MarchMay 18, 28, 2019 2018 .COM SPECIAL MIDLANTIC Gate Dancer: The Derby DQ Everyone Saw Coming By Joe Nevills Maximum Security’s disqualifi- that fit around his face like blink- cation in this year’s Kentucky ers, giving him a distinct Easter Derby was one of the most Bunny look. He still bumped significant in the sport’s his- eventual winner Fali Time tory, but the ground the situa- before running second, but Van tion covered before and after Berg saw what he needed to his number came down was see. not completely uncharted. “It seemed as if the earmuffs Objections and inquiries are made him finally drop his head,” incredibly rare in the Derby, Van Berg told the Louisville with this year’s race being Courier-Journal. “I’d always felt the sixth instance in 145 that he ran with his head too runnings, and just two horses high; he looked like a goldurn have been disqualified for BOB STEVENS PHOTO turkey going down the track.” an on-track foul. It took 110 years for the first horse to Gate Dancer Continued on Page 7 get taken down, and that dubious honor fell to Gate Dancer, who crossed the line fourth behind winner Swale in 1984 but was disqualified to fifth. EXPECT THEM Though it came at perhaps the worst possible time, run- ning into trouble was not an unexpected outcome for the TO ZIP. enigmatic colt. Trainer Jack Van Berg had spent Gate Dancer’s first nine Look for fast first 2yos starts before the Derby trying to get his horse to keep his at F-T Midlantic head down and run in a straight line, going through five dif- ferent jockeys and piles of equipment to little avail. He never missed the board, and he never acted as badly in the morn- ings, but his weaving would often cost him wins. In the book “Jack: From Grit To Glory,” author Chris Kotulak outlined jockey Eddie Delahoussaye’s description of Gate Dancer as a distracted horse at the top of the stretch, pay- ing more attention to the crowd and the grandstand than the task at hand. The equipment change that ensued from that feedback became Gate Dancer’s trademark for the rest of his racing career. “I’d seen how they trained and raced horses down in Argen- tina when I went down to buy horses,” Van Berg told Kotu- PALACE lak, “Many of those horses wore hoods that covered the City Zip’s Only Multiple horses’ ears. I wanted to make a hood out of blinkers and G1 Winner At Stud. keep foam rubber in place in his ears. I hated cotton in my ears as a kid so I didn’t want cotton in Gate Dancer’s ears.” $6,000 S&N Gate Dancer came to the track for the G1 San Felipe THE BREEDERS’ FARM Handicap with a veritable sensory deprivation chamber on 859.294.0030 his head, sporting a large shadow roll and earmuff covers Page 2 Stallion Spotlight Golden Lad Steps Out In Maryland By Joe Nevills The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds races saw him either unsaddle in the win- In Training Sale is the chief market for ner’s circle or as the runner-up. The last freshman stallions in Maryland and the win in that run came in the G3 Razorback surrounding states to show off their foals Handicap at Oaklawn Park at age four. one last time before the racetrack, and no Maryland rookie is taking more shots Golden Lad became a regular face in in the catalog than Golden Lad. the handicap ranks after his Razorback score, later notching wins in the listed The 9-year-old Medaglia d’Oro horse has Essex Handicap at Oaklawn and Moun- nine juveniles cataloged in this year’s Mid- tainview Handicap at Penn National. He lantic sale, which is the most among any closed out his career with a hard-fought stallion standing outside of Kentucky, re- score in the G3 Prairie Meadows Corn- gardless of their level of experience. LIVINGSTON PHOTO husker Handicap to give him eight wins Golden Lad in 15 career starts and earnings of Golden Lad retired to Northview Stallion $645,320. Station in Chesapeake City, Md., for the 2016 breeding season, and he was immediately met with interest from Maryland’s All eight of Golden Lad’s wins came at a mile or longer, topping breeders, who filled his inaugural book with 104 mares. He re- out with the Cornhusker and Mountainview Handicaps, each at mained busy the following year, covering 91 mares. a mile and an eighth. That interest kept going as Golden Lad’s foals headed into the Golden Lad’s page brings with it a healthy bit of black type. Out of auction ring. His first yearlings changed hands for an average the stakes-winning Seeking the Gold mare Broadway Gold, Gold- sale price of $25,523 in 2018, with almost all of them being en Lad is a half-brother to G2 winner Broadway’s Alibi, who was offered at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearling Sale. second in the 2012 Kentucky Oaks. His siblings also include G1- placed stakes-winner R Gypsy Gold. Golden Lad made a considerable splash at that auction, led by a filly out of the winning Malibu Moon mare Slow and Steady who Broadway’s Alibi was a two-time winner as a juvenile, but sold privately to Hillwood Stable for $120,000. It was the co- those looking for more evidence of precociousness in Gold- highest price commanded by a horse sired outside of Kentucky, en Lad can find it under second dam Miss Doolittle, whose and tied for the auction’s sixth-highest price. produce record includes Dialed In. A winner at two himself, Dialed In went on to become the leading freshman sire of This year’s Midlantic sale will be the first buyers see of Golden 2016, led by Gunnevera, who won a pair of graded stakes Lad’s juveniles during the 2019 auction season. races that season. Golden Lad himself didn’t start racing until May of his 3-year- Golden Lad stands the current breeding season at North- old season, but he found his stride quickly. 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