On Fire Baby smokes Golden Rod rivals

On Fire Baby cruised through the stretch unopposed in the Golden Rod (Churchill Downs/Reed Palmer Photography) Anita Cauley’s homebred On Fire Baby crushed her rivals in Saturday’s Grade 2, $169,350 Golden Rod Stakes at Churchill Downs, winning off by 6 1/4 lengths, and became only the seventh filly to sweep Churchill Downs’ fall stakes for two-year-old fillies with the gate-to-wire decision. The Gary Hartlage-trained filly captured the Grade 2 Pocahontas Stakes on the opening weekend of the fall meet. With regular rider Joe Johnson up, On Fire Baby broke fastest from the gate and never looked back in the Golden Rod, clipping off fractions of :24 3/5, :50, 1:14 4/5 and 1:39 2/5 before stopping the teletimer in 1:45 4/5 for 1 1/16 miles over a fast track.

“After the past performances for the race came out, I started looking them
over,” Johnson said. “I studied them last night and came in this morning and
said, ‘Dog (Gary Hartlage), I can’t read this (Daily) Racing Form.’ And he asked
why and I said, ‘I can’t see the speed in this race.’ And he said, ‘What a
coincidence because neither can I.’ So the plan was to break and go on with her.
When we broke, no one was really gunning for it (the lead), so I took advantage
of it and when I called on her to run, she responded. She was very professional
today.”

On Fire Baby led by a half-length after a half-mile and extended her
advantage at every pole the rest of the way.

On October 30, On Fire Baby scored her first stakes triumph in the Pocahontas
at one mile, rallying from off the pace to win in deep stretch. Others who completed the Pocahontas-Golden Rod double are Weekend
Surprise (1982), Flippers (1983), At the Half (1993), French Park (2005), Pure
Clan (2006) and Sassy Image (2009).

Saturday’s victory was worth $99,747 and increased On Fire Baby’s earnings to
$227,329 with a record of 3-0-0 in four starts.

The gray filly led every step of the way in the Golden Rod but rallied to win the Pocahontas from off the pace (Harold Roth/Horsephotos.com) “You saw today how good she is and I think she’s got plenty left in her,” Hartlage said. “When she got away with that kind of a half (mile), I didn’t think she would get beat if she was the horse I thought she was and she did her thing. They let us walk like a dog and she’s just that good. I’ve trained a couple of Grade 2 winners, but she’s the best one I’ve ever had. In my opinion, she’s one of the top three two-year-old fillies in the country.” On Fire Baby is a Kentucky-bred daughter of Smoke Glacken and is the third stakes winner from her dam, the Gilded Time mare Ornate, who was a stakes winner herself. Her first was High Heels, queen of the Grade 2 Fantasy Stakes and runner-up in such events as the Grade 2 Falls City Handicap, Grade 2 Chilukki Stakes and Grade 3 Gardenia Handicap, in addition to thirds in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks and Golden Rod. Ornate’s next foal was stakes scorer and Grade 3-placed French Kiss. Other high-profile family members include Grade 1-winning millionaires Paddy O’Prado, Olympio and Pyro, Grade 1 hero Cuvee, and current Grade 3 winner Tapizar.

She returned $7.40, $4.40 and $3.40 as the slight 5-2 favorite in the field
of 10 two-year-old fillies. Goldrush Gal closed late to
finish second at 29-1. Back Spin, at 25-1, was another
three-quarters of a length back in third. Golden History, Customer Base, Glinda
the Good, Karlovy Vary, Jamraa, Spring Eclipse and Spirited Miss completed the
order of finish. Annie Russell was a late scratch.

Hartlage plans to send On Fire Baby to Oaklawn Park where she’ll be prepared
for lucrative stakes races this winter.

“We’re nominated to the Kentucky Oaks now and we’ll also nominate her to the
Kentucky Derby (Triple Crown),” Hartlage said. “I’m telling you, she is that
good.”

The two Golden Rod winners that went on to win the Kentucky Oaks are
Silverbulletday (1999) and Rachel Alexandra (2009).