Good Cheer kept her perfect record intact with a come-from-behind victory in the $200,000 Listed Rags to Riches Stakes at Churchill Downs on Sunday, 27 October.
The two-year-old daughter of Medaglia d’Oro, who earned her first Stakes win in the Rags to Riches, has won all three of her starts by a combined 30 lengths. The win also netted Good Cheer points toward a potential start in the 2025 G1 Kentucky Oaks.
Good Cheer broke a step slowly out of the gate as she brushed an outer rival, then was bumped around between rivals heading into the first turn. As a result, unlike her previous victories which were in wire-to-wire fashion, Good Cheer was settled off the pace in fourth, about three lengths off the pace being set by Claire’s Charm.
Claire’s Charm continued to hold the lead by about a length over Sherbini down the backstretch, but Good Cheer had that pair in her sights as she shifted to the outside for a clear run heading into the far turn. At the top of the stretch Good Cheer hit another gear and took off, sweeping past the frontrunners to take the lead. She continued to draw off down the lane, eventually crossing the wire four-and-three-quarter lengths ahead of Claire’s Charm. Sherbini finished third.
Bred in Kentucky and racing as a homebred for Godolphin, Good Cheer is out of the multiple G1-winning Street Sense mare, Wedding Toast. During her racing career for Godolphin, Wedding Toast captured both the G1 Ogden Phipps Stakes and G1 Beldame, in addition to winning the G2 Ruffian and G3 Comely. In addition to Good Cheer, Wedding Toast is also the dam of the Stakes-winning colt, Ya Hayati (by Dubawi).
Good Cheer was the second Stakes winner of the afternoon for her sire, Medaglia d’Oro, whose ultra-consistent son, Spirit of St Louis, captured the Mohawk Stakes at Belmont at the Big A, which was his fourth Stakes win this year. Medaglia d’Oro is also the sire of the promising juvenile colt, East Avenue, winner of the recent G1 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity and a leading contender for the upcoming G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. The stallion’s other 2024 Graded Stakes winners include Grand Sonata (G2 Kentucky Turf Cup), Delahaye (G3), Ticker Tape Home (G3) and Kallos (G2, in Australia).
Medaglia d’Oro will stand the 2025 breeding season at Jonabell Farm for $75,000, stands and nurses.
