The trainer Eoin Harty’s first 2-year-old start of 2024 came on July 5 at Ellis Park, when the Godolphin homebred First Resort scored a snappy maiden sprint win. On Saturday at Churchill Downs, First Resort won the Grade 2, $381,250 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes by 2 1/4 lengths, Harty’s first graded stakes win since First Resort’s dam, Fair Maiden, landed the Grade 1 La Brea in 2020.
Godolphin, as has so often happened since Mohammed al Maktoum founded the operation, had themselves a day at Churchill. Godolphin bred and owns the winner of the Grade 2 Golden Rod, Good Cheer. They bred and own First Resort, and they bred and owned Fair Maiden, whose first foal, by virtue of his Saturday score, finds himself at the Kentucky Derby trailhead as the calendar flips to December.
The KJC was an early points-scoring race on Churchill Downs’ Road to the Kentucky Derby: First Resort earned 10 points. Godolphin, for all its global success, never has won the Derby. Harty, a longtime Godolphin trainer, had not won a 2-year-old graded stakes since 2009.
“His mother didn’t have quite the mind he does. It’s fun working with generation to generation. I’ve seen the good ones – and I’ve seen the bad ones,” Harty said.
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First Resort’s not only good, he’s learned to direct his natural talent toward professional racing.
After the debut win, Harty took the colt, by Uncle Mo, to New York, where First Resort declined to relax and got caught up in a speed duel in the Saratoga Special. Harty, in an interview earlier this week, rued First Resort’s insistence on going too fast while complimenting the colt for running hard to hold second. First Resort settled better when fourth with a less-than-ideal trip in the Summer Stakes, a one-turn grass mile at Woodbine, and combined his natural speed with lessons learned to take advantage of favorable circumstances Saturday.
Under Luis Saez, who also rode Good Cheer – and under scattered snowflakes --, First Resort broke alertly and worked his way into second place before the first turn, tracking Dapper Moon’s opening quarter-mile of 24.56, a slow fraction for this class level, yet faster than Dapper Moon’s second quarter-mile. With the half going in a pedestrian 49.30, several horses in the middle and back of a nine-runner field steadied as they ran up on the heels of decelerating rivals.
“He was a lot closer today than I wanted him to be, but when I saw the opening quarter in 24, I understood why he was up there,” Harty said.
The 1 1/16-mile KJC turned into a sprint from the half-mile pole to the wire. The third quarter went in 23.33, the fourth in 23.58, and anyone racing from behind found themselves severely compromised. First Resort ranged alongside Dapper Moon past the three-furlong marker midway around the far turn, collared him at the five-sixteenths, and pushed to a decisive lead in upper stretch. Clear by three lengths at the stretch call, First Resort got his final half-furlong in a good 6.10, winning by 2 1/4 lengths.
In second came 4-5 favorite Jonathan’s Way, who briefly appeared to be gaining on First Resort at the eighth pole but wasn’t, really. Jonathan’s Way ran his final 2 1/2 furlongs in 29.39, First Resort in 29.38. To be sure, Jonathan’s Way, coming off a seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, had the more challenging trip. Breaking just okay, Jonathan’s Way raced fifth under Joel Rosario, understandably pulling harder than ideal down the backstretch, the pace having slowed to a crawl. Jonathan’s Way remained stuck between horses until upper stretch and did finish with energy once finally clear.
Third, 1 3/4 lengths behind Jonathan’s Way, came Tiztastic, who was getting a perfect pocket trip before struggling to keep up when tempo quickened on the far turn. Coming under heavy pressure after coming off the bridle, Tiztastic did find a decent rhythm in the homestretch and ran well enough to cross the line four lengths in front of fourth-place Dapper Moon.
Render Judgment ran on late for fifth, a half-length behind Dapper Moon and a half-length better than Filoso, who made an eye-catching wide move around the far turn before quickly going flat. Redacted, Woodbine shipper He’s Not Joking, and Sonic Skidaddle rounded out the finish, with Clock Tower an early scratch.
Over a fast track, First Resort clocked 1:43.01, a quarter-second faster than Good Cheer’s Golden Rod, and paid $14.66 as the distant second choice behind Jonathan’s Way.
Fair Maiden hit her peak going seven furlongs, but with Harty making specific mention of her mind, distance limitations might have had as much to do with brain as body. The dam’s sires in Fair Maiden's female family – Smart Strike, Giant’s Causeway, A.P. Indy – all trend toward stamina over speed.
Harty, who mainly raced at Turfway Park last winter, declined to speculate where and when First Resort might next race. Saturday’s breakthrough performance was plenty for now.
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