Danny Gargan

Dakota Gold took to turf and two turns to score an impressive victory in this lucrative event. The chestnut was a 4 1/2-length debut graduate in an open rained-off sprint at Saratoga Sept. 2,  for which he earned a solid 82 Beyer Speed Figure. In receipt of first-time Lasix, Dakota Gold found a stalking position early just behind and outside of odds-on GIII With Anticipation S. scorer Coinage. He settled nicely down the backside behind a :45.56 half mile, and was asked to quicken after six furlongs in 1:10.82. He...

In this continuing series, TDN's Senior Editor Steve Sherack catches up with the connections of promising maidens to keep on your radar. It was a tale of two trips with James Aloysius (c, 2, More Than Ready--Olorda {Ger}, by Lord of England {Ger}) having to settle for an educational second on debut behind the well-meant firster Portfolio Company (Kitten's Joy) going 1 1/16 miles over the Saratoga lawn on opening weekend (video). Off at 4-1, the rail-drawn dark bay brushed with a rival just after the start, and, after slightly...

The highly regarded Performer (Speightstown), a hard-fought neck winner over Eye of a Jedi (Eye of the Leopard) in the GIII Fred W. Hooper S. Jan. 23, will look for his second straight tally over track and trip in Saturday's GII WinStar Gulfstream Park Mile S. The 2019 GIII Discovery S. winner was a disappointing third as the 4-5 favorite in the slop in the GI Cigar Mile H. two starts back Dec. 5. "He gutted it out pretty good," trainer Shug McGaughey said of Performer's Hooper win. "He was...

Knicks Go (Paynter) rides a red-hot streak, including a career high in the Breeders' Cup, into Saturday's $3-million GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. at Gulfstream, in which he was installed as the morning-line favorite. An upset winner of the GI Breeders' Futurity S. back in 2018, the gray was transferred from trainer Ben Colebrook to Brad Cox at the end of a disappointing 2019 season. Romping by 7 1/2 lengths in his debut for Cox in an Oaklawn optional claimer Feb. 22, the Korea Racing Authority colorbearer was sidelined...

Tax (Arch) likely punched his ticket to the $3-million GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park Jan. 23 with a sharp, front-running performance off the bench in Saturday's GIII Harlan's Holiday S. The 2019 GII Jim Dandy S. and GIII Withers S. winner hit the gate running from his rail draw and Luis Saez was able to dictate very manageable fractions of :23.87 and :46.96. He began to give them the slip as they hit the top of the stretch and was home free from there, running up the...