The 2025 Kentucky Oaks (G1) is roughly five months away, but already Godolphin and trainer Brad Cox seem fully loaded for it. In addition to presumptive juvenile filly champion Immersive, connections also have budding star Good Cheer, who rolled to her fourth consecutive win in the $400,000 Golden Rod (G2) at Churchill Downs on Saturday.
It was the fourth win on the card for Cox, who also unveiled another potential Oaks prospect in debut winner Chasten to start the 12-race program. Chasten is a juvenile half-sister to the recently retired champion Idiomatic.
Good Cheer’s pedigree, as you would expect from a Godolphin homebred, is fancy, too. She’s by Medaglia d’Oro and out of multiple Grade 1 winner Wedding Toast. Medaglia d’Oro sired Rachel Alexandra, the last filly to pull off the Golden Rod/Kentucky Oaks double in 2008-09.
Making a three-wide bid to the lead approaching the stretch, Good Cheer, drew clear down the lane to win the Golden Rod by 2 1/2 lengths under Luis Saez. She covered 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.26 over a fast track and paid $3.32.
Quietside finished a clear second, six lengths ahead of Eclatant. The order of finish was rounded out by Sturgeon Moon, Flash Wear, Fixin to Bee, and My Lil Punky.
Good Cheer kicked off her career in early August, scoring by 8 1/4 lengths going a mile at Horseshoe Indianapolis. She has since won three straight at Churchill, preceding the Golden Rod with a 17-length tally against allowance foes and a 4 3/4-length decision in the Rags to Riches S.
“She is another testament to Godolphin’s program,” Cox said. “She’s handled everything we’ve done with her, so far, extremely well and I think we haven’t seen her best yet.”
Good Cheer earned an additional 10 Oaks qualifying points by winning the Golden Rod, and now has 20. Quietside increased her total from three to eight points, while Eclatant now has three points. Sturgeon Moon earned two points and Flash Wear one point.
The $225,000 Fern Creek S., a 6 1/2-furlong dash for two-year-old fillies, also proved quite formful. Impulse Buy won by 2 1/2 lengths from Echo Sound, with Shisospicy a neck behind in third. All three left the gate at odds of 2-1, with Shisospicy narrowly favored.
Second best in her stakes debut in the Nov. 2 Tempted S. at Aqueduct, Impulse Buy won in a time of 1:16.17 and returned $6.54. Impulse Buy is owned and was bred by WinStar Farm and is trained by Rudy Brisset. She was ridden in the Fern Creek by Tyler Gaffalione.
Second in her debut at Ellis Park in August, Impulse Bay subsequently broke her maiden by 11 lengths at Keeneland prior to her run in the Tempted. She was sired by Speightstown and is out of Summertime Oaks (G2) heroine Jojo Warrior, a daughter of Pioneerof the Nile.
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