Kentucky Derby pedigree profile: Chunk of Gold

Chunk of Gold

Preservationist – Play for Gold, by Cairo Prince

Bred in Kentucky by Brereton C. Jones ($2,500 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall yearling purchase by Chris Melton)

Louisiana Derby runner-up Chunk of Gold has never been worse than second and has already earned back more than 139 times his modest purchase price. The colt, a May foal, is from a steady, serviceable pedigree – a good description of Chunk of Gold himself.

Preservationist, by Arch, is from the female family of champion Queena and Grade 1 winners Brahms, Chic Shirine, Harmonize, Keen Ice, Olympiad, Serra Lake, Somali Lemonade, Too Chic, and Verrazano. A millionaire, Preservationist was at his best with time, not winning a maiden race until age 4. And although he was quick-footed enough to do that at six furlongs, he was truly at his best with distance. As a 6-year-old in 2019, he won the Grade 2 Suburban at 1 1/4 miles and the Grade 1 Woodward at 1 1/8 miles.

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Chunk of Gold is from the second crop of Preservationist, who is the sire of four stakes winners: Antiquarian, winner of last year’s Grade 3 Peter Pan at 1 1/8 miles; Band of Gold, winner of last year’s Martha Washington at 1 1/16 miles; In a Jam, a stakes winner on synthetic who is Grade 2-placed at a mile on turf; and West Virginia-bred Diakonissa, a multiple stakes-winning sprinter in restricted company.

Play for Gold is the dam of three winners, including Band of Gold, a full sister to Chunk of Gold and a stakes winner at 1 1/16 miles on dirt. Play for Gold is a half-sister to My Boy Jack, multiple Grade 3 winner of the Southwest and Lexington and third in the Louisiana Derby in 2018. Play for Gold’s second dam is graded stakes-winning dirt router Gold n Delicious, who was second to the classy My Flag in the 1996 Coaching Club American Oaks at 1 1/4 miles.

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