Bar of Gold gets shot on turf in Plenty of Grace Stakes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer John Kimmel has been considering running Bar of Gold on turf since last summer. On Saturday, the turf experiment commences with Bar of Gold running in the $100,000 Plenty of Grace Stakes, scheduled for one mile over Aqueduct’s turf course.

Bar of Gold, a multiple New York-bred stakes winner on dirt, is a daughter of Medaglia d’Oro and out of the Grade 3 turf stakes winner Khancord Kid. Bar of Gold is 5 for 16, with all five of her wins coming over wet tracks, including an 18-length romp in last October’s Empire Distaff at Belmont.

She has not run since finishing fourth behind Highway Star in last December’s Grade 3 Go for Wand Handicap over Aqueduct’s main track. Highway Star, who won last Sunday’s Grade 3 Distaff, and Bar of Gold are both owned by Chester and Mary Broman, though Highway Star is trained by Rodrigo Ubillo.

Kimmel said the Plenty of Grace will give him an idea of what type of 2017 campaign should be mapped out for Bar of Gold.

“If she does something outstanding, we’ll have a new direction,” Kimmel said. “If she’s just ordinary, then we know what to do with her as far as her ability on the dirt.”

Kimmel breezed Bar of Gold four times over the turf last summer at Saratoga, including a half-mile bullet move in 46.63 seconds.

“She breezed unbelievably well,” Kimmel said. “It was really at the suggestion of Joel Rosario, who worked her twice on the grass. He had ridden her on the dirt, and he was commenting how remarkable she was on the grass.”

Off those turf works, Bar of Gold finished a solid third, beaten a half-length, in the Presque Isle Masters over a synthetic surface. Kimmel had Bar of Gold pointed to a turf race, but the ground came up soft, and he opted to skip it. Instead, he ran Bar of Gold in the $300,000 Empire Distaff for New York-breds, where she absolutely freaked, running a Beyer Speed Figure of 109.

With Rosario riding at Keeneland on Saturday, Chris DeCarlo has picked up the mount on Bar of Gold for the Plenty of Grace. DeCarlo last Saturday won the Grade 1 Carter on Green Gratto.

Bar of Gold will take on six opponents in the Plenty of Grace, led by My Impression, who won the Winter Memories over this turf course last November. The others entered are Bishop’s Pond, Light In Paris, My Sweet Girl, Mizz Money, and Rattataptap.

Unified still eyes Met Mile

Unified came out of his neck defeat to Green Gratto in last Saturday’s Grade 1 Carter in good order and is under consideration for the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on June 10 at Belmont Park, trainer Jimmy Jerkens said Wednesday.

Jerkens said he was worried about Green Gratto’s presence in the Carter because of the early speed he possesses.

“I hated to see him in there – not that I thought he’d beat us, but he’d change our strategy,” Jerkens said. “Maybe if we broke inside of him, we would have just sold out, especially as good as the rail was all day. But it looked like he would have had to run too hard to cross over in front of him, so he decided to sit off him and couldn’t catch him.”

The loss was Unified’s first in a one-turn race.

Meanwhile, Jerkens said there’s no decision yet on where Shaman Ghost will make his next start. Shaman Ghost won the Santa Anita Handicap on March 11 but was not nominated to this Saturday’s Oaklawn Handicap. Frank Stronach, who owns Shaman Ghost, owns Pimlico Race Course, where the Grade 3, $300,000 Pimlico Special will be run May 20.

Jerkens said that race is possible for Shaman Ghost, but that a more likely option is the Grade 1, $500,000 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs on June 17. Shaman Ghost won the Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill last November.

On Monday, Shaman Ghost worked a half-mile in 48.77 seconds over the Belmont training track, his second work since the Santa Anita Handicap.

Mo Town undergoing tests

The connections of Mo Town are searching for answers after the 3-year-old’s seventh-place finish in last Saturday’s Grade 2 Wood Memorial.

Mo Town was sent to Kentucky, where he will be evaluated by veterinarians to see if there’s a physical issue that has yet to be discovered.

“I hope they find something we can help the horse with,” trainer Tony Dutrow said. “I thought that horse was going to really give a good performance. That’s as wrong as I’ve ever been.”

Dutrow said there was nothing obviously wrong with Mo Town immediately following the race. He said jockey Javier Castellano told him the horse didn’t really try.

Mo Town won 2 of 3 starts at age 2, including the Grade 2 Remsen. Before the Wood, Mo Town was beaten 10 1/2 lengths when fifth in the Risen Star.