Gold Sweep, making just his second lifetime start, broke his maiden in emphatic style in the $150,000 Tremont S. on June 11 at Belmont Park, drawing off with complete authority in the final furlong to score by nine lengths.
After getting beat just a neck in his May 18 debut at Churchill Downs, Gold Sweep broke much better in the Tremont and was head-to-head for the lead with Ship Cadet after a quarter mile. Coming three-wide into the stretch, Gold Sweep shook off the competition and drew away at will, finishing the 5 ½-furlongs on a fast track in a solid 1:03.47.
“He didn’t get away real well first time out and just got a lot of experience out of the race. We knew watching him train that there was a lot more there,” said Steve Asmussen assistant Scott Blasi. “We had enough confidence in him to bring him up here and you saw how he performed today.
Gold Sweep banked $82,500 in victory while improving his record to 2-1-1-0.
Bred in Kentucky by Joe Anzalone, the $285,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale purchase is out of the Giant’s Causeway mare Wonder Brew. Second dam, the multiple graded stakes-placed Ontario-bred Ginger Brew, took honors as Canada’s Champion 3-Year-Old Filly in 2008.
According to Blasi, Gold Sweep could now target a start in the $175,000 Sanford S. (G3) July 15 at Saratoga.
Gold Sweep is Speightstown’s sixth stakes winner of the year. The venerable stallion now has 135 worldwide stakes winners, 64 of them graded winners.
