Two former San Luis Rey colts win stakes races in Dubai

Joe Naiman

Village News Correspondent

Two colts who trained at the San Luis Rey Training Center as two-year-olds won stakes races Feb. 4 at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai.

Three-year-old Get Back Goldie won the Oud Metha Stakes, which was the second race of the day. Hot Rod Charlie, who is now 4 years old, won the Grade 2 Al Maktoum Challenge which was the day’s fifth race. Both horses are trained by Doug O’Neill, and William Buick was the jockey for both Feb. 4.

“It was a great feeling to go all the way out there and have a couple of victories the first day,” O’Neill said.

The win for Get Back Goldie was his second in five career races. He broke his maiden race Oct. 23 at Santa Anita Park. His two wins sandwich a ninth-place finish Nov. 28 in the Grade 3 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, which was his only previous stakes race.

The Oud Metha Stakes was a six-furlong dirt race for 3-year-olds. Six horses competed in the 2022 race. Rudy Trigger had an early lead although he eventually finished fourth. Get Back Goldie had a winning time of 1:13.20 and finished half a length in front of second-place Little Afrodite.

“We’re very happy with his first run on the track and victory,” O’Neill said. “We’re optimistic about his future.”

Get Back Goldie was foaled in Kentucky on April 26, 2019. He was sired by Goldencents out of Get Back Anne. He trained out of San Luis Rey in 2021 when he was not training at a track during a racing meet. Get Back Goldie finished fourth in his first race July 16 at Del Mar.

The Oud Metha Stakes had a total purse of 220,887 dirham, which is the currency of the United Arab Emirates, and first place was worth 126,372 dirham which equates to approximately $36,000 in United States money. That brought the career earnings of Get Back Goldie to $61,000.

The career earnings for Hot Rod Charlie may change depending on whether or not the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission disqualifies 2021 Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit. Hot Rod Charlie finished third in that race and would be given second place if Medina Spirit is disqualified due to a drug test.

First place in the Al Maktoum Challenge paid 737,160 dirham, or approximately $210,000. The win was the fourth for Hot Rod Charlie in 14 career races and his third stakes win in 10 career stakes races. Prior to the Al Maktoum Challenge, the most recent race for Hot Rod Charlie was the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes contested December 26 at Santa Anita, and he finished second that day.

Hot Rod Charlie was foaled in Kentucky on April 11, 2018. His sire is Oxbow and his dam is Indian Miss. His first seven timed workouts were at San Luis Rey before O’Neill brought him to Del Mar for the 2020 summer meet. A fourth-place finish in a July 11, 2020, race at Del Mar began Hot Rod Charlie’s competition career.

Twelve horses contested the Al Maktoum Challenge for 3-year-olds and up. The course was 1 3/16 miles, and Hot Rod Charlie won by 5 1/2 lengths over second-place Al Nerud. The winning time was 1:57.41.

“It was something we had hoped for, and to see him get it done was great,” O’Neill said. “Just very impressed. It was nice to get him over there.”

O’Neill plans to keep his horses in Dubai until the March 26 Dubai World Cup.

“It’s a good experience. I’m grateful that we got involved,” O’Neill said.