Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Caravel holds slight advantage in wide-open Goldwood Stakes
The Very One Stakes on May 14 at Pimlico featured an exciting finish, the top three separated by two noses, and they are doing it all over again Friday at Monmouth Park.
Caravel, Gotta Go Mo, and Victory Kingdom comprised the three-way Pimlico photo last month and meet again in the $75,000 Goldwood, a fivefurlong turf dash for older fillies and mares. The Goldwood goes as race 5 of six on a twilight card, first post 5 p.m. Eastern. With the temporary turf rail set 36 feet out, field size is capped at eight, and the Goldwood has an octet in the main body and No Mercy Percy as the lone alsoeligible.
Caravel only won The Very One by a nose but might be the superior horse in the Goldwood. Trained in Maryland by Elizabeth Merryman, who also bred and owns the 4-year-old Mizzen Mast filly, Pennsylvania-bred Caravel has five wins from seven starts overall and is 3 for 3 in five-furlong turf sprints.
In The Very One, she was somewhat hard to hold while racing in a tight spot along the fence much of the trip and found herself bottled up behind horses at the head of the stretch. When a gap finally opened in the final furlong, Caravel, despite having pulled harder than ideal, burst through it with a good turn of foot and even with the narrow win margin seemed clearly best, quickly galloping out in front. She’s got the rail Friday, ought to be positioned behind the early leaders, and has found a decent spot to ring up another victory.
Gotta Go Mo did lose some ground breaking from post 10 and racing outside at Pimlico, while Victory Kingdom was making her first start of the year, so both horses are eligible to produce something at least slightly better in the Goldwood.
One also has to throw Miss Auramet into the mix. The Monmouth-based filly, trained by Kathleen O’Connell, won the off-turf Politely Stakes earlier in the meet and is at least as good on grass as on dirt. She’s drawn outside and can get a good, clean stalking or pressing trip.
McGaughey weighing options
Improving 4-year-old Vigilantes Way came out of her decisive win in the Grade 3 Eatontown Stakes in good shape, trainer Shug McGaughey said, and appears to be a filly on the rise. Vigilantes Way earned a career-best 91 Beyer Speed Figure while winning her first graded race.
Vigilantes Way has yet to race beyond 1 1/16 miles, but McGaughey believes she’ll get 1 1/8 miles. And having won a graded race now, Vigilantes Way, whose second dam is the great Personal Ensign, could further boost her residual value by winning or placing in a Grade 1 race. That leads one to imagine the Grade 1 Diana over nine furlongs at Saratoga as a possible spot, but McGaughey said no plans are set for the filly.
“We’ll nominate there, but whether we go or not, we’ll see,” said McGaughey, who also mentioned the Ballston Spa at Saratoga and the Matchmaker at Monmouth as other options. “It was a long, hot day there, but she seems fine coming back [to New York]. I was proud of the way he ran. That was a competitive bunch of horses. She’s had three really good races now.”
Vigilantes Way came into the Eatontown off a good, closing second-place finish to Grade 1-class Mean Mary in the Gallorette at Pimlico.
The Critical Way to Troy Stakes
At this point, it’s hard to knock the hard-knocking 7-year-old turf sprinter The Critical Way. He’s run five races during 2021, all strong performances, and made short work of six rivals Saturday at Monmouth Park in the $75,000 Get Serious Stakes. The Critical Way, who often has led, pressed the early pace under Paco Lopez before taking over and winning by three lengths, earning a career-best 102 Beyer Speed Figure.
“He came back really good, jumping around, happy,” trainer Jose Delgado said. “Paco sent him a little but didn’t go with the other horse early. When he called on him and asked him, he just exploded. The competition is getting tougher and tougher now, so it’s good for him to try to settle down and make one move.”
The Critical Way’s connections have their eye on the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, which, at five furlongs this year, sits right in the gelding’s wheelhouse. In the nearer term, The Critical Way is likely to make his next start Aug. 6 at Saratoga in the $200,000 Troy Stakes.
Mean Mary might try U.N.
Trainer Graham Motion definitely wants to race Mean Mary, who won the New York Stakes at Belmont in her most recent start, in the Beverly D. Stakes on Aug. 14 at Arlington, but he also is toying with an interim race in the Grade 1 United Nations on July 17 at Monmouth.
“It’s a long time to wait for the Beverly D., and we might want to run in the U.N.,” Motion said. “I think I’d just wait for Arlington, though, if we don’t go to Monmouth.”
Meanwhile, the Motiontrained filly Crystal Cliffs deadheated for third Sunday in the Eatontown Stakes, running nearly as well, perhaps, as victorious Vigilantes Way. While the winner pressed a slow pace, Crystal Cliffs rallied from 10th at a 1 1/16-mile trip likely short of her best.
“It just didn’t set up for her,” Motion said. “I feel bad for the filly because she doesn’t race that often and puts so much into her starts.”
Motion has nothing concrete set for Crystal Cliffs, who has raced only twice in 2021, but said she also could be considered for the Beverly D.