Southern California trainer Mike Machowsky was beaming with joy in the winner’s circle after his star 2-year-old, Runaway Ghost, recorded a seven and a half length romp in the $50,000 Golden Nugget Stakes at Golden Gate Fields.
“We’ve always been really high on him,” said Machowsky. “He’s got plenty of talent and he loves training. He broke his maiden at Santa Anita and then got sore shins so we gave him time. He has come back strong.”
Jockey Aaron Gryder, aboard the Kentucky-bred son of Ghostzapper, was impressed with the 2-year-old colt’s effort.
“There was never a point in the race when I didn’t feel I was on the best horse,” said Gryder. “There was a lot of horse underneath me and I felt very confident. He has a lot of talent.”
Runaway Ghost, owned and bred by Joe Peacock, paid $3.80 to win, $2.60 to place and $2.20 to show. He completed the six furlongs in 1:09.71 seconds.
The race did not go without controversy. At the five- eighths pole, Runaway Ghost was in tight with three rivals to his inside: Soul of Discretion, Intimidate and Generally Lucky. Soul of Discretion and Intimidate got the worst of it, both having to steady multiple times, while Generally Lucky was able to avoid major issues and crossed the wire third. After a lengthy inquiry, the stewards ruled that La Waun, the unofficial second place finisher, drifted in and caused the chain reaction. La Waun was disqualified from second and placed back to last for the interference. Generally Lucky was placed second and Go Bobby Go, the unofficial fourth place finisher, was moved up to third.
Said Abel Cedillo, the rider aboard Intimidate, “There was a lot of pressure from the outside and if I didn’t take my horse back, I would have gone down. I took him back and tried to save something for the stretch but he gave up at that point. I didn’t rush him and saved something for next time.”
Aaron Gryder also commented on the incident.
“[La Waun] came over and all the guys inside of me were yelling,” replied Gryder, when asked by media personnel about the backstretch trouble. “A few of them had to get out of there and at that point, when my horse was clear, I decided to go on with it so I wouldn’t get shut off again.”
According to Mike Machowsky, Runaway Ghost is “possible” to run in the next 2-year-old stake race at Golden Gate Fields, The Gold Rush Stakes, which is a one mile route to be run next month. Runaway Ghost has now won 2 of 3 starts with career earnings of $73,550.
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