Strike the Gold (USA)
March 21, 1988 – December 13, 2011
Alydar (USA) x Majestic Gold (USA), by Hatchet Man (USA)
Family 16-c
March 21, 1988 – December 13, 2011
Alydar (USA) x Majestic Gold (USA), by Hatchet Man (USA)
Family 16-c
Strike the Gold's “out of the clouds” late-running style made him vulnerable to unfavorable pace scenarios and traffic problems, but it also made him a fan favorite. What it did not make him was very attractive as a stallion, particularly coupled with the increasing perception of Alydar as a disappointing sire of sires. Strike the Gold fared better after export to Turkey, siring a multiple Turkish champion and a number of Turkish Classic winners.
Race record
31 starts, 6 wins, 8 seconds, 5 thirds, US$3,457,026
1991:
1992:
1993:
Assessments
Rated at 123 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3-year-old males of 1991, 3 pounds below champion Hansel but tied for second with Best Pal and Dinard.
Rated at 117 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American older males of 1992, 9 pounds below highweighted Best Pal and 7 pounds below the official divisional champion, Pleasant Tap.
As an individual
A chestnut horse standing 15.3 hands, Strike the Gold strongly resembled his sire Alydar. He seemed to prefer tracks with some cushion to them. He was strictly a one-run horse who lacked tactical speed but could deliver a long, sustained drive.
As a stallion
According to records maintained by The Jockey Club, Strike the Gold sired 212 winners (31.3%) and 17 stakes winners (2.5%) from 677 named foals.
Sire rankings
Per the Jockey Club of Turkey (https://www.tjk.org/EN/YarisSever/Query/Page/AygirIstatistikleri):
Notable progeny
Air Born (TUR), Arsenic (TUR), Balcibin (TUR), Mummys Love (TUR), Sabirli (TUR), Sparkling (TUR)
Notable progeny of daughters
Borrego (USA)
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Strike the Gold was bred by Calumet Farm. He was owned by B. Giles Brophy, William Condren and James Cornnachia, who purchased him from Calumet as part of a seven-horse package deal in 1990 and raced him as BCC Gold Stable. He was trained by Nick Zito. In May 1991, Strike the Gold was auctioned off at Belmont Park to dissolve the increasingly contentious partnership and brought US$2.9 million from Condren and Cornacchia. The horse entered stud in 1994 in Kentucky at Vinery. Following the 1998 breeding season, he was sold to the Jockey Club of Turkey and relocated to Karacabey Pension Stud, Izmit, Turkey, where he stood the remainder of his stud career. He was euthanized on December 13, 2011, after fracturing his left front pastern in a fall which proved to have been caused by a heart attack.
Pedigree notes
Strike the Gold is outcrossed through five generations. He is a full brother to multiple Grade 3 winner Greydar and to Empress Aly, dam of Grade 2-placed listed stakes winner Princess Tru (by Capote) and second dam of Grade 3 winner Bridgetown.
Strike the Gold's dam Majestic Gold won a division of the 1981 Pocahontas Stakes as a juvenile and is a half sister to stakes winner Steal a Secret (by Fleet Nasrullah). The sisters' dam is the Pappa Fourway mare Majestic Secret, a half sister to 1965 Hollywood Derby winner Terry's Secret (by Terrang) and to juvenile stakes winner Hidden Secret (by Promulgation), dam of 1972 English champion 2-year-old male Noble Decree (by Vaguely Noble).
Majestic Secret, in turn, is out of the winning Your Host mare Secret Session, a half sister to the minor stakes winner Encore Fer (by Duc de Fer). Their dam Bravely Go is an unraced daughter of Challenger II out of the Sir Gallahad III mare Chessel, whose half sister Farmerette (by Sickle) was a multiple stakes winner and produced 1958 American champion handicap mare Bornastar (by Alibhai; dam of 1965 Sheridan Stakes winner Gallant Heritage, by Gallant Man, and stakes winner Perfect Looker, by Round Table), multiple stakes winner Miss Mommy (by Bull Dog; dam of the good sprint filly Mommy Dear, by Polynesian) and juvenile stakes winner Greek Lady (by Heliopolis).
Books and media
Fun facts
Last updated: January 7, 2025
Race record
31 starts, 6 wins, 8 seconds, 5 thirds, US$3,457,026
1991:
- Won Kentucky Derby (USA-G1, 10FD, Churchill Downs)
- Won Blue Grass Stakes (USA-G2, 9FD, Keeneland)
- 2nd Florida Derby (USA-G1, 9FD, Gulfstream Park)
- 2nd Belmont Stakes (USA-G1, 12FD, Belmont)
- 3rd Jockey Club Gold Cup (USA-G1, 10FD, Belmont)
- 3rd Jim Dandy Stakes (USA-G2, 9FD, Saratoga)
1992:
- Won Pimlico Special Handicap (USA-G1, 9.5FD, Pimlico)
- Won Nassau County Handicap (USA-G2, 9FD, Belmont)
- 2nd Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (USA-G1, 10FD, Belmont)
- 2nd Suburban Handicap (USA-G1, 10FD, Belmont)
- 2nd Gulfstream Park Handicap (USA-G1, 10FD, Gulfstream Park)
- 2nd Thirty Six Red Stakes (USA-L, 9.5FD, Aqueduct)
- 3rd Broward Handicap (USA-G3, 9FD, Gulfstream Park)
1993:
- 3rd Nassau County Handicap (USA-G1, 9FD, Belmont)
Assessments
Rated at 123 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3-year-old males of 1991, 3 pounds below champion Hansel but tied for second with Best Pal and Dinard.
Rated at 117 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American older males of 1992, 9 pounds below highweighted Best Pal and 7 pounds below the official divisional champion, Pleasant Tap.
