BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

November 6, 2020

Wesley Ward

Randall Lowe

Keeneland Race Course

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Mr. Lowe, Randy Lowe, owner/breeder of Golden Pal. You owned the mare, Lady Shipman. This just must be so exciting not only to own the winner of a Breeders' Cup race but to breed him as well.

RANDALL LOWE: Yes. This is probably the second biggest moment in my life. First one being married to my lovely wife.

THE MODERATOR: Well said. So this horse, you were telling me a story when he was born, a very special moment for you from the beginning.

RANDALL LOWE: Yes. When he was born, I went into our stall and the mares are very protective when babies are born. I went in there and stood there and put my hand out and he came right over and put his chin in the palm of my hand and I knew from that point on he was going to be something special.

THE MODERATOR: Now, you took him to Alaska. This has worked out quite well for your trainer, Wesley Ward, who won this race last year with Four Wheel Drive. What was that experience like and just kind of tell me about the process of getting him here to the Breeders' Cup.

RANDALL LOWE: Well, we didn't get to go because of the COVID disease, but in Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas -- I told my friends hello in Las Vegas. They threw a party for us where the whole sports book, they had the race on and we were squealing and hollering and I couldn't believe that he got caught in the last two strides.

THE MODERATOR: Well, he made up the difference today. Kind of take us through the race, because he broke like a shot out of the gate, then he sort of all of a sudden fell back quickly.

RANDALL LOWE: Yeah, he broke like a shot and I thought he was gone and then Irad tried to pull him back. A lot of people thought that he couldn't wait, but we have been teaching him how to wait, to come from behind. And so when he knew, he pulled the horse back, and I thought, Oh no, what's he doing? Then he let go of a notch and he was gone.

THE MODERATOR: Now, down the stretch he had opened up by about four or five lengths and then the wire was coming, but did you ever have any, any questions at all down the stretch?

RANDALL LOWE: Well, sometimes when he's way in front, he tends to wait for the other horses, but maybe he was -- I don't know -- but I know if horse comes up next to him, he will re-break and he will just draw away again.

THE MODERATOR: And he's certainly a very big, strong colt. How did you decide on the mating Uncle Mo and your mare, Lady Shipman.

RANDALL LOWE: We had tried different stallions. She was bred to Gun Runner and the baby just didn't develop and everything. And I thought, You know, let's go back to a proven, big stallion. Lady Shipman is about 16 hands tall, and here we are with Golden Pal.

THE MODERATOR: And your trainer, Wesley Ward, what can you say about him and his success in these Turf Sprints, and especially now in a Breeders' Cup Turf Sprints.

RANDALL LOWE: Well, Wesley Ward had been chasing me for a few years. He wanted to train Lady Shipman and it was down between Kiaran and Lady and I chose Kiaran McLaughlin. But this time I kept thinking, you know, Wesley likes this horse so much, and he called me and I thought, Let's give it to Wesley and let's give him, let him have a try. And first with Wesley, first Breeders' Cup ever. It's taken me 35 years to win this race.

THE MODERATOR: This must be extremely special, not only to win the Breeders' Cup race with the horse you own, but again to breed that horse too just adds so much.

RANDALL LOWE: Yeah. And I would like to interject this if I could. I named the horse Golden Pal. I named him after my mentor, a gentleman named John C. Mabee, who taught me all about breeding and what to look for, how to do things. I just didn't have his funds to do this. So I thought, Okay, here we are. We're kind of almost all-in, and his best, his farm was Golden Eagle Farms and his best horse was Best Pal. That's how he got the name Golden Pal.

THE MODERATOR: Great name. A wonderful horse. Any thoughts of where you go next or just enjoy this for now?

RANDALL LOWE: I believe Wesley said we'll give him a break until, I think it's April, Keeneland. I think he said we'll run the first day and then we'll come back in the King's Stand in England at Ascot over there in England. And then I believe we'll be here next year as well.

THE MODERATOR: Well, we wish you all the best and again congratulations.

RANDALL LOWE: Thank you. Thank you. Hello everybody. L.A., Las Vegas. Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: This is Wesley Ward, trainer of Golden Pal. We just had your owner in here, Randy.

WESLEY WARD: Was he excited?

THE MODERATOR: He was very excited and we talked a lot about that this one not even being an owner, but the breeder as well and Lady Shipman, of course, the dam. Tell us a little bit about the colt first and how this relationship came about.

WESLEY WARD: He's a wonderful colt to train. I've had him since September of his yearling year right from the sale here. So just excited to take a horse like that and then just watch him emerge, every month that goes by, he's like a young kid and you could tell he was an athlete.

And then as we go through, as time goes on, the months go on, you could just see him just building stronger and stronger and really mentally coming together. He's just, as I said, it would be like a young quarterback that's kind of a cocky young guy and then as we finally get to the end of the season, he's really, really come together mentally. He's just really a cool guy to be around.

THE MODERATOR: He out-broke the gate, but then kind of shuffled back by choice a little bit off of the lead because he out-broke the field so easily. Was that instructions or did that, just the colt doing that on his own.

WESLEY WARD: No, he's just real agile and for a big colt he's real quick. He moves kind of like a cat. And that's why the first couple jumps I think Irad just kind of let him shoot out of there. And then I just think that when he got down the back side he is kind of a patient rider, he wanted to take a hold a little bit and get him back and the colt really didn't know, he was a little startled, so he kind of came back and I was a little worried too, in fact I wasn't too happy with Irad at that point, but I sure was at the finish.

THE MODERATOR: Very impressive race. This has become kind of a pattern, a trend for you, you obviously won this race last year with Four Wheel Drive, but going to Royal Ascot and then utilizing Keeneland, you sort of worked out this great template that gets you with a horse like that here to the Breeders' Cup.

WESLEY WARD: It is. I have got to give a lot of credit to Keeneland, they let me breeze the colt with such great talent and real quality on the grass and in order to keep him sound to get to the end of the year like we did. A large part of that was being able to continue his workouts on the grass, it's a lot more kind and forgiving on this particular horse and they gave me the tools to do that.

THE MODERATOR: Plans for him now?

WESLEY WARD: We'll shut him down now. That was always the plan. We're going to finish the year off here and bring him back just after Christmas kind of start him back nice and easy and have him ready to go. They usually have a stakes here opening day for straight three-year-olds and that will usually tell us if we need another one before we get to Ascot or that will be it until we get to Ascot and we'll probably doing the King's Stand. He was getting a little late there the last part, so he's a lot better at five than six, but he's just got such quality that he was able to sustain that extra 16th of a mile.

THE MODERATOR: Ultimate goal again Breeders' Cup, Del Mar?

WESLEY WARD: Absolutely, we'll be there. Yeah, the owners raced in California for 30 years, he's already made plans and he's probably making his hotel arrangements.