**This is part of a series that profiles the top New York-based contenders heading to the Breeders' Cup. Please see the attached photos of Girolamo. Credit NYRA,
Monday, October 25, 2010
Contact: Jon Forbes
Well, almost everything.
"Now that he's a Grade 1 winner by A.P. Indy, you gotta go one better," said Rick Mettee, assistant to the colt's trainer Saeed bin Suroor. "If he could knock out a Breeders' Cup race, that would really make him attractive to the breeders."
Girolamo will represent the Maktoum family's Godolphin Racing in the Breeders' Cup Sprint on November 6, with Vineyard Haven and Gayego to carry the torch for the Boys in Blue in the Dirt Mile.
Initially part of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's Darley Stable, Girolamo began his career by breaking his maiden at Saratoga Race Course and finishing fourth in the Grade 2 Futurity and Grade 1 Champagne at
"He went through his conditions pretty impressively last summer, and then he won the Jerome," said Mettee. "We had a decision to make on going to the Breeders' Cup on synthetic and at what distance to run him. They were putting in a synthetic track at Meydan, and we wanted to know if he'd handle it."
After Girolamo struggled home last of 12 in the Breeders' Cup Classic at 1 ¼ miles, Godolphin elected to give the colt a break and point him toward a 4-year-old campaign.
"He proved he wasn't a synthetic horse and wasn't a mile and a quarter horse," said Mettee. "After that, the decision was made to keep him in training this year and try to win a Grade 1."
Following a fifth in the Grade 1 Forego at
"We got a late start with him, and Saeed earmarked the Vosburgh as a winnable Grade 1," said Mettee. "Everything worked out pretty well."
While Girolamo certainly has the pedigree of a top-class horse, Mettee admits he initially didn't expect the colt to blossom as a sprinter, given his family. Girolamo's siblings include Accelerator, winner of the Grade 3 Pilgrim at 1 1/16 miles and third in the one-mile, Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, and Daydreaming, who won graded stakes at distances ranging from one mile to 1 1/8 miles and was third in the Grade 1 Spinaway at seven furlongs. Black type eluded full-sisters Supercharger and She's a Winner, but they have gone to respectively produce Super Saver, winner of this year's Grade 1 Kentucky Derby, and Bluegrass Cat, winner of the 2007 Haskell Invitational and runner-up in the Derby.
"[Girolamo winning a Grade 1 in a sprint] is a bit surprising, looking at him physically and given his pedigree," said Mettee. "He's an A.P. Indy, and you associate that with horses who run long. He is out of a Mr. Prospector mare, and that's obviously where he gets his speed."
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