A $62,000 purchase as a racing or stallion prospect at Keeneland last November, One Go All Go had already more than paid for himself before he lined up in Saturday’s $250,000 Elkhorn S. (G2) back at the Lexington venue. But by leading all the way at 9-1, the Scooter Dickey recruit provided owner Rodney Paden with an additional $150,000 windfall and rewarded his backers with a $21.20 win mutuel.
The outcome would have been one of those heartwarming stories, but for the fact that the Elkhorn took a tragic turn early on. Bullards Alley, the Tim Glyshaw stalwart who ran away from an international cast in last year’s Canadian International (G1), was pulled up while striding awkwardly on the first turn. Vanned off the course as the race proceeded, he sustained a condylar fracture to his left hind leg, as the Blood-Horse’s Alicia Wincze-Hughes reported, and sadly had to be put down.
Bullard meant the world to us. He was a cool horse that always gave his all. He was our first horse to win graded races for us and a grade 1. No words can describe how I and my barn feel right now. RIP BULLARD
— Tim Glyshaw (@tgly) April 21, 2018
With the tarp figuratively casting a pall over the rest of the Elkhorn, One Go All Go was dictating terms under a well-judged ride by Chris Landeros. Defending champion and 2-1 favorite Itsinthepost tracked through splits of :26.32, :51.60, 1:17.17, and 1:42.20 on the firm course. But when Itsinthepost threw down the gauntlet passing the 1 1/4-mile mark in 2:07.02, One Go All Go had plenty left. Rebuffing the California shipper down the lane, One Go All Go kept finding to prevail by three-quarters of a length.
Oscar Nominated closed stoutly to deprive Itsinthepost of the runner-up spot by a nose. Call Provision, who briefly looked a danger on the rail, checked in another half-length astern in fourth. Next came Danish Dynaformer; Canessar; Big Bend; Brazilian import Some in Tieme, who lured the world’s winningest rider, Jorge Ricardo, from his homeland; Hunter O’Riley; and Hayabusa One, Itsinthepost’s archrival from Santa Anita whose form didn’t travel with him. Dot Matrix was scratched. (Bullards Alley’s misfortune has been edited out of the Keeneland replay below.)
One Go All Go negotiated 1 1/2 miles in 2:30.76 to improve his record to 24-4-5-3, $643,538. A grandson of recently deceased Giant’s Causeway, by his son Fairbanks, the six-year-old was previously trained by Pavel Matejka for Preston Stables and Prestonwood Racing. His career highlight had been a 35-1 upset of the 2015 Commonwealth Derby (G2), but he continued to compete in graded company, and took third in the Cliff Guilliams at Ellis Park in August. Dickey noticed that, since he trained the victorious Flatlined.
Since joining Dickey, One Go All Go has developed into a more consistent performer at that level. He missed by a head in the January 13 Ft. Lauderdale (G2), his third start for the barn, and after a close fourth in the Gulfstream Park Turf (G1), he was second in both the Mac Diarmida (G2) and the Pan American (G2) last time out March 31.
Bred by Albert P. Coppola in Virginia, One Go All Go is out of the Marquetry mare See Ashleigh Run, a half-sister to four black-type performers led by multiple Grade 2-placed stakes scorer Crown Point. He originally sold to Feel the Thunder Stable for $40,000 as a Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May two-year-old in training. One Go All Go showed promise as a juvenile when in the care of Mike Stidham, notably finishing a close third in the 2014 Arlington-Washington Futurity (G3).
