More Champagne Delivers Golden Pal Second Winner With Keeneland Turf Romp
More Champagne ran away by 6 1/2 lengths at Keeneland, giving Golden Pal his second winner and a real foothold in the freshman-sire race.
More Champagne did more than win a maiden on turf at Keeneland. She turned the April 24 race into an early report card for Golden Pal, and the grade moved up a notch when she became his second winner from only five runners of racing age.
The 2-year-old Florida-bred filly, foaled April 30, 2024, was ridden by John R. Velazquez for trainer Thomas Morley and the ownership group of StarLadies Racing, U Racing Stables LLC and Titletown Racing Stables. Out of Wildcat Gaze and a half-sister to stakes winner Saratoga Treasure, More Champagne was a $100,000 purchase at the OBS March sale, then delivered the kind of return buyers dream about: a 5 1/2-furlong turf win in 1:03.38 after pressing the pace and kicking clear late.
The shape of the race mattered as much as the margin. More Champagne was close enough to matter early, then showed the turn of foot that separates a useful juvenile from a one-run speed type when she moved on Shining Moment and Extravaganzoo inside the final furlong. That is the part Golden Pal’s backers wanted to see: not just raw speed, but speed that survives contact and still finishes. For a stallion whose own résumé includes victories in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint in 2020 and the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in 2021, that is exactly the signal the market is trying to read.
The broader numbers say this is looking like momentum, not a blip. Through April 26, Golden Pal led BloodHorse’s first-crop sire list by earnings with $121,545, and the line underneath it was sturdy: 202 foals of racing age, five runners, two winners. Skara Brae got him started with a Keeneland maiden win on April 9, and More Champagne made the follow-up look even better. The closest chasers in the category were already behind him on money, with Roadster second at $56,800, Corniche third at $55,103 and Life Is Good fourth at $54,405. Golden Pal stands at Ashford Stud for a 2026 fee of $25,000, and right now he looks like a young sire doing exactly what a speed horse must do first: win early and win often.
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