Joe Labozzetta / NYRA Photo

Golden Award rises and shines in G3 Turnback the Alarm

by Brian Bohl

Summer Wind Equine’s Golden Award showed the form that made her a graded stakes winner this summer at Saratoga Race Course, staying just off the pace-setters before taking command in the stretch from the outside and outkicking Another Broad by three-quarters of a length in the Grade 3, $150,000 Turnback the Alarm for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up on Saturday at Aqueduct Racetrack.

The 25th running of the Turnback the Alarm, marking the first graded stakes of the Aqueduct fall meet, saw 6-5 favorite Golden Award break alertly from post 6 under Junior Alvarado and stayed just off Jeltrin’s early speed, with the opening quarter-mile going in 24.69 seconds and the half in 48.49 on the fast main track.

Golden Award took command by the three-quarters mark and held off Another Broad’s late charge, completing 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.46. Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, she earned her fifth win in her last eight starts.

“She is all class and of course her last race [pulled up in Grade 1 Personal Ensign] is a little disappointing, but she’s obviously rebounded from that,” said owner Jane Lyon of Summer Wind Equine. “We’re very excited to have her and I’m looking ahead to adding her to the broodmare band [down the road].”

The winner of the Grade 3 Shuvee on July 21 at the Spa, in which she bested Grade 1-winners Wow Cat and She’s a Jule at the Turnback the Alarm distance, returned to the same track for the Grade 1 Personal Ensign but was pulled up and eased on August 24. With more than two months off, the 4-year-old Medaglia d’Oro filly again made a strong account of herself against graded stakes caliber, adding to her runner-up effort by a nose to Mylady Curlin in the Grade 3 Allaire DuPoint Distaff on May 17 at Pimlico Racecourse.

Golden Award, a half-sister to 2012 Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another, returned $4.60 on a $2 win bet. She improved her career bankroll to $377,100. Mott won the stakes for the second time, adding to America in 2015.

“She broke great,” said Alvarado, who won his third race on the day. “I talked to Bill [Mott] earlier and we kind of saw the race as the 2 horse [Jeltrin] would go and maybe somebody on the outside. That’s exactly what happened, so we ended up in a great position.  

“We couldn’t have asked for a better spot than what we were in the whole way around,” he added. “She was just much the best today. I had to make a quick move by the three-eighths pole. I knew I had enough horse to get to the wire from that point, but I didn’t want to wait and have the loose horse in front push me outside. So, I made an early move just to make sure so I could cut the corner there, but she was much the best. I was just a pilot today.”

Another Broad, one of three entrants for four-time Turnback the Alarm-winning trainer Todd Pletcher, finished nine lengths clear of Moonlit Garden for second.

Completing the order of finish was Gotham Gala, the Pletcher-conditioned Alberobello, Zena Rules and Jeltrin.

Out of the gate, Crimson Frost and Bellera collided, unseating riders Harry Hernandez and Jose Lezcano. Lezcano walked off in good order, while Hernandez was transported to a local hospital for evaluation. Both horses were picked up by outriders and walked home under their own power.

Sunday will feature three stakes on the 10-race card, starting with the $100,000 Chelsey Flower for juvenile fillies in Race 5 at 1:52 p.m., the $125,000 Zagora for fillies and mares in Race 8 at 3:20 p.m. and the Grade 3, $150,000 Nashua for 2-year-olds in Race 9 at 3:50 p.m. First post is set for noon.