Going Global lures Prat back from New York for Gamely Stakes

Going Global and Flavien Prat were an almost unbeatable team in turf stakes in Southern California last year.

In seven such stakes, they won six times, including the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks at 1 1/8 miles in August and the Grade 2 Goldikova Stakes against older fillies and mares at a mile at Del Mar on Breeders’ Cup weekend in November.

The story line has changed slightly this year. With Going Global firmly established as California’s leading older turf female, Prat holds her in high enough regard to leave his new base in New York to ride the 4-year-old filly in Monday’s Grade 1 Gamely Stakes at Santa Anita.

Chances are high Prat will have Going Global in a stalking position on the turn when the Irish-bred will unleash her usual rally.

“She never misses a beat,” Prat said from Belmont Park on Saturday morning. “She’s been really consistent. She’s pretty push-button.”

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Going Global will be strongly favored against as many as seven rivals in the $400,000 Gamely, run at 1 1/8 miles on turf. The Gamely is the last of 10 races on a program that includes two other Grade 1 races. Prat has five mounts on the card. He left California in late March as the dominant rider on the circuit.

The Gamely Stakes is Going Global’s second start of 2022. She won the Grade 2 Royal Heroine Stakes at a mile on turf at 3-10 odds on April 9 under jockey Umberto Rispoli. Going Global was always within a length of the lead and won comfortably by 1 3/4 lengths. Prat rode at Keeneland that day, winning two Grade 1 races.

The Gamely is Going Global’s first start in a Grade 1 since a sixth-place finish in the American Oaks at 1 1/4 miles at Santa Anita in December. The race was scheduled for turf and transferred to the dirt because of wet weather. Going Global was well placed on the turn, but faded through the stretch in her first start on dirt.

After a brief rest at a farm, Going Global returned to trainer Phil D’Amato’s stable in late winter. D’Amato has seen Going Global’s feisty behavior at times in recent workouts.

“She’s a beast when she breezes in company,” he said. “She does not like to get beat.”

Owned by the partnership of Michael Dubb, Michael Nentwig, Saul Gevertz, Ray Pagano, and John Rochfort, Going Global starts from post 6 in a field of eight. The race may not have that many starters. Trainer Leonard Powell said he is taking a cautious approach on whether to run Neige Blanche, the winner of two turf stakes at 1 1/2 miles this year.

The Kentucky shipper Ocean Road and the 2021 Grade 1 winner Going to Vegas pose the biggest threats to Going Global.

Ocean Road, trained by Brendan Walsh, won her 2022 debut in an allowance race at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Keeneland on April 15 with an attractive late run. Rispoli will ride Ocean Ride for the first time in the Gamely.

“She ran really well,” Walsh said recently. “I thought she would benefit from the run. I hope she will and if she does, it shouldn’t put her too far away.”

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Going to Vegas will have her first start for D’Amato in the Gamely. A former maiden claimer who won the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive last fall, Going to Vegas was previously trained by Richard Baltas, who is currently inactive after he was informed by Santa Anita management earlier this month that he could no longer start horses after an alleged medication violation.

Going to Vegas, who was second in the Grade 3 Santa Ana Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf on March 26, has worked quickly on the infield dirt training track at Santa Anita in recent weeks. Irad Ortiz Jr. flies from New York to take the mount.

“She’s had two really nice breezes in company and showed her competitive nature as well,” D’Amato said. “I’m looking for a good effort from her.”

The field will be in pursuit of Canoodling, who won her second graded stakes of 2022 on the front end in the Grade 3 Wilshire Stakes at a mile on turf on May 1. The Gamely will be Canoodling’s longest race in her 17th start, a test of stamina and whether she can withstand a challenge from Going Global.