Dakota Gold shows he belongs on turf in Nownownow
Dakota Gold had moved like a different, better horse doing morning work on turf rather than dirt, and he raced that way Sunday at Monmouth Park in the Nownownow Stakes.
A 5-1 chance on the strength of a Saratoga debut win in an open maiden sprint carded for turf but rained onto dirt, Dakota Gold stalked the pace Sunday under Isaac Castillo, came into contention at the quarter pole, and displayed an eye-catching turn of foot after straightening for home and passing the three-sixteenths marker.
He sailed past odds-on favorite Coinage and on to a 2 1/2-length victory, likely earning a start in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. It was a serious payday, too, for owner Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and trainer Danny Gargan, since the Nownownow, a $150,000 race when the 2021 Monmouth season began, was worth a whopping $500,000 thanks to a mid-meet general purse boost.
“I just couldn’t wait to get him on the grass,” Gargan said. “We knew he had this kind of turn of foot on the grass.”
The victory ran Dakota Gold’s record to two wins from two starts and confirmed the surface-related impression Dakota Gold gave Gargan and his staff in four published turf workouts. Dakota Gold ran well enough in his 5 1/2-furlong debut to post a strong 83 Beyer Speed Figure and romp by 4 1/2 lengths in a spread-eagled field, but the move to grass – and two turns, apparently – revealed greater substance.
Coinage, the 4-5 favorite following his turf-debut win in the Grade 3 With Anticipation at Saratoga, showed he has lessons still to learn. Coinage made the lead on a slow pace in the With Anticipation, but after showing decent gate speed breaking from post 3 on Sunday, he was tucked behind a trio of leaders – Grooms All Bizness, Pure Panic, and There Are No Words – into and around the first of two turns. But instead of settling behind the pace, Coinage tried to drag jockey Junior Alvarado up to the horses ahead of him, fighting so hard for his head that Alvarado had to take him outside the leaders. Coinage then relented to rating, but was stuck wide with no cover on the far turn.
Behind him, Castillo on Dakota Gold was just watching it all unfold. He edged his mount toward contending position around the second turn, had aim on the lead after Dakota Gold straightened into the homestretch, and must have gotten a great feeling beneath him as his mount stretched very nicely and quickly put his rivals to sleep.
“This is the biggest win of my career, the biggest purse I have ever won,” Castillo said. “It’s incredible. It feels great. This is a fantastic horse, a championship-type horse.”
Dakota Gold stopped the timer in 1:36.31 racing over a course rated “good” and paid $12 to win.
Dakota Gold is a New York-bred by Freud out of Dakota Kid, by Lemon Drop Kid. Reeves Thorougbred Racing, whose principal is Dean Reeves, purchased the colt at auction as a weanling for $83,000. Dakota Gold was entered in, but withdrawn, from a 2-year-old sale earlier this year. He’s the second foal to race out of a mare who won one of eight starts mainly in turf routes on the Southern California circuit, and is a sister to Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile-winner Dakota Phone.
Royal Spirit, third facing Saratoga turf-route maidens in his lone previous start, ran well to get second while racing in blinkers and on Lasix for the first time. Breaking from post 2 under Paco Lopez, Royal Spirit got an inside trip and wound up in claustrophobic quarters into the second bend and past the three-furlong marker. He fought his way out of traffic and followed Dakota Gold into the stretch, kicking home nicely to put six lengths on third-place Coinage while no match for the winner.
Speaking loud and clear in Smoke Glacken
Speaking, a New Jersey-bred maiden winner in his lone start, dominated open competition in the $100,000 Smoke Glacken earlier on Sunday’s closing-day card.
Speaking had come from off the pace in a noteworthy debut victory Aug. 29, but went straight to the lead Sunday in this six-furlong contest for 2-year-olds. Speaking went his opening quarter-mile in 22.29 seconds and crushed his foes with an athletic burst between the five-sixteenths pole on the far turn and the top of the stretch. Speaking took a four-length lead to the stretch call and cruised to a 3 1/4-length victory while failing to change leads, something he had accomplished in his first start.
Geared down, he was timed in 1:10.12 under Gerardo Corrales and paid $3.60 as the heavy favorite in a race that on paper looked fairly soft. Forty Stripes closed mildly for second, 2 1/4 lengths ahead of Practical Coach.
Speaking, a gelding, was bred and is owned by Holly Crest Farm and is trained by Eddie Owens Jr. By Mr Speaker, Speaking is out of the Silver Deputy mare, Nigh Noon Nellie, who also produced multiple stakes winner Stiffed. Stiffed, another Holly Crest homebred, raced successfully around two turns and Owens said he’d consider Speaking for route races.
“He doesn’t know he’s a Jersey-bred – and we’re not going to tell him, either,” Owens said.