ARCADIA — “Horses for courses” can be a powerful angle at the racetrack, no matter where the horses in question come from.
King of Gosford was proven on the Santa Anita turf course long before he scored a mild upset in the $300,000, Grade I Shoemaker Mile on Memorial Day, but Be Your Best shipped in from Florida to find grass footing to her liking in the $300,000, Grade I Gamely Stakes and her Saffie Joseph Jr. stablemate Skippylongstocking made the same trip to validate the trainer’s faith in his affinity for any track by knocking off the $200,000, Grade II Hollywood Gold Cup.
Flavien Prat, the nation’s leading jockey by earnings, rode 4-year-old King of Gosford for trainer Phil D’Amato, and Irad Ortiz Jr., second nationally, rode 5-year-old Be Your Best and 6-year-old Skippylongstocking for Joseph.
The Shoemaker Mile win for King of Gosford (who paid $10.80) came by a neck over Mi Hermano Ramon with Cabo Spirit third and favorite Formidable Man fourth among six horses within 1¾ lengths at the finish.
It was the first win at the Grade I level and the fifth in seven starts on the Santa Anita turf for British-bred King of Gosford, who had warmed up for Monday’s race following after a layoff by running second to Cabo Spirit in the Grade III American in April.
“I was expecting his best performance,” D’Amato said of King of Gosford, who has always run well at Santa Anita, including a win in the Mathis Mile over the course in December, “and hoping it was going to be a win.”
The gate-to-wire romp in the Gamely by Be Your Best ($6.20), another first-time Grade I winner, saw the Irish-bred mare lead by 4½ lengths in the stretch before hitting the wire 2¾ in front of Lady Claypool with Liguria third and favored No Show Sammy Jo sixth of seven.
Be Your Best was aided by scratches of Alpha Bella and Where’s My Ring that left her without competition for the early lead. It also didn’t hurt that Be Your Best liked the firm surface she got Monday more than the officially “good” ground she ran on in a sixth-place finish at Keeneland in Kentucky in April.
“I knew she needed firm going on the turf, and that is why we (sent) her out (to California),” Joseph said on the phone. “Her last race, we got a lot of rain and she didn’t like it.”
As for Skippylongstocking ($3.60), who was coming off a third behind First Mission in the Oaklawn Handicap in Arkansas, his one previous start at Santa Anita had seen him outrun his 11-1 odds to finish third to Cody’s Wish in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Mile. Joseph had no doubt the son of 2016 Santa Anita Derby winner Exaggerator would like the main track in Arcadia.
Skippylongstocking and Ortiz took a wide path in mid-pack before outdueling Craig Dollase’s 12-1 Midnight Mammoth to prevail by three-quarters of a length in the 1¼-mile Gold Cup. Michael McCarthy’s Extensive finished third on a day when the trainer of Journalism also had Liguria’s third in the Gamely and Formidable Man’s fourth in the Shoemaker Mile.
“He’s just a hard-knocking horse who takes his track with him everywhere he goes,” Joseph said of Skippylongstocking. “He’s a sound horse, and he’s very strong mentally. We’ll be forever grateful (for) him.”
Joseph, the Florida-based trainer also known for his success with White Abarrio, was mindful of the prestige of the Hollywood Gold Cup, the 88-year-old race that was one of America’s biggest races for older males when it was run at Hollywood Park.
“It was amazing to get that Grade I (Gamely),” Joseph said, “but then you don’t want to go home with Skippy getting beat. So for him to go out there and win a historic race like the Hollywood Gold Cup was truly special.”
FINISH LINES
• Wound Up’s victory under Kyle Frey in the fourth race, a sprint at the optional-claiming level, was the front-running 5-year-old’s sixth win in a row, the longest active streak in California. Librado Barocio has trained the gelding for his past five races at Santa Anita after Jamey Thomas had him for the start of the streak at Pleasanton in December.
• Nysos, with Juan Hernandez riding, drew post 2 in a field of five for the Grade III Triple Bend Stakes next Saturday. The Bob Baffert-trained 4-year-old will face Vlahos, Spirit of Makena, Smooth Cruisein and Dr. Venkman in the 7-furlong race.
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