By Joe Bianca
In stark contrast to its colt counterpart, a 14-horse war with no obvious favorite, the GII Golden Rod S. Saturday at Churchill has a clear headliner, as Monomoy Stables and Michael Dubb's Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) looks to improve to four-for-four and stamp herself as an early contender for the GI Kentucky Oaks.
Rallying powerfully from off the pace to graduate going away debuting on the Indiana Grand lawn Sept. 5, the chestnut repeated with a wire-to-wire allowance score over the Churchill lawn Sept. 28 before rolling by 6 1/2 lengths in the Rags to Riches S. in her main-track bow.
“I was a little surprised how relaxed she was on the lead,” rider Florent Geroux said. “She was flipping her ears back and forth on the backstretch. She's been training well over the dirt surface in the mornings and she proved she liked it in the afternoon.”
“It was a really big effort,” trainer Brad Cox added. “Originally she really struggled out of the gate in training and that's why we debuted her going long on the turf.”
Road to Victory (Quality Road) carried high hopes after selling for $500,000 to John Oxley and Gary barber at OBS April and did nothing to damper those expectations when cruising to a 3 1/2-length debut score at 3-5 Oct. 1 on the Woodbine turf. The bay has been training sharply over the local trip for Mark Casse, capping preparations with a half-mile bullet in :47 3/5 (1/55) Nov. 17.
Narola Stable's Ipanema Beach (Candy Ride {Arg}) has some upside. The first foal out of MGSW/GISP Summer Applause (Harlan's Holiday), the dark bay ran better than it looks on paper in her debut second Oct. 27 at Keeneland. Ipanema Beach was shuffled back on the turn and got totally stymied for much of the stretch drive before finishing fast once clear. She'll have to overcome the widest-out 11-post here, however.
Ken McPeek starts a pair, and Walking L Thoroughbreds' Deadline (Flat Out) merits a look. The $75,000 Fasig-Tipton July purchase crushed a maiden field by 4 3/4 lengths on the local grass two weeks ago and makes her dirt debut here. That has proven to be a fruitful move for McPeek, as he has a $2.75 ROI with 65 2-year-olds going turf to dirt in the last five years, and he struck in this race with Dothraki Queen (Pure Prize) switching to the main track in 2015.
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