Drew’s Gold remains undefeated with a victory in the Gold Fever (Joe Labozzetta)
Graded Stakes-Placed Prove Right to G3 Chick Lang
NYRA Press Office
ELMONT, N.Y.— Drew’s Gold, trained and co-owned by James Chapman with Stuart Tsujimoto, returned from a three-month layoff with a vengeance to post a 4 3/4-length score in Friday’s $150,000 Gold Fever, a six-furlong sprint for sophomores at Belmont Park.
The dark bay Violence colt, who is now undefeated in four starts, tracked outside of Andiamo a Firenze through a quarter-mile in 22.15 seconds before taking over through a half-mile in 45.06 and powering away to win under Jose Gomez in a final time of 1:09.36 over the fast main track.
“He had to need the race after 90 days off, but he’s just a really good horse,” Chapman said. “I wanted to see something like that, but he wasn’t dead tight. They always run back second the best.”
That second start back off the layoff will come in the seven-furlong Grade 1, $400,000 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun as part of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival on June 10.
“He’ll be ready,” Chapman said. “He came out of the race super. I always undertrain. I’ll walk horses for a week after they run, but he’s got to go back. I’ll jog him myself tomorrow.”
Chapman, a former multiple stakes-winning jockey, said Drew’s Gold demonstrates a veteran demeanor for a lightly-raced horse, noting a recent gate-schooling session just two days before the Gold Fever.
“There were other horses standing in there and I’ve rode races and usually their hearts move different, but he just goes in there and cocks his hind-leg up like he’s standing in the sun,” Chapman said. “He never gets nervous about anything. Even the gate crew commented that he’s so chill. That makes a good horse if they can do that because they’re not wasting their energy.”
Drew’s Gold is out of the multiple stakes-winning Vindication mare Frolic’s Revenge, who won races at distances ranging from 4 1/2-furlongs to 1 1/16-miles. The versatile mare won four times each on dirt and turf, and was a promising 2-year-old that finished fourth in the 2011 Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades on synthetic at Keeneland and ninth in that year’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies won by My Miss Aurelia over the Churchill Downs main track. She posted an eye-catching 17-length win in the 2012 Regal Gal traveling one-mile at Calder.
Chapman said the strong pedigree could point to Drew’s Gold stretching out.
“His mother was a distance horse. So, who knows,” Chapman said. “He’ll turn off and drop the bridle if you really want him too. He could be dangerous down the road.”
The $25,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase is a half-brother to turf stakes-winner American Frolic.
Drew’s Gold entered the Gold Fever from a 4 1/4-length win in the six-furlong Jimmy Winkfield on February 11 at Aqueduct but exited that score with a virus and subsequently missed the Grade 3 Bay Shore on April 8 at the Big A.
“He never lost any weight. It was just the temperature and the sickness,” Chapman said.
Drew’s Gold worked frequently with graded-stakes placed Prove Right over the Belmont dirt training track en route to the Gold Fever, besting his stablemate in a five-eighths breeze on April 28 in 1:00.55 and again on May 6 with a half-mile effort in 47.11 that was ranked second best of 95 works at the distance on the day.
Prove Right, who ran sixth in the Bay Shore, was scratched out of the Gold Fever and will instead target the Grade 3 Chick Lang on May 20 at Pimlico Race Course.
“I was using him as a workhorse for this horse [Drew’s Gold],” Chapman said. “We let him roll along the last three-eighths yesterday in his gallop in 15s and today was his walk day. He’s plenty fit.”
The Justify sophomore boasts a record of 15-3-2-2, including a good third in the Grade 3 Nashua in November at Aqueduct. He entered the Bay Shore off a 9 1/4-length optional-claiming score on March 31 at Laurel Park.
“If he decides he wants to show up, he can run a big number,” Chapman said. “If he decides he wants to play around or he’s mad at a horse next to him then who knows, he might throw in the towel.”
