NEWS
Passion for Gold glitters in Criterium de Saint-Cloud
Posted: Saturday, November 14, 2009 3:03 PM
by Mike Curry
Godolphin Racing secured its 12th win at the highest level this year when Passion for Gold drove to a dominant six-length romp in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud (Fr-G1), the final Group 1 race of the French season, on Saturday at Saint-Cloud.
Passion for Gold was reserved in fifth by Frankie Dettori in the 2,000-meter (9.94-furlong) race for two-year-olds. Dettori angled the Medaglia d’Oro colt to the outside entering the straight, and he shifted gears and surged clear with a powerful rush.
Trained by Saeed bin Suroor, Passion for Gold completed the distance in 2:19.10 on turf rated as heavy to earn his first stakes win.
"He's one of the best two-year-olds I've sat on this year,” Dettori said on www.godolphin.com. “He was very impressive, liked the distance, and acted on the ground. He's got a lot of scope."
Passion for Gold won his career debut by five lengths in August at Thirsk and entered off a third-place finish in the Juddmonte Beresford Stakes (Ire-G1) on September 27 at the Curragh. He is out of the Grade 2-winning Thunder Gulch mare C’Est L’ Amour, runner-up in the 2000 Acorn Stakes (G1), and was bred in Kentucky by Roy and Gretchen Jackson.
"Passion for Gold ran very well today. He has improved since his last start and he looked happier on the softer ground and with the step up to a mile and a quarter,” Suroor said on www.godolphin.com.
"There are no plans for him at the moment but he will be a better horse as a three-year-old. He is improving with every start and looks a nice prospect for next season."
Godolphin picked up its 12th Group 1 or Grade 1 winner of the year. Passion for Gold is the third winner at the highest level and sixth group or graded stakes winner for Medaglia d’Oro, who will stand for $100,000 at Darley in 2010.
Mikhail Glinka closed from eighth in the nine-horse field to finish second in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud, three-quarters of a length in front of Zazou.
Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor
