Daughter of American Pharoah lands Beaugay Stakes
Last year’s Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (Gr 1, 9f) winner Harvey's Lil Goil (4 m ex American Pharoah - Gloria S by Tapit) made a successful start to her four-year-old career with a victory in the Beaugay Stakes (Gr 3, 8.5f) at Belmont Park on Saturday.
The William Mott-trained daughter of Coolmore Stud shuttler American Pharoah (Pioneerof The Nile) signed off her three-year-old career by running third in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (Gr 1, 9.5f) in November and returned to winning ways with a half a length victory over Lemista (Raven’s Pass), while Platinum Paynter (Paynter) was another three lengths further adrift in third.
Mott said the mare would now head to the New York Stakes (Gr 2, 8¼f) on June 4.
"She's been consistently working quite well," Mott said. "You see some maturity (in her as a 4-year-old) and that's what you would expect.
"When she felt those horses coming from behind her, she held them safe. It looked like she still had something in the tank," Mott said.
Harvey's Lil Goil is one of three winners out of Gloria S (Tapit), who is herself a half-sister to 2012 Kentucky Derby (Gr 1, 9f) winner I’ll Have Another (Flower Alley) and Grade 3 winner Golden Award (Medaglia d’Oro).
Further back this is the extended family of Grade 1-winners Beholder (Henny Hughes), Into Mischief (Harlan's Holiday) and Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy), who also shuttled to Coolmore Stud in the Hunter Valley for one season in 2019.
The mare is one of 15 stakes winners and four top-flight winners US Triple Crown winner American Pharoah - who has sired three first-crop winners in Australia this year. The stallion will stand at Coolmore Australia for a fee of $49,500 (inc GST) in 2021, having stood last season for a fee of $55,000 (inc GST).
