Parx: Golddigger's Boy returns to two turns for Auld Lang Syne

Barbara Weidl/Equiphoto

Golddigger's Boy (inside), who was elevated to first via disqualification in the Lyman this past April, will make a rare start going beyond a mile in Monday's Auld Lang Syne.

Throughout his eight-race campaign in 2012, Golddigger’s Boy has been strictly limited to one-turn races. But given his fondness for the main track at Parx Racing and his ability to handle two turns in the past, Golddigger’s Boy looks dangerous in Monday’s $75,000 Auld Lang Syne Stakes at a mile and 70 yards.

This past summer, the 5-year-old Golddigger’s Boy was good enough to miss by a neck in the $150,000 Donald Le Vine Memorial Handicap and followed up that effort by finishing second in the Grade 3 James Marvin at Saratoga.

During the fall, however, Golddigger’s Boy was unable to finish better than fifth in a trio of one-turn stakes, including a Grade 2 and a Grade 3 race in New York.

To shake things up, trainer Ramon Preciado is asking Golddigger’s Boy to race around two turns for the first time since June 2011, when he won the Docent for Pennsylvania-breds. Seven of his eight lifetime wins have come at Parx, including a one-mile allowance during a 2011 campaign in which he won 5 of 8 starts.

Statistically, Preciado is 6 for 22 (27 percent) with horses like Golddigger’s Boy switching from sprints to routes following a break of 31 to 60 days.

Two of the top choices on the track’s morning line – Hello Lover and Norman Asbjornson – are uncertain starters. Both are cross-entered in Monday’s $100,000 Broad Brush Stakes at Laurel Park. Butch Reid, the trainer of Hello Lover, has indicated to the Parx racing office that he intends to keep his horse at home rather than travel to Maryland.

The Maryland-bred Hello Lover is 10 for 15 lifetime at Parx, including three straight wins between Sept. 22 and Nov. 3 at distances of seven furlongs and a mile and 70 yards.

Norman Asbjornson, coupled with Pollard’s Boy, is coming off a runner-up effort in the Swatara at Penn National. The winner of that race, the Todd Pletcher-trained San Pablo, came back to win the Queens County Handicap in his next start.

The field also includes Private Tale, who returns north from Florida after finishing fourth as the 9-5 favorite in the Claiming Crown Jewel, and Arlo, who soared to a career-high 96 Beyer Speed Figure winning a second-level optional $25,000 claimer over a sloppy track three weeks ago.