Golden Pal an easy Quick Call winner while making first start in eight months

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Golden Pal lived up to the hype, leading throughout to register an extremely popular three-length victory over Florida invader Omaha City to capture the first stakes of the meet, the Grade 3, $120,000 Quick Call, on opening day of the 2021 Saratoga season.

Making his first start since winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Keeneland more than eight months earlier, Golden Pal showed off his abundant speed from the outset of the 5 1/2-furlong Quick Call, wasting no time sprinting to a clear advantage under jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. Bet to 1-5 favoritism despite the layoff, Golden Pal and his legions of backers had a few anxious moments when Jaxon Traveler loomed within easy striking distance turning for home before the odds-on choice readily shook off the challenge, opening a comfortable advantage approaching the furlong grounds before maintaining a safe advantage to the end.

Omaha Beach, the longest price on the board at 36-1, raced at the rear of the six-horse field for the opening three furlongs, angled wide into the stretch, and rallied belatedly to best Jaxon Traveler by a half-length and finish second while never menacing the winner. Rebel Posse, Second of July, and Kentucky Pharoah rounded out the complete order of finish.

A son of Uncle Mo, Golden Pal is trained by Wesley Ward for the Coolmore partnership. He completed the distance over a course officially listed as “good” in 1:02.99 and paid $2.40 for his third victory in five career starts. Golden Pal won the Skidmore Stakes here at 2.

The win was the first ever in a graded stakes at Saratoga for Ward.

“These are special horses, you don’t get many of them in your lifetime,” said Ward. “I’ve been lucky to get a few good ones and to have one as talented as this and actually see him do this today and have high hopes for what he’s going to do in the future is what we all get up for in the morning.

“A lot of people were counting on me to come through today. I’m glad we were able to get through the first step. It was particularly special since the summer at Saratoga is everything in American racing, and especially this being opening day. Hopefully we can keep it going.”

Ward said his one concern going into the Quick Call was not having a gate work under Golden Pal’s belt coming off the long layoff.

“He’s a big horse and moves like a quick cat, that’s where he has an advantage, but I was concerned he hadn’t worked out of the gate coming into the race.” Ward said. “But he’s so smart, he overcame that in the first jump. When they said go, he was gone.”

Ward said the eight months between starts did not worry him at all.

“I like sprinters off layoffs, I think they run their best races off layoffs,” Ward explained. “Because they are so fast they put so much into it, they need spacing between races.”

Ward said he is considering the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes at York on Aug. 21 for Golden Pal’s next start. The Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint is his main goal during the second half of the season.