Stream of Gold tries to defy trend

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Some handicappers prefer to see how a certain race shakes out before deciding how one of the horses exiting that race might fare in his next start.

As a prime example, the respective 1-3-4 finishers - Rumor Has It, My Happiness, and Silverfoot - from the Sept. 13 Kentucky Cup Turf ran back last Saturday in the Sycamore Stakes at Keeneland. The Sycamore report: Rumor Has It ran last of 10, My Happiness was sixth, and Silverfoot was fifth.

Now the KC Turf runner-up, Stream of Gold, has resurfaced in the entries - albeit in a different kind of race than the KC Turf and Sycamore, both of which are Grade 3 stakes at 1 1/2 miles on turf. Stream of Gold, claimed for $60,000 at the end of the Saratoga meet by owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey and trainer Mike Maker, will turn back to 1 1/16 miles while dropping into the allowance ranks in the $59,000 feature Wednesday at Keeneland.

The Sycamore results "don't really bother me at all," said Maker, the longtime former D. Wayne Lukas assistant whose 85-horse public stable is split between Turfway Park and the Trackside training center. "I think cutting back to a mile and a sixteenth, his kick is going to be more explosive than at the marathon distances."

Stream of Gold, with Rene Douglas to ride, will break from post 9 in a field of 11 older horses entered in the eighth of nine races. Second for most of the way in the KC Turf when making his debut under the Ramsey silks, the 7-year-old Stream of Gold finished 3 3/4 lengths behind Rumor Has It, a stunning wire-to-wire winner at 59-1. In previous starts, Stream of Gold has shown tremendous punch on occasion, including in his Aug. 27 win at Saratoga.

Among his strongest challengers are Buckeye Buddy, Ballast, Demarcation, Gin and Sin, and Faith's Magic. Of those, Gin and Sin and Demarcation both enter off minor stakes wins: Gin and Sin in the Tri-State at Ellis Park, and Demarcation in the Franklin-Simpson at Kentucky Downs.

Demarcation will be attempting to give trainer Paul McGee his third win of the Keeneland fall meet - and his third in a weekday allowance feature. McGee won Oct. 8 with No Fault and Oct. 16 with School Girl.

Two other allowances (races 4 and 7) also are carded Wednesday.