Medaglia d'Oro Running Hot

It was a huge Saturday Stateside for Darley Stud's Medaglia d'Oro (USA) with his 6yo sons Mshawish and Valid running 1-2 in the $500,000 Grade 1 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park, while his star daughter Songbird kept her undefeated record intact with a six and a half length romp in the $300,000 Grade II Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita Park at her seasonal debut.

Al Shaqab Racing's Mshawish 6yo entire Mshawish had made his name on turf but graduated to the top level on dirt with a two-length win over graded stakes winner Valid and possibly punching his ticket for the Dubai World Cup on March 26.

He is no stranger to Dubai having won the 2014 Group II Zabeel Mile and was fourth in the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free Stakes won by the Japanese champion Just A Way when trained by Mikel Delzangles before being transferred to Todd Pletcher.

"We'll go to Dubai and make a decision, but hopefully it will be the World Cup," Pletcher told Blood-Horse.

"I loved the way he finished up at a mile and an eighth.

A son of the Thunder Gulch mare Thunder Bayou, Mshawish was a $25,000 weanling and a $10,000 purchase at the 2011 Keeneland September yearling sale.

He was in the ring again at the 2012 Arqana Saint-Cloud breeze-up sale where he was purchased for €170,000 by Mandore International Agency on behalf of Al Shaqab.

Last year's Champion 2yo Filly, Songbird made it five out of five with an all the way win in the Las Virgenes Stakes.

Ridden by Mike Smith for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, the triple Grade 1 winner had little more than a working gallop.

"She has such a high cruising speed," Smith told Blood-Horse.

"She has gears. You always worry about horses that are brilliant at 2. Sometimes they don't mature or grow any more at 3. You're anxious to see what will happen... She seems to have improved. She seemed up to her game even more, especially mentally. She was very happy today and took it all in stride."

Hollendorfer said the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks is her immediate goal.

"I was so pleased to see her way out there and cruising along pretty easy," Hollendorfer said.

"At least now we got a race in her and we can try to make some more plans. We want to run here at Santa Anita. What we do in between now and the Santa Anita Oaks (gr. I), I don't know."

A $400,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale by Fox Hill Farm, the daughter of Medaglia d'Oro (USA) is out of the Grade II West Acre mare Ivanavinalot.