Jerry and Ann Moss’ Gormley ran right into the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (GI) picture with his impressive wire-to-wire performance in Saturday’s $300,000 Frontrunner Stakes (GI) at Santa Anita Park. The recent Del Mar maiden winner, who set all the pace in splits of :23.72, :47.18, 1:11.48 and 1:36.79 before stopping the clock in 1:43.57, is trained by John Shirreffs and was ridden to victory by Victor Espinoza.
At odds of more than 10-1, Gormley paid $23.60, $5 and $3. Klimt, at 2-5, crossed the wire three lengths behind the winner, capping off the $24.50 exacta and returning $2.20 and $2.10. Near 4-1 chance Straight Fire was third, 4 ½ lengths behind the runner-up, and was good for $2.20. The $.50 trifecta paid $30.70.
Midnight Pleasure, Vibe and Plum Daddy rounded out the order of finish after Secret House left the gate without his jockey, Santiago Gonzalez. Stewards declared the Doug O’Neill trainee a non-starter after determining the rider stepped off the horse just before the gates sprung open.
The top pair made for an interesting exacta for art lovers, as Gormley shares his name with renowned British sculptor Antony Gormley and runner-up Klimt was named for Austrian symbolist painter Gustav Klimt.
Gormley was bred in Kentucky by the partnership of Castleton Lyons and the Kilboy Estate and was a $150,000 RNA at Keeneland September a year ago. The bay son of Malibu Moon became racing’s newest Grade I winner in just his second start and has now earned $216,000 in both of his career starts.
Trainer Bob Baffert, who tightened the girth on Del Mar Futurity winner Klimt, wasn’t terribly happy with the colt’s finish, but still looked forward to running Kaleem Shah’s colt in the Breeders’ Cup in five weeks.