One year ago, Oaklawn fans got their first glimpse of Florida invader Rose to
Gold when she finished second in the Martha Washington. In her next start, she
won the $150,000 Honeybee and then secured her spot in the Kentucky Oaks with a
runaway victory in the $400,000 Fantasy. Now four, Rose to Gold and her
connections are eyeing a return to Hot Springs for Oaklawn’s rich stakes for
older fillies and mares later in the meet.
“We are thinking of coming to the Azeri and the Apple Blossom,” trainer Sal
Santoro said. “She really liked Oaklawn. I’m just guessing because who really
knows what a horse likes, but the environment, the weather, the change of
scenery, and the track there seemed to be right for her. She had a second (in
the Martha Washington) and two wins, all in stakes, in three trips there so
that’s not too bad.”
Rose to Gold turned out to be a steal for owner and coffee mogul Alex
Centofanti, who bought her as a two-year-old for the rock bottom price of $1,400
along with about 24 other horses at the Fasig-Tipton February mixed sale in
2011. Centofanti had pinhooking in mind for her, but she failed to meet her
reserve of $10,000 at the OBS sale six months later. That was the classic
blessing in disguise.
Now on the verge of becoming a millionaire with $963,509 in earnings, she
most recently won the $400,000 Houston Ladies Classic at Sam Houston January 25,
her first victory since the Fantasy. After an eighth-place finish in the
Kentucky Oaks, it was discovered that she had chips two of her ankles and two of
her knees that required surgery in May. She returned to her Calder base last
July and made two starts in stakes on the turf before returning to the main
track in her last start.
“The turf definitely did her some good,” Santoro said. “It didn’t do anything
for her catalog page but it served its purpose. She means a lot to the owners
and to me. It’s difficult to put into words, but she’s very, very special.”
Should Rose to Gold return to Hot Springs as planned, she will have another
Oaklawn loving horse to contend with. On Fire Baby, the defending Apple Blossom
Handicap winner, recently returned to trainer Gary Hartlage’s barn after a
freshening at the Eisaman Training Center in Ocala, Florida, and her connections
hope to make both the Azeri and Apple Blossom this meet. Hartlage said he is
currently watching the weather and track condition to determine On Fire Baby’s
first work at Oaklawn.
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