Medal Count earns gold in off-the-turf Transylvania

Spendthrift Farm's Medal Count, a troubled fifth in the off-the-turf Bourbon

at Keeneland last fall, enjoyed a charmed trip up the rail in Friday's opening

day feature, the $100,000

Transylvania, which was likewise transferred to the Polytrack after

persistent rain. Under a heady ride by Robby Albarado, the Dale Romans sophomore

engineered a last-to-first move to record his first stakes win.

Because of the surface switch, the Grade 3 event was automatically downgraded

to listed status, pending review by the American Graded Stakes Committee. Four

of the 12 entrants scratched -- Pleuven, Can'thelpbelieving, Red River Rising

and Ry's the Man.

Medal Count, most recently fifth in the February 22 Fountain of Youth on the

Gulfstream Park dirt, was bet down to 3-1 from a 12-1 morning line. The

Dynaformer colt found himself last passing the stands for the first time, while

Kody with a K and Laddie Boy matched strides on the front end. Kody with a K

held a slim advantage after the duo vied through an opening quarter in :23 2/5,

but Laddie Boy then wrested control and reached the half in :47 2/5.

Storming Inti, the 5-2 favorite, was parked just behind the pacesetters in

third. Down the backstretch, Medal Count steadily advanced on the inside, and

rounding the far turn, he was only awaiting a seam to exploit.

Medal Count's breakthrough victory advanced his scorecard to 6-3-0-0, with a

win apiece on dirt, turf and synthetic, and more than doubled his earnings to

$111,600. He was set to debut on the Ellis Park turf last September, but when

the one-mile maiden was transferred to the dirt, he handled it beautifully to

romp by 6 1/4 lengths. Upped in class for the Bourbon, he again ran into an

off-the-turf scenario, and reported home a sneakily-good fifth despite traffic.

Medal Count tried the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita, where he retreated

to 11th of 13.

Reappearing in an entry-level allowance at Gulfstream Park on January 12,

Medal Count finally got the chance to run on turf, and rallied in the nick of

time to force a dead-heat with 53-1 shot Drover Road. He made another dirt

attempt in the aforementioned Fountain of Youth and wasn't disgraced in fifth,

beating the likes of Commissioner and We Miss Artie.

Romans said that plans have yet to be decided for Medal Count.

"That'll be up to Mr. Hughes (owner of Spendthrift Farm)," the trainer said.

"If he were mine, I'd still have him on the (Kentucky) Derby trail, but he

wanted to take a more conservative approach and let him grow up a little bit.

Today was a big performance and showed he can go anywhere."