Gold For My Gal wins Truly Bound Stakes

NEW ORLEANS - When the Florida-based Gold For My Gal gets to New Orleans her eyes light up. Her latest trip to town resulted in her second straight win in the $75,000 Truly Bound Stakes* (click here for chart), which she won Sunday at Fair Grounds by a half-length over Instinct.

The victory was only her second in nine races since she won last year's Truly Bound by six lengths. Two seasons ago, Gold For My Gal shipped in to finish second in the Tiffany Lass Stakes and a close fourth, at odds of 99-1, in the Fair Grounds Oaks.

Said winning rider Willie Martinez, "I saw this horse in Florida and Louisiana and she looks so much better when she gets here. Her color, and everything - she just loves this place."

She must also have loved the trip Martinez gave her. Breaking sharply from an outside post in her first start since early August, Gold For My Gal surrendered the early lead to the long-shot, Cello, who set a tepid pace in the one and one-sixteenth mile dirt race, 24.43 seconds for a quarter mile and 48.92 for a half-mile.

"I knew when the pace was slow like that it was my race," said Manuel Estevez, who trains Gold For My Gal for owner Ramirez Fernandez. "Sometimes we try and rate this horse to much, but today we didn't have to worry about that."

Gold For My Gal made the lead turning for home and held a clear advantage through the stretch, though Instinct launched a solid rally that netted her the place spot, three lengths in front of Momentous. Scoop, the 2-1 favorite, was dull in the stretch and finished in a dead heat for sixth.

Gold For My Gal paid $12 to win and was timed in 1:45.84 over a fast track. She is likely to make her next start in the Chou Croute Handicap here, a race in which she finished fourth last season.

* Graded stakes winner Where's Taylor returned from a freshening with an easy win in a turf allowance race earlier on the card. Leading all the way, Where's Taylor beat Talkmeister by one and one-half lengths.

* Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.