Golden Ticket was nominated for the Donn after his sharp 2013
debut at Gulfstream last weekend, but the Ken McPeek-trained 4-year-old
isn’t expected to be asked to run back with only two weeks rest.
The son of Speightstown, though, looked like he could be a force in
the handicap division this year while winning a stakes-caliber optional
allowance race last Saturday by more than five lengths. Golden Ticket,
whose only previous wins in 13 starts came in a maiden test at
Gulfstream last February and a dead-heat victory with Alpha in the
Travers (G1) at Saratoga, was followed to the wire by O’Prado Again and
Rightfully So.
“He’s back. He’s a good horse. The Travers isn’t a fluke,” McPeek said.
Golden Ticket had previously finished 11th in the Hollywood Derby (G1) on turf in his 3-year-old finale on Nov. 25.
“It was a test running him on the grass in his last one. We felt
like we need to run him in more 3-year-old graded types of stakes,”
McPeek said. “Now he’s back on the surface he belongs on. I think it’s
going to be a big year for him.”
Things didn’t go as well for the McPeek-trained Frac Daddy in
Saturday’s $400,000 Holy Bull (G3), in which he finished sixth. The son
of Scat Daddy came out of the nasty gash in the left front foot during
the running of the stakes won by Itsmyluckyday.
“I don’t know when he did it, whether he did it coming out or the
gate or pulling up,” McPeek said. “He’ll probably miss 4 or 5 days, but
it could be as long as two weeks, depending on how sore it is.”