Convivial impresses in debut for Goldberg

Convivial turned in an eye-catching debut victory for Richard Santulli’s Colts Neck Stables and trainer Alan Goldberg on Saturday at Monmouth Park, rallying from far back to win a 1 1/16-mile turf maiden race by 2 1/4 lengths.

Convivial threw his head after the start when a rival came into his path and dropped three or four lengths behind the second-to-last horse in the 10-horse field. He commenced an extended rally on the backstretch, was fanned very wide into the stretch under Jose Lezcano, and finished in a style suggesting good things lie ahead. He earned a 77 Beyer Speed Figure.

“We’ll probably take him to Saratoga and look for an allowance race going long,” Goldberg said.

A 3-year-old son of turf champion English Channel, Convivial is out of the mare Social Queen, who won the Grade 3 Gallorette and Grade 3 Eatontown for Santulli and Goldberg. Convivial is a half-brother to Force the Pass, a winner of the Penn Mile, Belmont Derby Invitational, and more than $1.2 million.

“We had his mom, his brother, and his sister,” Goldberg said. “He showed he could run, but he was always big and kind of green. I wasn’t sure if he would need a race or not.”

Convivial was in training at Palm Meadows last winter but missed some time when he needed to have a chip removed from his right hind ankle, Goldberg said.