As an individual
A chestnut horse standing 15.3 hands, Strike the Gold strongly resembled his sire Alydar. He seemed to prefer tracks with some cushion to them. He was strictly a one-run horse who lacked tactical speed but could deliver a long, sustained drive.
As a stallion
According to records maintained by The Jockey Club, Strike the Gold sired 212 winners (31.3%) and 17 stakes winners (2.5%) from 677 named foals.
Sire rankings
Per the Jockey Club of Turkey (https://www.tjk.org/EN/YarisSever/Query/Page/AygirIstatistikleri):
- Led the Turkish general sire list in 2011 and 2012; 2nd in 2005, 2007, and 2008; 4th in 2003, 2006, and 2010; 5th in 2004 and 2009; 9th in 2013.
- 2nd on the Turkish broodmare sire list in 2016; 5th in 2015; 6th in 2017, 2021, and 2023; 7th in 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2024; 8th in 2020.
Notable progeny
Air Born (TUR), Arsenic (TUR), Balcibin (TUR), Mummys Love (TUR), Sabirli (TUR), Sparkling (TUR)
Notable progeny of daughters
Borrego (USA)
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Strike the Gold was bred by Calumet Farm. He was owned by B. Giles Brophy, William Condren and James Cornnachia, who purchased him from Calumet as part of a seven-horse package deal in 1990 and raced him as BCC Gold Stable. He was trained by Nick Zito. In May 1991, Strike the Gold was auctioned off at Belmont Park to dissolve the increasingly contentious partnership and brought US$2.9 million from Condren and Cornacchia. The horse entered stud in 1994 in Kentucky at Vinery. Following the 1998 breeding season, he was sold to the Jockey Club of Turkey and relocated to Karacabey Pension Stud, Izmit, Turkey, where he stood the remainder of his stud career. He was euthanized on December 13, 2011, after fracturing his left front pastern in a fall which proved to have been caused by a heart attack.
Pedigree notes
Strike the Gold is outcrossed through five generations. He is a full brother to multiple Grade 3 winner Greydar and to Empress Aly, dam of Grade 2-placed listed stakes winner Princess Tru (by Capote) and second dam of Grade 3 winner Bridgetown.
Strike the Gold's dam Majestic Gold won a division of the 1981 Pocahontas Stakes as a juvenile and is a half sister to stakes winner Steal a Secret (by Fleet Nasrullah). The sisters' dam is the Pappa Fourway mare Majestic Secret, a half sister to 1965 Hollywood Derby winner Terry's Secret (by Terrang) and to juvenile stakes winner Hidden Secret (by Promulgation), dam of 1972 English champion 2-year-old male Noble Decree (by Vaguely Noble).
Majestic Secret, in turn, is out of the winning Your Host mare Secret Session, a half sister to the minor stakes winner Encore Fer (by Duc de Fer). Their dam Bravely Go is an unraced daughter of Challenger II out of the Sir Gallahad III mare Chessel, whose half sister Farmerette (by Sickle) was a multiple stakes winner and produced 1958 American champion handicap mare Bornastar (by Alibhai; dam of 1965 Sheridan Stakes winner Gallant Heritage, by Gallant Man, and stakes winner Perfect Looker, by Round Table), multiple stakes winner Miss Mommy (by Bull Dog; dam of the good sprint filly Mommy Dear, by Polynesian) and juvenile stakes winner Greek Lady (by Heliopolis).
Books and media
- Strike the Gold is profiled in Chapter 12 of Avalyn Hunter's American Classic Pedigrees 1914-2002 (2003, Eclipse Press).
- Footage of Strike the Gold's Kentucky Derby win and an interview with trainer Nick Zito can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=403642814547777.
Fun facts
- A hard luck foal, Strike the Gold was born as a “dummy foal” (one exhibiting abnormal behaviors or neurological signs; the condition is believed to be related to oxygen deprivation shortly before or during birth) and had to be fed via tubes during his first few days of life because he could not nurse normally; he also required supplemental oxygen for the first three days of his life. Following that, his dam, Majestic Gold, died of colic when he was four months old. Nonetheless, he became the most dominant youngster of the colts of his year at Calumet.
- Strike the Gold broke his maiden in a one-mile race at Aqueduct on November 15, 1990, the same day that his sire Alydar died.
- Strike the Gold was given the barn name “Boyfriend” because of his playful manner. Nick Zito also called him "Strikey."
- Co-owner Joseph Cornacchia made a Derby winter book bet of US$500 on Strike the Gold at 25-1 odds. He had promised the nuns running the House of the Good Shepherd (a home for babies and children infected with human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV) that if they would pray for his colt, he would donate his winnings from his bet if he won. The colt came through, and the sisters ended up with a US$12,500 donation.
- In the next race after the Kentucky Derby, Strike the Gold's older full brother Greydar won a Churchill Downs allowance race.
- At the time of his Kentucky Derby victory, Strike the Gold had the highest Roman Dosage Index (9.0) of any horse to win the race, and much was made of the fact that his DI was far higher than the supposed cutoff for a Derby winner of 4.0. (Lower DIs are held to be indicative of higher stamina.) Later, Alydar was named as a Classic chef-de-race in the Roman-Miller dosage system, giving Strike the Gold a revised DI of 2.60.
- Strike the Gold was the ninth of 10 Kentucky Derby winners bred by Calumet Farm and was the first not to race as a homebred. The others were Whirlaway (1941), Pensive (1944), Citation (1948), Ponder (1949), Hill Gail (1952), Iron Liege (1957), Tim Tam (1958), Forward Pass (1968), and Rich Strike (2022).
- Strike the Gold’s Kentucky Derby trophy was sent to the Leland’s auction house in 2024. In an auction that closed on March 16, 2024, the trophy sold for US$165,479.
Last updated: January 7, 2025