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Dakota Gold back in action in $125K Ashley T. Cole

by Mary Eddy

Reeves Thoroughbred Racing’s Dakota Gold will look to double up on stakes victories for trainer Danny Gargan in Friday’s $125,000 Ashley T. Cole, a nine-furlong inner turf route for New York-breds 3-years-old and up, at Belmont at the Big A.

Dakota Gold enters from a determined nose victory over multiple stakes-winner Spirit of St Louis in the 1 1/16-mile West Point presented by Trustco Bank on August 25 at Saratoga Race Course, which will also see its third and fourth-place finishers rematch in the Cole.

There, he turned the tables on Spirit of St Louis in their fifth consecutive meeting with a five-wide rally engineered by returning pilot Dylan Davis, running down his rival in the shadow of the wire to land the victory in a final time of 1:41.24. The effort equaled a career-best 96 Beyer Speed Figure.

The 5-year-old son of Freud seeks his sixth career stakes conquest, and has won at least one stakes each year since his juvenile campaign in 2021. The chestnut gelding won the 2021 Nownownow at Monmouth Park against open company, and went on to land his other four stakes scores against restricted company in New York.

“He’s doing really well. It’s hard to train a horse that wins stakes at 2, 3, 4 and 5,” Gargan said. “He’s been special and we’ve been lucky to have him around. He’s one of my favorite horses and for years I’ve always really liked being around him.”

Gargan said Dakota Gold, who was on the board in two other stakes starts this campaign, has benefitted from being gelded this year, but will need to overcome the fact that he has not won over the Aqueduct turf in four attempts.

“He’s matured a lot,” Gargan said. “He does have a weakness, and his kryptonite is Aqueduct. Hopefully, he can switch it up and win there. He shows up and the gelding has helped him. He’s not mean anymore like he used to be, and you can actually pet him now.”

Bred by Sequel Thoroughbreds and Ronald L. Bowden Living Trust, Dakota Gold is out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Dakota Kid, making him a half-brother to the Gargan-trained and Reeves-co-owned multiple stakes-winner Ramblin’ Wreck.

Davis has the call from post 3.

Reeves also co-owns Cole contender City Man [post 6, Joel Rosario], who finished a game third last out in the West Point for conditioner Christophe Clement.

Co-owned by Peter and Patty Searles, the dual graded stakes-winning City Man has been a regular in the New York-bred turf scene for several years, and seeks his 11th win in stakes company. The 7-year-old Mucho Macho Man horse has not visited the winner’s circle since last year’s West Point, but has hit the board in 3-of-4 starts since, all in stakes company.

City Man notched two graded scores in 2022 when taking the Grade 3 Forbidden Apple at the Spa and the Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale at Gulfstream Park. The latter was the last of a series of three wins that began with a score in this event and included the state-bred Mohawk here in between.

Bred by Moonstar Farm, City Man was a $185,000 purchase at the 2019 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. He has banked over $1.2 million through a lifetime record of 34-11-6-6.

Gay Smith’s graded stakes-placed Jerry the Nipper seeks his first win since last July on the heels of a fourth in the West Point. Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, the 7-year-old Liam’s Map bay set the pace in the West Point and was outkicked in the turn to finish 2 3/4 lengths back of Dakota Gold. The effort was awarded a 90 Beyer, his best number in three starts since finishing fourth in the Barbados Gold Cup in March.

“He’s doing good,” said Pletcher. “It’s the usual tough cast of old New York turf horses and it’s a salty group. I think when he came back from Barbados, it took him a little while to kind of regain his form, but I think he’s the best he’s been since he came back. He looks great.”

The veteran gelding, bred by St. Elias Stable and Peta Ryan, finished a good second in this event last year, and a close fourth in 2022. He seeks his first stakes conquest, but has performed admirably at this level with six placings in state-bred stakes, as well as a half-length third in the Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale in December at Gulfstream.

Irad Ortiz, Jr. has the call from post 7.

One newcomer to the group is Sanford Goldfarb’s Hush of a Storm [post 4, Flavien Prat], who makes his second start off the claim for dual Eclipse Award-winning conditioner Brad Cox.

The 6-year-old Creative Cause gelding was haltered for $45,000 out of a state-bred optional claiming win on July 21 at the Spa, scoring with a deep-closing rally from 11th-of-12 to win by 2 1/2 lengths over the firm footing. He makes his return to turf after a last-out third against open company in the Avery Whisman Memorial on August 12 over the Presque Isle Downs synthetic.

Hush of a Storm earned a stakes win on synthetic as a sophomore in the 1 1/16-mile John Battaglia Memorial at Turfway Park, and has since placed in two others when third in the Prairie Bayou over the same surface and distance in 2021 and 2023. He was bred by Berkshire Stud.

Completing the competitive field are the stakes-placed pair of Cable Ready [post 1, Eliseo Ruiz] for owner/trainer Linda Dixon and Saratoga Flash [post 5, Eric Cancel, blinkers OFF] for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr.; and seven-time winner Kaz Sugar Bank [post 2, Jose Gomez] for conditioner Dimitrios Synnefias.

Pandagate, Olympic Dreams and Cicciobello are entered for the main track-only.

The Ashley T. Cole is slated as Race 8 on Friday’s nine-race card. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern.

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