For the second week running, Brendan Walsh enjoyed a three-win Saturday. The scene shifted to Kentucky, where he snagged a stakes race and two lesser at Keeneland, whereas he took three stakes races at Gulfstream Park last week.
This week’s action featured a brother act in the form of Prevalence and Emirates Road, Godolphin Racing homebreds out of the broodmare Enrichment. Prevalence, a 4-year-old colt, was a Kentucky Derby candidate after winning his first two career starts last year. He finished off the board in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, after which a 20-length whipping in a Grade 2 mile at Churchill Downs earned him time off. His return at Gulfstream in February was nothing special but he showed some spark a month later when he dusted an allowance field there by almost five lengths.
That convinced Walsh to try Prevalence in the Grade 3 Commonwealth Stakes at Keeneland, a seven-furlong endeavor over a sloppy main track. Jockey Tyler Gaffalione settled Prevalence just off a hot early pace duel and swept past the leaders in deep stretch. The colt won by just over two lengths and paid $7.00 to win as the second choice in the 10-horse field.
Prevalence, Tyler Gaffalione up, leads the field home in the Commonwealth Stakes at Keeneland. COADY PHOTOGRAPHY
“The first thing Brendan said [after the race] was, ‘Man, they went quick, but it looked like he was well within himself,’ and he really was,” Gaffalione said. “He has a high cruising speed and he’s a very intelligent horse. I had plenty left.”
Emirates Road was a non-threatening fifth in his racing debut last month at Gulfstream over a sloppy track. He looked like a different runner here, racing well back early on, and then rallying down the center of the strip under Gaffalione to tally by a length. He returned $7.80 to win.
“To have two winners for [Godolphin] out of the same mare is a special day in itself,” Walsh said.
Walsh’s third victory came in a first-level allowance mile that was rained off the grass onto the main track. Longpants Required, a 5-year-old homebred filly owned by Four Lawn Chairs LLC, zipped along the rail approaching the stretch to grab the lead and draw off by five lengths. She paid $17.00 to win.
This was the second win in 19 starts by Longpants Required, all for Walsh. She broke her maiden at Keeneland in October 2020 in a race that was moved from the turf to the main track.
Coolmore also earned a stakes victory on the same program on the heels of Golden Pal, winner of the Grade 2 Shakertown Stakes, a turf sprint. Last seen wiring the field in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar, Golden Pal ran a similar race here under Irad Ortiz, Jr. The Wesley Ward trainee ran his career mark to six wins from seven starts when he reached the wire in front by almost five lengths. He paid $3.20 to win.
MAKING HIS MARK
Paul McEntee made his mark at the Keeneland meet when he sent out Baytown Lovely, a 2-year-old filly making her career debut, to win the first race, a maiden special weight sprint, there on Sunday. She rallied under Jack Gilligan to get her neck in front in the final strides. She paid $42.60 to win. McEntee owns her in partnership with Resolute Racing Alliance.
Friday’s opening day card at Keeneland was treated to the first longshot victory of the meet when James Graham brought in Lavish Habits for a $45.00 win mutuel in the second race, a mile and three-sixteenths maiden special weight event on the lawn.
Half an hour later, John Ennis and Eddie Kenneally combined for a $135.00 exacta when their runners, Vidal and Password Protected, respectively, ran 1-2 in a main track sprint at the $20,000 claiming plateau.
Kenneally, however, had the spotlight to himself at Santa Anita, where he sent out Shane Ryan’s Brooke Marie to victory in the Grade 2 Monrovia Stakes on Saturday. This was the first stab at graded stakes company for the 6-year-old mare and she had a say in the proceedings from the outset. Jockey Juan Hernandez had her battling for the lead early in this turf sprint and she prevailed by one-half length. She paid $11.20 to win.
Later on the Santa Anita card, Going Global, a 4-year-old Irish-bred filly owned by a large partnership, returned to winning form in the Grade 2 Royal Heroine Stakes at a mile on the grass. She’d been away since finishing off the board in the American Oaks the day after Christmas in a race that was taken off the turf and run on the Santa Anita main track.
Here, back on the lawn, Going Global tracked the pace set by the Eoin Harty-trained Javanica and took over inside the quarter pole. Her lead at the wire was almost two lengths. Umberto Rispoli rode the $2.60 winner, which was bred by Nicky Hartery and trained by Mick Halford before leaving Ireland for America. She is now 8-for-13 lifetime and 7-for-9 in this country.
“She was very impressive,” said Phil D’Amato, Going Global’s trainer. “She did it very easily. That last one on the dirt, that was my mistake. I should have never run her that day. She had a nice freshening since then and responded very well. We are going to keep her on the grass the rest of the year.”
TWICE AS NICE
Naoise Agnew had two wins for the year heading into Wednesday night’s card at Penn National. By the end of the card, he’d doubled that output. He struck first in the fifth race, a first-level allowance sprint with Tom Coulter’s Nice Weather, a 3-year-old colt that towroped the field over a sloppy surface. Julio Hernandez brought him home in front by three-quarters of a length, good for a $4.80 win mutuel.
Some 80 minutes later, in the eighth race, a similar scenario played out in this route race at the $4,000 claiming level when the wire came just in time to greet the nose of Nomad Farm’s Color Force. The 6-year-old mare, running first time off the Agnew claim, led by four lengths rounding for home but needed every bit of Tyler Conner’s encouragement to prevail by a neck. She returned $4.40 to win. Trainer Robert Johnston claimed the winner.
