World Gone Wright makes gamble look good

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Tests of speed and courage are what make racing so exciting and, at the same time, so heartbreaking. For every success story in the business, there are countless tales of what might have been, stories of horses who showed so much promise and potential but, for one reason or another, never put it all together when it counted.

That’s what makes the story of World Gone Wright so special. World Gone Wright, bred by Saronda Smith and Alan Pesch, is a son of the stallion Forty Grams out of the Storm Boot mare It’s a Storm. Robert and Saronda Smith, who run the Wesfield Farm breeding operation near Ocala, Fla., sent the broodmare to the New Jersey stallion, which is why World Gone Wright is a New Jersey-bred.

The Smiths and their sons also race a modest stable. In 2012, they raced White Merlot, a mare who set the track record for 6 1/2 furlongs at Tampa Bay Downs while beating six-furlong track record holder and stakes winner It’s Me Mom.

Earlier this year, Robert Smith began telling friends about a filly who was showing him more speed and talent than any horse he had seen in a long time. Of course, racetrack stories about young horses with talent are a dime a dozen on the backstretch, but when World Gone Wright wired a solid field of maidens here March 8, a group that included a highly touted runner from the Tom Proctor barn, she had passed her first test with flying colors.

But there’s a saying on the track that your horse isn’t legitimate unless she shows she can compete “at the races,” meaning one of the top tracks in the country. It’s a big gamble to take a maiden winner from Tampa Bay Downs, ship her 1,000 miles to a major track, and race her over a strange surface against much tougher competition. But Smith and co-owner Mark Hoffman, who had bought a half-interest in the filly after watching her work before her first start, had enough confidence to give World Gone Wright a chance to prove she was the real deal.

Last Thursday, World Gone Wright took on first-level allowance runners in a six-furlong sprint at Keeneland. She went right to the front, opened a 5 1/2-length lead after a half-mile, and then had enough left to prevail by a half-length over the fast but somewhat tiring synthetic surface.

On Saturday, Smith said World Gone Wright had handled the 2,000-mile round trip like a pro and was back in her stall, going after her feed with a vengeance.

“The best thing was how she handled all this,” he said. “She was so calm and such a pro, she handled it a lot better than I did.”

The future is bright for World Gone Wright and her owners. They have received some offers from prospective buyers, and if a sale doesn’t go through, plans are to race her at Monmouth Park this summer because, as a New Jersey-bred, World Gone Wright is eligible for the statebred stakes at the Jersey Shore.

And the Smiths also have a yearling half-sister to World Gone Wright by Anthony’s Cross, who is by Indian Charlie. They sold a half-interest in the filly prior to World Gone Wright’s race.

◗ Antonio Gallardo won three races Saturday and moved atop the jockeys’ standings. Gallardo has 104 winners, three more than Ronnie Allen Jr. Allen journeyed to Chicago on Saturday to ride Dress the Part for trainer Tom Proctor in the $150,000 Sixty Sails Handicap, but the mare finished last of seven.

◗ Apprentice Silvia Zapico has been accepting mounts here in recent weeks as she works to get into top riding shape after a long layoff. Zapico showed talent last season in Maryland and Delaware but was sidelined twice with injuries.