Trickle of Gold loose on the lead

Trickle of Gold had run half-mile splits in 44-and-change in her last two starts, and had no problem winning both races. So when she was allowed to get away with extremely soft fractions of 23.47 seconds for the first-quarter mile and 46.69 for a half, Saturday's $75,000 Skipat Stakes at Pimlico was all but over.

Having little problem clearing six overmatched fillies and mares, Trickle of Gold ($2.60) opened up through the stretch under Alex Beitia and cruised home seven lengths in front of Spirited Game for her third straight victory.

Her task was made all the easier with the scratches of two stakes-winning sprinters, Career Oriented and Contrast.

The 4-year-old Trickle of Gold, now 10 for 18 lifetime for trainer Mike Gorham, covered six furlongs in 1:11.24 while dominating the closing-day feature at Pimlico.