Christmas came early for Godolphin, or at least that's what the snowfall made it feel like as the royal blue silks entered the Churchill Downs winner's circle in both of the Nov. 30 featured stakes for 2-year-olds.
Just as they had done one month prior in the Oct. 27 Road to the Kentucky Derby and Oaks preps held in Louisville, Ky., Godolphin swept the winners' 10 qualifying points with a pair of homebreds. The Oaks prep, the $400,000 Golden Rod Stakes (G2), again went to Good Cheer while they swapped colts on the Kentucky Derby (G1) trail and took the $381,250 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) with First Resort.
"We're blessed to have such a strong group of 2-year-olds, both fillies and colts," said Godolphin USA's director of bloodstock Michael Banahan. "We feel so excited to have them go forward."
A son of Uncle Mo , First Resort showed promise early in his career with a 3 1/2-length maiden victory at Ellis Park in July going 5 1/2 furlongs and a runner-up performance in the 6 1/2-furlong Saratoga Special Stakes (G2) at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 10.
Entered for the Sept. 14 Iroquois Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs, First Resort was scratched after drawing the rail.
"I was trying to get him to learn how to relax and rate," trainer Eoin Harty said. "Coming out of the one hole, there's only one way to go. I didn't want to have him sit behind a wall of horses."
Sent to Woodbine that day instead, he was entered on the turf in the one-mile Summer Stakes (G1T), which Banahan called an "experiment" to see if he could stretch out. He finished fourth, but connections were pleased enough to target the 1 1/16-mile Kentucky Jockey Club next.
"He shipped a lot, so we wanted to take some time off and point to this race," Banahan said. "We're super excited to have another horse we can add on to our nice group of 2-year-old colts with Sovereignty and East Avenue."
He relaxed and rated to perfection Saturday as jockey Luis Saez settled him just off Dapper Moon's soft fractions of :24.56, :49.30, and 1:13.63.
"We knew we wanted a slow pace, but we controlled the race," Saez said. "At the top of the stretch, we had plenty of horse."
Taking command entering the stretch, First Resort drew off to an insurmountable lead approaching the final furlong. Odds-on favorite Jonathan's Way, who got stuck in traffic on the far turn, made a late run but never threatened. First Resort hit the wire 2 1/4 lengths clear while stopping the clock in 1:43.01. He paid $14.66 to win.
The rest of the top 5 earned qualifying points for the May 3 Kentucky Derby on a 5-3-2-1 scale, with those points being earned by Jonathan's Way, Tiztastic, Dapper Moon, and Render Judgment.
First Resort is the first foal out of Godolphin's grade 1-winning Street Boss mare Fair Maiden, who was also trained by Harty. He is the ninth graded winner this season by Uncle Mo, who will stand the 2025 season for $125,000 at Ashford Stud.
Video: Kentucky Jockey Club S. (G2)
Good Cheer Untouchable Again in Golden Rod
Saez was also aboard Good Cheer, who improved her record to 4-for-4 in the Golden Rod.
Just as she did in the Oct. 27 Rags to Riches Stakes, the daughter of Medaglia d'Oro had to overcome some bumping out of the gate and slow fractions to emerge victorious. My Lil Punky slowed things down Saturday with fractions of :24.31, :48.66, and 1:12.55.
"Any time you have a filly that doesn't have a tremendous amount of early speed, pace is concerning," said her trainer Brad Cox. "I didn't feel like there was a tremendous amount of pace on early, but she overcame it and she's that good."
Good Cheer took the lead from stablemate Eclatant at the quarter pole and never appeared in danger through the stretch despite an attempt from Quietside to cut into the margin. Good Cheer hit the wire 2 1/2 lengths clear of Quietside and 8 1/2 lengths clear of Eclatant in third. Sturgeon Moon and Flash Wear rounded up the final Kentucky Oaks (G1) qualifying points, which were also awarded on a 10-5-3-2-1 scale.
Good Cheer paid $3.32 to win and completed the 1 1/16 miles, a distance at which she is now 3-for-3 while competing at Churchill Downs, in 1:43.26.
"She loves it here (Churchill Downs), that's a positive moving forward," Cox said. "She's able to turn for home with horse, put the competition away and gallop out well. She's a very good filly."
Like First Resort, Good Cheer is out of a grade 1-winning Godolphin homebred: Wedding Toast (Street Sense ). She is the seventh graded stakes winner this year for Medaglia d'Oro, who will stand the 2025 season at Godolphin's Darley for $75,000.
Good Cheer and expected 2-year-old champion filly Immersive have now swept four of the seven Kentucky Oaks preps contested this year for Cox and Godolphin.
"To have two really nice fillies going forward in 2025—it is exceptionally lucky for us to be able to do that," Banahan said.
