2021 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint: Woodford score makes Golden Pal the favorite
With trainer Wesley Ward off-site, it was up to Julio Garcia to give John Velazquez the barn’s instructions before he took a leg up for the first time on 2020 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint winner Golden Pal for the Grade 2 Woodford Stakes last Saturday at Keeneland.
Garcia was a fitting deputy. A former jockey, he set records riding in Puerto Rico in the 1980s and was an early inspiration for Velazquez.
After coming to the United States, Garcia first rode for Ward in 1991, and their working relationship has lasted and strengthened. Over the past decade-plus, Garcia has moved into a full-time job riding for Ward.
Although he has ridden the occasional race in recent years if Ward sees him as the best fit for a particular horse – he rode seven races in 2020, and none this year – his primary role is as the work rider for Ward’s top horses. He is as sure as anyone as to what makes the stable’s stars tick and how to best hone them to perform on a particular day.
“I told Johnny before the race, ‘No worries, you have the horse,’ ” Garcia said, adding that Golden Pal could be versatile despite having been a front-runner in his major races. “I told Johnny, ‘If he doesn’t break good, you come from behind, no worries.’ ”
Golden Pal did break well and led throughout the Woodford. However, Velazquez did experience one moment of doubt as he learned the colt’s mannerisms for himself while challengers loomed on the far turn.
“I just kind of sat against him, thinking that when the other horse came to him he’d go on,” Velazquez said. “He didn’t go on [on his own] – I had to ask him. I didn’t move, he didn’t move. When I moved, he went on.”
Golden Pal drove clear down the stretch, winning the Woodford by 2 1/4 lengths for his fourth career stakes score in his first race against older horses. The victory solidified him as the favorite on Daily Racing Form handicapper Brad Free’s line for the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar.
“I think he’s a great horse,” Garcia said. “The best horse I’ve been breezing in the morning.”
Golden Pal would not only be the first winner of the Juvenile Turf Sprint, the newest addition to the Breeders’ Cup program, to win the corresponding Turf Sprint later in his career, he would be the first winner of the race to make it to another Breeders’ Cup, period.
Bulletin, winner of the inaugural Juvenile Turf Sprint in 2018, has just one victory since, in the Palisades Turf Sprint in his 3-year-old debut. He has spent this season racing in Australia. The 2019 Juvenile Turf Sprint winner, Four Wheel Drive, also trained by Ward, made just one start after that, finishing seventh in an allowance race as a 3-year-old. He entered stud in Japan this year.
While the statistics from the Juvenile Turf Sprint are a limited sample, Golden Pal would have the chance to join another exclusive club with a Turf Sprint victory. Since the Breeders’ Cup’s first running in 1984, only four horses have won different races at the Breeders’ Cup.
Secret Circle won the now-defunct Juvenile Sprint in 2011 and the Sprint two years later. Stephanie’s Kitten won the 2011 Juvenile Fillies Turf and 2015 Filly and Mare Turf. Hall of Fame racemare Zenyatta won the 2008 Distaff and 2009 Classic. And, Beholder, sure to be elected to the Hall of Fame when eligible, won the 2012 Juvenile Fillies and 2013 and 2016 editions of the Distaff.