Munnys Gold set for graded stakes after 106-Beyer romp
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Munnys Gold will run next in a graded stakes for the first time after crushing the track record for seven furlongs Sunday at Tampa Bay Downs.
Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said early Monday that Munnys Gold will make her next start in the Grade 2 Eight Belles on the May 5 Kentucky Oaks undercard at Churchill Downs. The 3-year-old Munnings filly remained untested in three career starts when earning a 106 Beyer Speed Figure, the highest by a 3-year-old of either sex this year, with a 17 1/4-length romp in the Sophomore Fillies, one of six $110,000 stakes that comprised the 20th annual Florida Cup series for Florida-breds at the Oldsmar, Fla., track.
Munnys Gold, ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., went seven furlongs in 1:20.09 over a fast track, lowering the 2019 mark held by Win Win Win by .80 of a second.
Pletcher said Munnys Gold returned to his Palm Beach Downs base on the Atlantic Coast “in good shape” Sunday night and that the seven-furlong Eight Belles will be next, perhaps with the Grade 1 Acorn on June 9 at Belmont Park to follow.
Munnys Gold, a $300,000 yearling purchase for Robert and Lawana Low, already had earned Beyers of 101 and 88 in her first two starts. Her victory capped another huge weekend for Pletcher, who on Saturday won the Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds with Kingsbarns, another 3-year-old who is unbeaten in three starts. Kingsbarns joins Forte and Tapit Trice as top contenders for Pletcher for the Kentucky Derby on May 6.
Ortiz, meanwhile, was as wowed as everyone else with the way Munnys Gold won her stakes debut. After breaking from post 2 and going head-and-head for about a half-mile with longshot Pretty’n Awesome to her outside, Munnys Gold began widening on her seven rivals with Ortiz giving her nothing more than a vigorous hand ride.
“Last time, she came from a layoff and I just took care of her,” said Ortiz, who was aboard in a last-out Jan. 25 allowance romp at Gulfstream Park.
“Today, I wanted to feel what she’s got because we went pretty fast earlier, and she felt like she was going relaxed. So I said, all right, let me test her a little bit. I just showed her the stick, and she took off. She gave me another turn of foot and ran away in the stretch. Very impressive. Hopefully, she stays solid because she has a lot of talent.”
Dreaming of Gold, winner of the Suncoast Stakes earlier in the Tampa meet, was a distant second in the Sophomore Fillies. Wonder Wheel, the reigning divisional champion among current 3-year-old fillies, was a close second in the Suncoast on Feb. 11 in what remains her lone start this year.
Winning Beyers for the other Florida Cup races were as follows: Zydeceaux (Sophomore), 67; Drama Chorus (Turf Classic), 91; Otago (Sophomore Turf), 81; Magical Warrior (Sprint), 85; and Sweet Dani Girl (Distaff Turf), 90.
The Florida Cup marked the end of the stakes schedule at a 2022-23 Tampa meet that effectively runs through Kentucky Derby Day.
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