27 half, Freespool had opened a clear lead over Kona Gold entering the stretch. Big Jag was working hard to catch up, until suddenly, passing the quarter pole, the monstrous son of Kleven finally found his best gear, giving Valdivia a ray of hope.

Solis, however, had yet to flip the switch on Kona Gold. He gave three rapid right-handed taps with a furlong to go, and Kona Gold instantly lowered his head and took off, leaving Freespool in the dust. Big Jag, still on the move, couldn't close the gap this time. Kona Gold powered past the finish in 1:08.55, two lengths ahead of Big Jag. Freespool held onto third over Old Topper.

"He was all business today," said Solis, who ended the day with four wins. "He always is, but it seemed like training to this race he was really anxious to run. Every time I got him to work, I really had to grab him hard because he wanted to do a little bit more than we wanted him to. He was feelin' good."

Owned by Headley, Irwin Molasky and his son, Andrew, and G. Michael Singh's Hi-Tech Stable, Kona Gold has been a stone-cold sprinter from the start. Tremendous raw talent and tractability have enabled him to hit the board in two consecutive Breeders' Cup Sprints (He was third in '98, beaten just two lengths by Reraise).

Incredibly, the Palos Verdes was Kona Gold's first graded stakes victory, and his first win of any sort since he beat the clock in last year's El Conejo Handicap.

Look for them to drop the gloves once again in the San Carlos Handicap March 4.