Holding Gold may target Dubai after Colonel Power win
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NEW ORLEANS – Holding Gold won the $50,000 Colonel Power Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds in his first start of 2018, but there could be a far richer target upcoming.
With this comeback run out of the way, Holding Gold ($3.60) will be considered for the $1 million Al Quoz Sprint on March 31 on the Dubai World Cup undercard.
“They’ve got to invite us first, but it’s an option,” said Mark Casse, who trains Holding Gold for Charlotte Weber’s Live Oak Plantation. “Three-quarters [of a mile] on the grass is perfect for him.”
The Colonel Power was contested at 5 1/2 furlongs, but Holding Gold added his own distance by being caught four paths wide on the turn. Racing eighth of nine after the first furlong, Holding Gold made an early run under John Velazquez, quickly passing horses on the outside to get into fifth while racing around the bend.
Meanwhile, Will Call, the well-bet second choice, had outrun Line Judge for the lead and set relatively modest fractions of 22.80 and 46.44. Commend challenged Will Call at the top of the stretch, but while Will Call turned him away and battled on bravely, Holding Gold found another gear the final half-furlong and pulled away very late to post a half-length victory. Off a five-furlong split in 57.68 seconds, he was timed in 1:03.60 over firm turf. Flashaway, also trained by Casse, finished third.
Holding Gold faced top company in turf sprints throughout 2017. He finished seventh in his season’s finale, the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, but was beaten less than two lengths in that five-furlong contest before galloping-out in front.
“Five-eighths is just too short for him,” Casse said.
Holding Gold, a 5-year-old homebred gelding, is by Lonhro and out of the Golden Missile mare In the Gold. His record now stands at 5-3-1 from 15 starts.
