Ward has ambitious plans for Golden Pal

DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Steve Miyadi doesn’t know exactly when or where his Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint runner-up Lieutenant Dan will next start. He does know that he’s not itching for a rematch with Golden Pal.

Golden Pal blasted to the lead Saturday in the Turf Sprint, with Lieutenant Dan chasing him all the way but unable to get within 1 1/2 lengths of Golden Pal while finishing more than three lengths clear of the show horse, Charmaine’s Mia. Told that Wesley Ward was aiming Golden Pal at the Shakertown Stakes next spring at Keeneland, Miyadi was able to rule out one potential spot. “Take that off the list,” Miyadi said.

Golden Pal won his second

Breeders’ Cup turf sprint race, adding Saturday’s success to the BC Juvenile Turf Sprint he won in 2020 at Keeneland. The Breeders’ Cup returns to Keeneland in 2022 and, barring injury, Golden Pal will be racing there, too.

Ward was on the Del Mar backstretch early Sunday morning and reported Golden Pal had come out of his race in good shape and would return for a 4-year-old campaign next year. In the Turf Sprint, Golden Pal flew out of the gate and looked like a winner every step of the way, with his 55.72-second clocking for five furlongs earning a 107 Beyer Speed Figure, a career best by 11 points.

“I knew he had a big race like that in him and I’m just glad he finally showed it,” Ward said.

Last winter, Ward took Golden Pal to Florida, but the colt wound up with a delayed start to his campaign after chipping a knee. Golden Pal will winter in Kentucky, with the Shakertown in April his comeback target and a prep for the first big goal, the Group 1 King’s Stand at the Royal Ascot meeting in England.

“If he could win the King’s Stand on English soil, that would make him a really serious turf sprinter,” Ward said.

Ward also harbors ambitions of trying Golden Pal on dirt, and said that experiment could come next summer following the overseas trip.

As for Lieutenant Dan, Miyadi said he, too, exited the Turf Sprint in good shape. A 5-year-old gelding, Lieutenant Dan didn’t race for more than a year before returning this past summer and going undefeated in two turf sprints at Del

Mar, including the Green Flash Stakes, and going on to win the Eddie D at Santa Anita.

“He just wasn’t right,” Miyadi said of the long layoff. “He’s a really big horse, and with those horses, gravity takes a toll. It took forever to get him back. For a Cal-bred to even make it into open company was good, much less the Breeders’ Cup.”

Charmaine’s Mia rallied from eighth to win a four-horse photo for third. She is headed to Kentucky, where she’ll be sold at auction, trainer Phil D’Amato said.

Kimari, who finished seventh for Ward, also is cataloged to be sold this month. Emaraaty Ana (fourth), A Case of You (fifth), and 2020 Turf Sprint winner Glass Slippers (eighth) were scheduled to be flown back to Ireland on Monday.