Good Cheer tests perfect 7-for-7 record in Acorn Stakes
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Good Cheer is perfect and, to listen to her trainer Brad Cox tell it, seemingly only getting better.
Undefeated in seven starts after her decisive victory over 12 opponents in the Kentucky Oaks five weeks ago at Churchill Downs, Good Cheer looks to remain unbeaten when she faces five rivals in Friday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Acorn Stakes at Saratoga. The Acorn, like the Kentucky Oaks, is run at 1 1/8 miles around two turns.
Good Cheer’s quest to win her eighth straight race was made somewhat easier with the news Friday morning that Shred the Gnar would scratch. Shred the Gnar was coming off two powerful front-running victories in a one-mile maiden at Gulfstream Park and first-level allowance at Churchill going 1 1/16 miles on May 2.
Hunter Rankin, president of Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing, which owns Shred the Gnar, said the filly was “a tick off” in a leg and she was scratched by the regulatory veterinarian. Rankin said diagnostic tests would be performed to find the exact nature of the injury.
Good Cheer, a daughter of Medaglia d’Oro, had won five consecutive races at 1 1/16 miles before stretching out a sixteenth of a mile in the Kentucky Oaks. She made a five-wide rally turning for home and drew clear to a 2 1/4-length win over a track labeled wet fast.
Cox’s belief that more distance would be Good Cheer’s friend came to fruition.
“I thought it was a very powerful performance,” Cox said. “I thought Luis [Saez] put her in a great position, a little wide throughout, but kept her in the clear. He rode her like she was the best horse, and she responded well. He knows her very well, rides her with a lot of confidence. Looking to do more of the same on Saturday.”
Good Cheer has had three workouts since her Oaks victory. Cox said the last two, both at five furlongs at Churchill, “have been two of her better works.
“I don’t know what that means, but from my standpoint it’s a positive,” Cox said. “She certainly has not seemed to regress since the Oaks.”
Good Cheer benefited from a solid pace in the Kentucky Oaks, and Cox believes, despite the smaller field, there is ample pace in the Acorn.
“The only thing different I see is a shorter field,” Cox said. “I see a similar setup in regard to pace.”
Three horses Good Cheer defeated in the Kentucky Oaks are back to take her on in the Acorn, most notably Bless the Broken, who was third in the Oaks. Bless the Broken also finished third behind Good Cheer in the Rachel Alexandra at Fair Grounds in February.
“Our filly seems to be getting better with each and every start,” trainer Will Walden said. “As long as we’re going in a forward trajectory, I think we’ll cash in one of these big ones at some point.”
Walden likes the presence of plenty of speed in the Acorn, though he knows if the race sets up for his filly, it does as well for Good Cheer.
“We’re just going to go out there and run our race,” Walden said. “If, for whatever reason, [Good Cheer] doesn’t show up one day we want to be there waiting in the wings.”
Quickick and La Cara, seventh and ninth, respectively, in the Oaks, are back in the Acorn. La Cara and Quickick both won their maidens at Saratoga at age 2. La Cara, at 3, won the Grade 1 Ashland and the Suncoast Stakes on the front end.
Look Forward and Scottish Lassie will be meeting Good Cheer for the first time.
Look Forward was an impressive winner of the Grade 2 Eight Belles going seven furlongs May 2 at Churchill. She was cutting back in distance after troubled route trips in both the Grade 3 Honeybee at Oaklawn Park and the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland.
“Obviously, back around two turns and the added sixteenth and all that stuff is new territory,” trainer Michael McCarthy said. Owner Paul Reddam “is a sportsman and would like to get a Grade 1 on her résumé.”
Scottish Lassie won her maiden in the Grade 1 Frizette last October. She finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and was third in a first-level allowance race May 1. Irad Ortiz Jr. rides Scottish Lassie for the first time.
The Acorn goes as race 11 on a 14-race card that includes three other Grade 1 events and six stakes overall. First post is 11:40 a.m.
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