Golden Pal Dashes To G1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint Win
Golden Pal (3c Uncle Mo x Lady Shipman, by Midshipman) became only the fifth horse in Breeders’ Cup history to win two different Breeders’ Cup races when last year’s Grade II Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint winner won the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
A brilliantly fast son of Uncle Mo, Golden Pal shot from the gate in the five furlong race and it was all but a foregone conclusion he was the race winner. Only one horse was able to attempt to chase him down in the stretch but even that one failed.
In the end, Golden Pal equaled the :54.75 Del Mar track record for the win with multiple graded stakes winner Lieutenant Dan 1 ¼ lengths back and the third place finisher nearly five lengths behind.
Bred by Randal Lowe and trained by Wesley Ward for the Coolmore partners and Westerberg, Golden Pal is the winner of five of his eight races with two other top two finishes for $1.299 million in earnings.
“He’s got the title – he’s the best horse (I’ve ever trained),” Ward said after the race. “Bruce Headley, a great trainer, once told me when he had Kona Gold, ‘stay in there long enough and you’ll get one as good as this.’ I hope everyone in horse racing has a horse like this, as special as he is. He’s just fast. He’s mature and he has so much upstairs, as well. He has so much natural ability. What a horse.”
Among his victories are the two Breeders’ Cup races, the Grade II Woodford Stakes and the Grade III Quick Call Stakes, with the colt also finishing second in the Group II Norfolk Stakes.
He is out of the tough multiple stakes winner Lady Shipman, who herself finished second in the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Turf. Lady Shipman is also a full sister to multiple stakes-placed Just Talkin and a granddaughter of multiple stakes winner Nannetta.
Lady Shipman returned to Uncle Mo this year.
Golden Pal is the 10th Grade I winner for his sire with Uncle Mo siring Grade I winners from five furlongs on the turf to 1 ¼ miles on the dirt in the Grade I Kentucky Derby.