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Racing Analysis by Steve Haskin

John D. Murphy Sr. missed out on his big opportunity to bask in racing’s limelight when his Formal Gold suffered a fracture a week before the 1997 Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I), for which he would have been one of the favorites.

Now, 10 years later, he is hoping for another chance with Formal Gold’s son Adore the Gold, whom he also bred.

Adore the Gold has already provided Murphy and trainer Mike Gorham with plenty of thrills. They did dodge a bullet, however, in the colt’s first start when he was entered for a $50,000 claiming tag and won by 103⁄4 lengths. Fortunately for them, there were no takers.

Stretching out from six furlongs to 11⁄16 mile, he defeated a quality field of stakes horses in the Dover Stakes before venturing up to New York and finishing a lackluster fifth in the Nashua Stakes (gr. III) over a track he didn’t handle.

In the H. Steward Mitchell at Laurel, he won in hand by four lengths, and then made a successful 3-year-old debut, winning the Swale Stakes (gr. II) battling on the lead all the way through a blistering half in :44.69.

Jumping from 61⁄2 furlongs to 11⁄8 mile against Nobiz Like Shobiz, Scat Daddy, and Stormello in the Fountain of Youth (gr. II) was not an easy task, nor was having to break from the outside post in the nine-horse field.

Adore the Gold ducked to the outside at the break and had to be used to get position. He found himself in the unenviable position of having to track the gritty grade I-winning Stormello, while having odds-on favorite Nobiz Like Shobiz and Champagne (gr. I) winner Scat Daddy behind him. He made a quick move to challenge for the lead, eventually pulling on even terms with the stubborn Stormello. He battled hard to the wire, but his lack of two-turn experience caught up to him, and he fell just short, finishing fourth, beaten only a length.

He should show big improvement with this race under his belt, and will be much tougher in the Florida Derby (gr. I)

Pedigree Profile by Avalyn Hunter

In an imperfect world, a man’s faith in his horse is not always rewarded. But when it does happen, it becomes a reminder that sometimes dreams do come true.

Adore the Gold’s story begins with his breeder and owner, John D. Murphy Sr., who was the owner of Formal Gold, a son of 1991 Horse of the Year Black Tie Affair. One of the best handicap horses of 1997, Formal Gold won four graded races that year, including the Woodward Stakes (gr. I) and Philip H. Iselin Handicap (gr. II).

After injury aborted a planned campaign as a 5-year-old in 1998, Formal Gold stood his first season in 1999 at Gainesway Farm near Lexington for $15,000, but by 2005 had been sent to California, where he now stands at Rancho San Miguel for $5,000. Murphy, however, never lost faith in Formal Gold and continued to support him even when the stallion’s fortunes appeared to be on a slide. Judging by Adore the Gold’s performances this spring—a win in the Swale Stakes (gr. II) and a quite respectable fourth-place finish behind Scat Daddy, Stormello, and Nobiz Like Shobiz in the Fountain of Youth (gr. II)—Murphy has been well rewarded.

Adore the Gold is the fourth foal and first stakes winner for the Dixieland Band mare Amore E Baci, whose dam, Love and Affection (by Exclusive Era), is a stakes-winning half-sister to English and Irish champion Zoman (by Affirmed). Further back, the female line traces to La Troienne’s stakes-winning daughter Big Hurry, also the ancestress of champions Bridal Flower, Relaxing, and Easy Goer.

Whether Adore the Gold will get 10 furlongs is open to question, as the balance between speed and stamina in his pedigree is moderately tilted toward speed. But even if Adore the Gold proves unable to stay the Derby (gr. I) distance, he appears to have a promising career ahead of him in shorter races, and that would be a good reward for a man who never stopped believing in his horse.