(Edited NYRA press release)
Girolamo, winner of Sunday’s grade II, $150,000 Jerome Handicap, exited the race in good order according to Godolphin assistant Rick Mettee.
"He came out of the race in good shape, but no decision has been made on his next start," Mettee said. "He could stay here in New York and point toward the (grade I, $300,000 Hill ‘n’ Dale Cigar Mile on Nov. 28 at Aqueduct), or he might go out to California for the Breeders’ Cup, or to Dubai. He could do a lot of things from here."
Mettee added that the weekend’s racing had helped to clarify the Breeders’ Cup picture for Godolphin’s runners.
Cocoa Beach, third by a neck in the grade I Lady’s Secret Stakes at Santa Anita, is likely for the grade I Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic going nine furlongs on Friday, Nov. 6.
"I thought she ran a good race, her best of the year probably to be third in a grade I," Mettee said of the mare’s effort behind Zenyatta, undefeated in 13 starts, in the Lady’s Secret. Earlier this year, Cocoa Beach won the De La Rose Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on August 5, then ran fourth in the grade II Ballston Spa on Aug. 29, both grass contests.
Also expected to run in the Ladies’ Classic is 4-year-old Music Note, a dual grade I winner in New York this year in the $600,000 Beldame on Oct. 3 and the $300,000 Ballerina at Saratoga on Aug. 29.
Godolphin also has two probable entrants for the grade I, seven-furlong Filly & Mare Sprint on the same day in Sara Louise and Seventh Street, both of whom have come out of summer campaigns in New York.@
Sara Louise was beaten a head by Indian Blessing in her most recent start, the grade II Gallant Bloom, a race she entered off a win in the grade III Victory Ride at Saratoga on Aug. 29. Seventh Street won the grade I Go For Wand Handicap at Saratoga on Aug. 2, a victory sandwiched between second-place finishes in other grade I contests in New York, the Ogden Phipps at Belmont on June 13 and the Ruffian Handicap on Sept. 12.
Finally, Gayego, winner of the grade I Ancient Title Stakes at Santa Anita on Sunday, likely will run in the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I). Off since March, the colt made his comeback start in an allowance race at Saratoga on Aug. 17, winning that contest by a length.
