Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint: Hometown hero Golden Pal looks to go out on high note
LEXINGTON, Ky. – For three years, Keeneland has been Golden Pal’s home, and he has reigned over its turf course while living off Rice Road under the watchful eye of year-round local trainer Wesley Ward. The two-time Breeders’ Cup winner makes his swan song Saturday as one of the weekend’s most well-regarded favorites in the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
The race is no automatic score. Golden Pal, who will retire to owner Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky following the race, faces foes from as far off as Europe, including the streaking Highfield Princess, and from as close as two stablemates from his own barn.
“All we’ve got to do is walk from our stall to the paddock,” Ward said. “They’ve got to travel from all over the world to come to take him on, and we’ve just got to lead him right over. Really excited to have the Breeders’ Cup here in our backyard.”
Golden Pal is undefeated in eight U.S. stakes starts, including the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Keeneland and the 2021 Turf Sprint at Del Mar. He would join Hall of Fame racemares Goldikova and Beholder as the only three-time Breeders’ Cup winners.
“He’s just such a special talent, this guy – and just a joy to be around, outside of being a phenomenal racehorse,” Ward said. “The more time that goes on, the more he gets it, mentally and physically. It’s gonna take a really good horse here to beat him in this one.”
Golden Pal opened his 2022 campaign with a 4 3/4-length victory in the Grade 2 Shakertown Stakes at Keeneland’s spring meeting, earning a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 110. He then finished 16th after not breaking sharply in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Golden Pal returned stateside to win the Grade 3 Troy Stakes at Saratoga by a head. He broke a step slowly, rated kindly, and then came driving home. In his final prep for the Breeders’ Cup, he won the Grade 2 Woodford Stakes on Oct. 8 at Keeneland, breaking like a rocket and showing his customary speed.
From post 8 in a full field of 14 under regular rider Irad Ortiz Jr., Golden Pal is likely to show the way in the Turf Sprint.
Ward has also entered Campanelle and Arrest Me Red. Campanelle is a multiple Group 1 winner overseas, and a stakes winner at Keeneland. She most recently won the Grade 3 Ladies Sprint at Kentucky Downs. That race was at 6 1/2 furlongs, and Ward has previously stated that the filly prefers more ground than Golden Pal. However, she has won three of four outings at Saturday’s 5 1/2-furlong distance.
Arrest Me Red has put together a consistent campaign, winning the Grade 2 Twin Spires Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs, finishing a close second in the Grade 1 Jaipur Stakes at Belmont Park, and, after a summer freshening, running third in the Grade 2 Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs. With regular rider Ortiz remaining on Golden Pal, John Velazquez picks up the mount. Campanelle, also ridden by Ortiz this year, will be reunited with Frankie Dettori, who has ridden her regularly in Europe.
Highfield Princess, who will likely have her eyes on Golden Pal while prominently placed early, has done a fair bit of traveling around Europe this year, winning the Group 1 Maurice de Gheest in France, the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes in England, and the Group 1 Flying Five Stakes in Ireland. That is nothing compared to the journey she made over last weekend from Europe to Kentucky.
“She was grand,” trainer John Quinn said.
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A hurdle for European candidates in the Turf Sprint is the sharp left-handed turns of American racing, as many of the top international sprint races are contested on a straightaway. Highfield Princess is a stakes winner around a left-handed bend, albeit against much softer competition in the the 2021 Queen Charlotte Stakes at seven furlongs on a synthetic surface. Glass Slippers, winner of the Turf Sprint in 2020 at Keeneland, had a similar effort on her résumé prior to becoming the first European-based runner to win this race.
“Definitely, she’ll run around the bend,” Quinn said of Highfield Princess. “She can sit with the pace or she can make the pace. She’s laid-back. It depends how the race pans out.”
Charlie Appleby’s duo of Naval Crown and Creative Force were one-two in the Group 1 Platinum Jubilee at Royal Ascot, in which Campanelle was third and Highfield Princess was sixth, beaten 1 1/4 lengths. Naval Crown emerged to finish second in the Group 1 July Cup. Since then, the two stablemates may have exchanged form. Creative Force was third in the Group 1 British Champions Sprint on Oct. 15, while Naval Crown was 12th.
The other European-based entrants are Emaraaty Ana, Flotus, and Go Bears Go. Emaraaty Ana, a Group 1 winner last year, is winless in 2022. His trainer, Kevin Ryan, trained Glass Slippers. Emaraaty Ana was fourth in the 2021 Turf Sprint, giving him valuable experience on an American course. The same is true of multiple Group 3 winner Go Bears Go, a rallying second, beaten a half-length, in the Juvenile Turf Sprint last year.
A swift pace would benefit Casa Creed and Cazadero. Casa Creed owned berths into both the Turf Sprint, by virtue of his victory in the Jaipur, and BC Mile, from winning the Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap. After he was fifth in the Grade 1 Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland, trainer Bill Mott felt he did not handle the course as well as ones in New York, and opted for the shorter race.
Cazadero has been reinvented from dirt sprinter to turf sprinter. He won the Grade 2 Nearctic Stakes at Woodbine in October in his second start on turf, second for Brendan Walsh, and second as a gelding, rallying from last of eight with a quarter-mile remaining.
“Hopefully, there’s plenty, plenty pace – there should be,” Walsh said. “And hopefully, he can come running at the end.”
Caravel is coming off a win in the Grade 3 Franklin County at this course and distance, but the Breeders’ Cup falls at an inopportune point in her form cycle, as she seems to run best every other race.
Artemus Citylimits and Oceanic complete the field, the latter drawing in on Friday morning. Bran, winner of the Grade 2 Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs, was scratched from the Turf Sprint by order of the veterinarians, according to the Breeders’ Cup racing office.
Oceanic, the second also-eligible, got into the race as the first also-eligible, Dancing Buck, did not ship from his New York base to Kentucky without a certain spot in the 14-horse field. Oceanic was most recently second to Golden Pal in the Woodford.
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