The conclusion of Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million
Godolphin Stable’s Alpha, the 2-1 favorite, determinedly caught up to Golden
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Magic City Thoroughbred Partners’ Golden Ticket, the 33-1 ninth choice among
11 rivals, was making his first start since a runner-up in an allowance/optional
claiming event at Churchill Downs 112 days ago. The Kenny McPeek-trained son of
Speightstown rallied for second in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby earlier this
season, but the colt’s only previous win came in an off-the-turf maiden special
weight at Gulfstream Park in February, his sixth career outing.
Ramon Dominguez rode Alpha and David Cohen was up on Golden Ticket.
“At the wire, it was too close to call. I said, ‘We’ll take a dead-heat.’ It
“It’s a dead-heat, but it goes in the ‘W’ column. It doesn’t happen very
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“I thought we were beat at first, then I thought we won,” McPeek stated. “I
couldn’t tell. I’m thrilled we finished in a dead heat. It couldn’t work out
better for the two of us. Kiaran is a great guy. We all work our tail off.”
The three-year-olds each pocketed $400,000 for the win. Alpha improved his
record to 9-5-2-0, $1,260,000; Golden Ticket’s ledger now reads 10-2-4-1,
$536,035.
Both runners were forwardly placed during the early stages, just behind
Alpha made his move on the outside approaching the conclusion of the far
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The final time for the 1 1/4-mile test was 2:01 3/5.
“At the sixteenth pole, I thought we were second-best,” McLaughlin said. “I
didn’t think we were going to get there. Then, at the last lunge or two, I
thought we got there. The photo indicated a tie, and I said, ‘We’ll take it.'”
“It would have been a heartbreaker for either one of us to lose,” McPeek
added. “(Our horse) had been training unbelievable. We had been training him for
the mile and a quarter distance. David (Cohen) nailed it. He cut him loose to
the tee. He couldn’t have done a better job.”
Alpha returned mutuels of $4.10, $5.10 and $3.90, and Golden Ticket paid
$26.80, $26.40 and $11.80 to his supporters.
“I was, throughout the whole race, three wide,” Dominguez said of his trip
“David rode a great race and got through on the rail. I really think that
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“The horse ran great,” Cohen explained. “We had two options; (take the lead)
if they gave it to us, or try to sit back and find the pocket. If the rail came
available great, or if we had to come out, just try to save our run until the
very end. On the gallop-out, Ramon and I spoke to each other and neither one of
us knew if we won. Words can’t explain how this feels (to win the Travers).
Ramon and I took the dead-heat in a great victory.”
Fast Falcon, a 32-1 outsider, trailed through the early stages and was still
10th with a quarter-mile remaining, but he rallied boldly for third, only a neck
behind Alpha and Golden Ticket. It was another length back to the late-running
Atigun, who wound up 2 1/2 lengths better than Nonios in fifth. Neck ‘n Neck,
Stealcase, Speightscity, Liaison, Five Sixteen and Street Life, who was vanned
off the track due to a suspected injury to his left front leg, completed the
order of finish.
“That wasn’t bad,” trainer Nick Zito said of the third-place finisher. “I
think if we don’t have the (far outside) post, he’s right there.”
“All of a sudden by the three-eighths pole (Street Life) just stopped in
front of me when I thought he was going to start to kick up,” said Junior
Alvarado, rider of Fast Falcon. “So, I had to move up, check a little bit and
move outside. He started to pick it up again, but I’m sure that’s what cost me
the race.”
A debut winner by six lengths at Saratoga last September, Alpha was
subsequently second in the Grade 1 Champagne, but was fractious in the gate
before the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and finished 11th of 13. The bay colt
opened his sophomore season with easy wins in the Count Fleet and Grade 3
Withers during the Aqueduct inner dirt meet, and just missed by a neck to
Gemologist after early trouble in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial on April 7.
He was never a factor at any point when finishing 12th in the Kentucky Derby
next out, but Alpha rebounded nicely in the Jim Dandy, leading wire to wire over
the sloppy track for a two-length decision.
Bred in Kentucky by Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley operation, Alpha was produced by
the stakes-winning Nijinsky II mare Munnaya. She’s also the dam of stakes winner
Mystic Melody, multiple Grade 2-placed Lavender Sky, and the stakes-placed
Numaany and Yaya.
Alpha’s second dam was Group 3 winner Hiaam, and his third dam was Canadian
champion and Broodmare of the Year Kamar. She produced Canadian champion Key to
the Moon and Grade 1 winners Gorgeous and Seaside Attraction. Kamar’s other
descendants include U.S. champions Fantastic Light and Golden Attraction, French
highweight Desert Lord, and Grade 1 winners Swift Temper, Cape Town and
Flashing.
Golden Ticket was making only his third stakes attempt Saturday, finishing
fifth in the Grade 3 Lexington at Keeneland two starts previously, and the dark
bay was a surprise addition to the Travers field when entries were drawn earlier
in the week. McPeek said they tried to run him in a couple of other spots
instead, but the scheduled races did not draw enough entries.
“I called (co-owner) Carter Stewart. We were kind of frustrated, going back
and forth,” McPeek said of the decision to run in the Travers. “They had booked
a plane to come out for the allowance race (earlier in the meet) and thought
they’d just kind of have a fun weekend, nothing like this though! But the
allowance doesn’t go, so we thought we’ll nominate him to the Bernardini (an
overnight stakes race in the condition book). We put him in the Bernardini, and
the Bernardini doesn’t fill. So I called Carter up and said ‘We’ve got a problem
here, we’ve got to make a decision and…call an audible.’
“So I said ‘Here’s our options: We could run in the Travers, which is a huge
step up for this horse, but he’s doing fantastic, or we could wait until
September 2 and run him in an allowance race, and I feel real confident he’ll
win, but I’m worried that race won’t fill either.’ Carter came back and he said
‘Well, with me, if you’re going to call an audible, when we play we always throw
deep. Throw deep!’ So I said, ‘Well, that’s what I need to hear,’ because that’s
the way I felt about it, too. I was all game to pull the trigger, but I needed
his confidence and support. It was fate, it all came together. It’s really
interesting how these things unfold.
“I’ve never been shy to take a shot with one. A lot of trainers are
high-percentage trainers. I tend to probably pull the trigger and see how good a
horse is. Throw it out there and see if they can get it done. That’s when these
type of things happen. You can’t be scared. If you worry about your percentages
and your ego, you’re not going to do well in this game, anyway, because it’s so
humbling, but it’s nice to knock one down every now and then. It makes up for
the ones you get beat in.”
Bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm, Golden Ticket was purchased for $100,000 at
last year’s Keeneland April two-year-old in training sale and is out
of the Deputy Minister mare Business Plan, a daughter of Grade 3 winner Good
Mood and a half-sister to stakes winner Grand Royale.
Others from the immediate female family of Business Plan include
Grade 1 heroine Well Chosen; Grade 2 winners Academy Award and Magical Feeling;
Grade 3 scorer and 2006 Wood Memorial runner-up In Contention; multiple Grade 3
victor Multiple Choice; and Irish highweight Tomahawk.
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