Gouldings Green Rolls Late in Turfway Fall Championship

(from Turfway Park report)
Favored Gouldings Green rolled from far back to win the $100,000 Turfway Park Fall Championship (gr. III) by a half-length Saturday in Kentucky for his fourth win in five starts.

With J Town, Free Thinking, Alumni Hall, and It's No Joke bunched at the head of the 12-horse field, jockey Corey Lanerie gave Gouldings Green a ground-saving trip for the first half mile. Expecting the leaders to fade, Lanerie angled the 5-year-old horse out at the three-eighths pole. Gouldings Green needed every bit of the stretch to run down a determined It's No Joke, ridden by Jesus Castanon. Alumni Hall, Calvin Borel aboard, finished third, three lengths farther back.

"They kind of out-broke him, and he was able to get over to the rail and save some ground and just rated himself," said Lanerie. "He's really easy to ride. He can do anything.

"Some days he's feeling really good and wants to show some speed. Other days it takes him a while to get going. But when it gets down to it and you call on him, he's there."

The win improved Melnyk Racing Stables' Gouldings Green's career record to eight wins from 15 starts and pushed his earnings to $501,122. With his victory in the Seagram (Can-III) at Woodbine in July, the Kentucky-bred horse by Charismatic--Elusive Gold (Strike the Gold) owns back-to-back grade III triumphs for trainer Anthony Reinstedler.

The Fall Championship was Gouldings Green's first race over Polytrack, but he visited the track a week ago to post a bullet work.

"I thought it was very important for him to get his feet used to this surface," Reinstedler said. "It's different, and he'd never run on it before. He's the type of horse that I wasn't really worried about it, but it's always important to get a breeze over it.

Favored at 11-10, Gouldings Green finished the mile course in 1:38.15, paying $4.20, $3 and $2.60. It's No Joke returned $6.20 and $5.20. Alumni Hall was $5 to show.

After trailing the field for much of the race, turf star Honor in War made a huge run to finish fourth. Behind him were Summer Book, Going Wild, Free Thinking, Tap Dancing Mauk, Esprit Du Roi (CHI), Greater Good, Flirt With Fortune, and J Town. Cognac Kisses was an early scratch.

The Hawthorne Gold Cup and the Kentucky Cup Classic, both grade II events, could be next for Gouldings Green. The trainer said he is leaning toward the Classic.

(Chart, Equibase)