Bar of Gold finally gets chance on turf

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer John Kimmel has been considering running Bar of Gold on turf since last summer. On Saturday, the turf experiment commences with Bar of Gold running in the $100,000 Plenty of Grace Stakes, scheduled for one mile over Aqueduct’s turf course.

Bar of Gold, a multiple New York-bred stakes winner on dirt, is a daughter of Medaglia d’Oro and out of the Grade 3 turf-stakes winner Khancord Kid. Bar of Gold is 5 for 16, with all five of her wins coming over wet tracks, including an 18-length romp in last October’s Empire Distaff at Belmont.

She has not run since finishing fourth behind Highway Star in last December’s Grade 3 Go for Wand Handicap over Aqueduct’s main track. Highway Star, who won last Sunday’s Grade 3 Distaff, and Bar of Gold are both owned by Chester and Mary Broman, though Highway Star is trained by Rodrigo Ubillo.

Kimmel said the Plenty of Grace will give him an idea of what type of 2017 campaign should be mapped out for Bar of Gold.

“If she does something outstanding, we’ll have a new direction,” Kimmel said. “If she’s just ordinary, then we know what to do with her as far as her ability on the dirt.”

Kimmel breezed Bar of Gold four times over the turf last summer at Saratoga, including a half-mile bullet move in 46.63 seconds.

“She breezed unbelievably well,” Kimmel said. “It was really at the suggestion of Joel Rosario, who worked her twice on the grass. He had ridden her on the dirt, and he was commenting how remarkable she was on the grass.”

Off those turf works, Bar of Gold finished a solid third, beaten a half-length, in the Presque Isle Masters over a synthetic surface. Kimmel had Bar of Gold pointed to a turf race, but the ground came up soft, and he opted to skip it. Instead, he ran Bar of Gold in the $300,000 Empire Distaff for New York-breds, where she absolutely freaked, running a Beyer Speed Figure of 109.

With Rosario riding at Keeneland on Saturday, Chris DeCarlo has picked up the mount on Bar of Gold for the Plenty of Grace. DeCarlo last Saturday won the Grade 1 Carter on Green Gratto.

Bar of Gold will take on six opponents in the Plenty of Grace, led by My Impression, who won the Winter Memories over this turf course last November. The others entered are Bishop’s Pond, Light In Paris, My Sweet Girl, Mizz Money, and Rattataptap.