Inherit the Gold tracked pacesetter Understatement through slow early splits
and powered past his rival at the top of the stretch, quickly drawing clear to a
runaway 6 1/4-length victory in Saturday’s $98,000, Grade 3 Excelsior S. at Aqueduct. Trained by
James Hooper, the five-year-old stretched his winning streak to five while
netting his first graded stakes victory. The New York-bred completed 1 1/8 miles
in 1:50 1/5 with jockey Eddie Castro.
“There was only one horse with speed in the race, so I could stay fairly
close,” Castro said. “I rode him the same today; I didn’t want to change. When I
asked him to move, he did. He’s getting better. It was a tough race today. There
were a lot of nice horses.”
“It was a perfect trip,” Hooper said. “Eddie knew he might have to stay a
little closer today and he did. It’s whenever he decides he wants to make the
move. Eddie’s done a great job with him.”
Favored at 7-5 among five horses, Inherit the Gold paid $4.80, $2.40 and
$2.10. Modern Cowboy easily got up for second, 4 1/4 lengths better
than Understatement,
who held for third after establishing opening fractions in :24 3/5, :49 2/5, and 1:13 2/5. More Than a Reason and Goombada Guska rounded out the order of finish.
Owned by Susanne Hooper and Glas-Tipp Stable, Inherit the Gold was making
only his second start against open rivals on Saturday, easily winning an
allowance/optional claiming event three starts previously. The gray gelding was exiting a
pair of victories over state-breds in the King’s Point S. and Mr. International
S., and has now earned $288,601 from a 14-7-3-2 career line.
Hooper hasn’t mapped out an agenda for Inherit the Gold.
“We just listen to what (the horse) tells us,” the trainer said. “He’s a
very, very smart horse — way smarter than we are. I’m just going to enjoy this
one; who knows where we’ll go next? I want him to be happy. As long as this
horse is happy, we’ll have a lot of fun.”
The Hooper homebred is out of the winning Personal Flag mare Melissa’s
Sunshine and his second maternal dam, Leslie Baba, is a full sister
to 1982 Louisiana Derby winner and Arkansas Derby runner-up El Baba.
This is also the female family of Grade 2 vixen Give Praise.