Inherit the Gold rolls home in Excelsior

Inherit the Gold tracked pacesetter Understatement through slow early splits

and powered past his rival at the top of the stretch, quickly drawing clear to a

runaway 6 1/4-length victory in Saturday's $98,000, Grade 3 Excelsior S. at Aqueduct. Trained by

James Hooper, the five-year-old stretched his winning streak to five while

netting his first graded stakes victory. The New York-bred completed 1 1/8 miles

in 1:50 1/5 with jockey Eddie Castro.

"There was only one horse with speed in the race, so I could stay fairly

close," Castro said. "I rode him the same today; I didn't want to change. When I

asked him to move, he did. He's getting better. It was a tough race today. There

were a lot of nice horses."

"It was a perfect trip," Hooper said. "Eddie knew he might have to stay a

little closer today and he did. It's whenever he decides he wants to make the

move. Eddie's done a great job with him."

Favored at 7-5 among five horses, Inherit the Gold paid $4.80, $2.40 and

$2.10. Modern Cowboy easily got up for second, 4 1/4 lengths better

than Understatement,

who held for third after establishing opening fractions in :24 3/5, :49 2/5, and 1:13 2/5. More Than a Reason and Goombada Guska rounded out the order of finish.

Owned by Susanne Hooper and Glas-Tipp Stable, Inherit the Gold was making

only his second start against open rivals on Saturday, easily winning an

allowance/optional claiming event three starts previously. The gray gelding was exiting a

pair of victories over state-breds in the King's Point S. and Mr. International

S., and has now earned $288,601 from a 14-7-3-2 career line.

Hooper hasn't mapped out an agenda for Inherit the Gold.

"We just listen to what (the horse) tells us," the trainer said. "He's a

very, very smart horse -- way smarter than we are. I'm just going to enjoy this

one; who knows where we'll go next? I want him to be happy. As long as this

horse is happy, we'll have a lot of fun."

The Hooper homebred is out of the winning Personal Flag mare Melissa's

Sunshine and his second maternal dam, Leslie Baba, is a full sister

to 1982 Louisiana Derby winner and Arkansas Derby runner-up El Baba.

This is also the female family of Grade 2 vixen Give Praise.