Saratoga Maidens, presented by Keeneland: Golden Tornado Delivered on the Forecast, Storms to Spa Maiden Special Score

[Wandering Eyes]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Competing much like he trained, Golden Tornado (McKinzie) showed Saturday that he is a 2-year-old colt to pay attention to.

While his connections were confident of his ability level, Golden Tornado made it clear that he was indeed ready for the prime time of a $100,000 maiden special weight test at the Spa with a 3 1/4-length triumph. Under Hall of Fame jockey Joel Rosario, the bay colt owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Antony Beck's Gainesway Stable and Legendary Thoroughbreds, stalked pacesetter Oscar's Hope (Twirling Candy), pounced coming off the turn and prevailed, covering the six furlongs in 1:10.87 and paying $9.60 as the third choice. Gainesway bred the Golden Tornado and stayed in as a partner after he was purchased for $475,000 at Keeneland September.

After watching Golden Tornado turn in series of smart breezes–his :48 for a half-mile on Aug. 2 was the eighth-fastest of 153 at the distance–the main question trainer Danny Gargan had was when to have him make his debut. Majority owner Dean Reeves encouraged him to test the horse.

“When we talked about it, I gave Mr. Reeves the option of we could run him now and maybe give him a race, in case we need another race,” Gargan said. “We were thinking he's a Champagne horse all along. He said, 'Danny, just go ahead and run him. If he wins, that's great. If not, we'll have time to run again.' I thought maybe he might need a race, but he's super talented. I told him I might win the Champagne two months ago with this horse. He's a super-talented horse. Good horses just show up and he's one of those. He's a really good horse.”

Reeves said that Golden Tornado's solid work in the morning, producing consistently quick times, strengthened his confidence in the colt.

“We were not even asking him,” Reeves said.  “He was just doing it so easy, :48 and it was like he was just moving. Danny said, 'If I ask him, he'll go crazy.' Danny's saying, 'Let's give him a race.' I'm like, 'Danny. I prefer to win.' It was a matter of did he show up today? “I was really, really happy, and I think he's going to improve off this race. He looked a little green coming down, changing leads, to get that going, but he straightened himself out.

“He was doing some works. He would get :48 and gallop out faster than he went the last four (furlongs). He was showing us signs that this was a talented horse.”

Patti and Dean Reeves at Saratoga | Sarah Andrew

For many years Reeves and his wife Patti have worked with Florida horseman Jimmy Gladwell, who pointed them toward Golden Tornado.

“Danny liked the horse also, so we don't butt heads,” Reeves said. “We were going to buy the horse. He had some first-time buyers (Legendary's Jill Pittman and Raj Lally) that really wanted to start horse racing, so they took a small piece. Then, of course, when Mr. Beck wanted to come in that really made me feel pretty good about what we were doing.”

Gargan said it was a consensus buy that has yielded what his connections think is a serious young prospect.

“He's a beautiful horse. He's just a specimen,” Gargan said. “He's got a beautiful hind leg. The team we had at Keeneland all worked together to find him, and we really appreciate it.”

Reeves is a graduate of Georgia Tech, played basketball there and is a fan of the college's teams, the Yellowjackets.

“In the 1930s Georgia Tech was known as the Golden Tornado,” Reeves said. “Actually, I was thinking about names, and (British bloodstock agent) Tom Pritchard-Gordon's kids sent me an email that said, 'Name a horse Golden Tornado,' and I'm thinking, 'How did those kids in Europe know about Georgia Tech?' I said, 'OK, I'll find one that works for that,' so I picked this horse out. I've been talking him up since summertime.”

As Reeves had hoped, Golden Tornado turned in a strong performance in his first race.

“This a nice horse. We really had some high hopes coming in here, but they've got to prove it. This is Saratoga. You don't come in here and not get it done.”

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