With track record in hand, Gould's Gold meets Dragoon Guard in Cornhusker

With a track record in hand, Gould’s Gold will go for his first graded stakes victory Saturday in the Grade 3, $300,000 Cornhusker at Prairie Meadows. The Cornhusker highlights an 11-race card that features four stakes, including the Iowa Derby. 

After ending his 3-year-old season with a victory in the Smarty Jones at Parx, Gould’s Gold finished third behind the highly-touted Just a Touch to start his 4-year-old campaign in a Keeneland allowance. Trainer Kenny McPeek then started Gould’s Gold at the same level at Churchill Downs, where he stopped the clock in 1:47.26, a track record at 1 1/8 miles on dirt. While the track was playing pretty fast, the victory was still impressive. Willy D's, runner up in that race, returned with a strong victory in a high-level allowance at Saratoga. McPeek opted for this spot with Gould's Gold, as he had last year’s Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster after his victory in the Blame. Brian Hernandez Jr. will be aboard Saturday from the rail as the 9-2 third choice on the morning line.

Another emerging 4-year-old, Dragoon Guard, is looking to break through as an older horse. A dual Grade 3 winner last year, Dragoon Guard finished second in a one-mile allowance at Churchill in his seasonal debut. Will Take It, who won that race, returned to upset the Hanshin on closing day at Churchill. The strapping grey rattled off four impressive wins in a row last year, before finishing third as the favorite in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby. Regular rider Florent Geroux will be aboard for trainer Brad Cox and the pair is likely to be alone up front in a seemingly pace-less race. Dragoon Guard is set as the 7-5 program favorite, but will likely be bet down from there.

Trainer Robertino Diodoro has entered his barn’s top runner in Heroic Move, who won the Sunland Park Stakes two back. Last out, Heroic Move finished third in the Grade 3 Steve Sexton Mile, a distance short of his best. Komorebino Omoide, another top Diodoro horse and winner of that race, came back to run a very solid second by a half-length behind talented turfer Stay Hot in the Texas Turf Classic at Lone Star.

Red Route One, who won this race last year, is entering off a last-place finish by 54 1/2 lengths in the Grade 3 Pimlico Special. Following last year’s win, Red Route One picked up a victory in the Grade 3 Essex at Oaklawn but that was his only win in a six-race stretch where he missed the board in the five other starts. A feast-or-famine type, the 5-year-old will get Ben Curtis aboard for trainer Steve Asmussen. 

Asmussen also entered stakes winner Unload, who hasn’t won since taking the Governor’s Cup at Remington last August. Unload should press Dragoon Guard up front and try to set things up for his late-running stablemate Red Route One, just like the pair did last year, when Unload finished second. Local runners Jokestar and Cornishman complete the field.

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