Gottcha Gold to Ocala Stud
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Multiple graded stakes winner Gottcha Gold will retire to Michael O’Farrell’s Ocala Stud for the 2009 breeding season, it was announced Wednesday.

A Centaur Farms homebred, Gottcha Gold (Coronado’s Quest-Gotcha Last, by Pleasant Tap) burst onto the national racing scene in 2007 with impressive wins in the Salvator Mile H. (G3) and Iselin Breeders’ Cup H. (G3) at Monmouth Park. In the Salvator Mile, he defeated eventual Eclipse Champion Older Male Lawyer Ron, carving out all the fractions and stopping the clock in 1:34 1/5.

The performance earned him a 108 Beyer and stamped Gottcha Gold as a leading miler in 2007. Later in the season, Gottcha Gold was runner-up in the inaugural $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, outrunning a cast of graded stakes winners including Discreet Cat (G1).

In 2008, Gottcha Gold won the Skip Away H. (G3) by 3 ¼ lengths at Gulfstream Park and was a narrow second in the Pimlico Special (G1) after setting the early pace.

The 5-year-old owns five career wins and is just shy of a million in earnings with $928,820. First or second in five stakes at or around a mile, he posted five Beyers of 105 or better.

“The last two stallions we had to run a mile in 1:34 1/5 or faster were Montbrook and Notebook,” said O’Farrell, who was excited about Gottcha Gold’s return to Ocala Stud, where the horse was raised and trained prior to racing. “Between them to date, Montbrook and Notebook have sired 89 stakes winners, a couple of dozen which were graded.” 

Stallion Roster