Golden Pal
Although he found one too good for him on his 2yo debut, as early as April 17, the quick-maturing Golden Pal proved virtually unbeatable in his home country, recording eight straight victories at the ages of two, three and four. In establishing himself as arguably America’s finest turf sprinter, the explosive son of Uncle Mo wired the field in both the Gr.2 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Keeneland and the Gr.1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar. The dual Breeders’ Cup winner also landed the Gr.3 Quick Call S. at Saratoga, two editions of the Gr.2 Woodford S. at Keeneland, the Gr.2 Shakertown S. at Keeneland and the Gr.3 Troy S. at Saratoga.
Golden Pal clearly inherited plenty of speed from his dam Lady Shipman, a winner of 13 of her 20 starts with career earnings of over $900,000. Lady Shipman once set a course record of 1:00.46 for Saratoga’s 5½-furlong turf course.
With no inbreeding in the first four generations of his pedigree, Golden Pal has plenty of options as a stallion. He shares the same sire, Uncle Mo, as Nyquist, Laoban and Outwork, all of them Gr.1 sires with their early crops. Although Golden Pal and his dam Lady Shipman excelled on turf, there are numerous top-class dirt performers in his pedigree, with all four of his grandparents having won on the main track.
A.P. INDY is absent from Golden Pal’s pedigree and he should do well with mares by all the successful stallions from the A.P. Indy-Mr Prospector cross, such as PULPIT, MINESHAFT, FLATTER and CONGRATS. Daughters of TAPIT are worth considering now that Uncle Mo has sired the Gr.1 winner Kingsbarns from one. Of Uncle Mo’s Gr.1 winners, Yaupon is out of mare by VINDICATION, while his Belmont S. winner Mo Donegal, his 2023 Pacific Classic winner Arabian Knight and his Hollywood Derby winner Mo Town all have dams by sons of A.P. INDY. Uncle Mo’s son Nyquist owes four of his Gr.1 winners to grand-daughters of A.P. Indy, by BERNARDINI (2), CONGRATS and MINESHAFT. Outwork, another son of Uncle Mo, owes his 2023 2yo Gr.1 winner Brightwork to a MALIBU MOON mare. A third son, Laoban, sired Gr.2 Rebel S. winner Un Ojo from another A.P. INDY mare.
Golden Pal’s sire Uncle Mo has thrived with mares from the MR PROSPECTOR line and there is no reason why Golden Pal shouldn’t follow suit. The GONE WEST branch provided Uncle Mo with Gr.1 winner Gomo (out of a daughter of ELUSIVE QUALITY) and Graded winners Laoban and Souper Hoity Toity (both out of SPEIGHTSTOWN mares). Uncle Mo’s son Nyquist owes his Gr.1 winner Slow Down Andy to a grand-daughter of SMART STRIKE, by SQUARE EDDIE. Altogether Nyquist has four BTWs from SQUARE EDDIE mares (27%). Another of Nyquist’s Gr.1 winners, Randomized, has a dam by ELUSIVE QUALITY. UNBRIDLED is the broodmare sire of Gr.1 winner Unbridled Mo, while his sons EMPIRE MAKER, UNBRIDLED’S SONG and UNTUTTABLE all rank among the broodmare sires of Uncle Mo’s Graded winners.
The Gr.1 Wood Memorial winner Outwork has an EMPIRE MAKER dam, while the Gr.1 winner A Mo Reay has a dam by EMPIRE MAKER’s son PIONEEROF THE NILE.
Golden Pal’s pedigree is free of STORM CAT. Uncle Mo quickly proved himself with the STORM CAT line, siring the top-class Nyquist and the Gr.3 winner Auntie Joy from daughters of FORESTRY. FORESTRY also sired the 2nd dam of Gr.1 winner Arabian Knight. Daughters of INTO MISCHIEF and SCAT DADDY look guaranteed to reinforce Golden Pal’s precocious speed.
Uncle Mo’s 2024 2yo Gr.2 winner Showcase is his first runner out of a mare by VIOLENCE, a son of MEDAGLIA D’ORO, while GALILEO sired the dam of his 2024 Gr.3 winner West Hollywood. Uncle Mo has sired Gr.1 or Gr.2 Graded winners from mares by DIXIELAND BAND, by NUREYEV’s son UNUSUAL HEAT and by DANZIG’s son WAR FRONT. Uncle Mo has several black-type horses out of MORE THAN READY mares. Laoban, another son of Uncle Mo, sired the Gr.1 winner Simply Ravishing from a MORE THAN READY mare. Uncle Mo has black-type winners out of daughters of DEPUTY MINISTER, FRENCH DEPUTY and DEFRERE.