Kurt Becker’s Stroll Through Racing History presented by Keeneland - Optimistic Gal

Hello, I'm Kurt Becker, thanks for joining me as I take another stroll through racing

history, presented by Keenland.

Greg in Illinois asked us recently if we would feature a Philly named Optimistic Gal on

the stroll, as he fondly remembers watching her run at Keenland in the 1970s.

And since March is Optimism Month, we've figured there was no better time to highlight

the Philly with the Optimistic name.

Fold on April 29, 1973 in Kentucky, Optimistic Gal was a dark bay or brown Philly by Sir

Iver.

She was from his second crop and she was the first fold out of hopes ahead by traffic judge.

Her American bread sire was horse of the year in the United Kingdom, while her damn

one twice in 17 starts and earned less than $7,000.

Designed by Breeder Bertstrom Linder to the summer yearling sales in 1974, Optimistic

Gal caught the eye of trainer Leroy Jolly, who was shopping for Philly's for clients

Bert and Diana Firestone.

Jolly liked the fact that Optimistic Gal was a lovely Philly, as he put it, and she had

an absence of bold ruler Nasrul and Neyarko blood, which would make her perfect for breeding

some day to triple crown winter secretariat in whom the Firestones own shares.

For $55,000, Optimistic Gal would make her debut as a juvenile in 1975, and, raising in

the name of Mrs. Bertstrom Firestone, would win her first two starts by a combined margin

of nearly 10 lengths.

Following a Grade 1 placing in the sorority at Monmouth Park behind Dearly Precious, she

would win the Grade 3 Adirondack at Saratoga for her first takes victory, cruising under

the wire nearly 10 lengths to the good.

Another runner-up finished to Dearly Precious in the Grade 1 spin-away, made the latter

the front runner for the Eclipse Award for Champion 2-year-old Philly.

But Dearly Precious concluded her campaign soon thereafter, while Optimistic Gal began

racking up graded stakes wins in her absence.

There was a win in the Grade 1 Mage run under Jockey Braulio Bayezza by 6 and a half

lengths in September, followed by a victory in the Grade 1 for Zet by 3 and 3-quarters

lengths on October 4th.

Then on October 18th on a sloppy track at Keenland, she romped home in the graded

alcibiades by a margin of 21 lengths.

Optimistic Gal added another Grade 1 win on October 25th, taking the Salima at Laurel

Race Force for Jockey Daryl McCart.

She got the mile in a 16th and one minute 42 and 4th seconds, missing the track record

by just one-fifth of a second.

Despite that late season flurry of successes by Optimistic Gal, voters named Dearly Precious

Champion Juvenile Philly of 1975.

The fact Dearly Precious had won both head-to-head meetings between the Philly's was enough to carry

the day.

Optimistic Gal returned to the races in April of 1976 and opened her season with back-to-back

wins at Keenland, including a score in the Grade 3 Ashland.

13 days later, she captured the 100-second running of the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill

Downs.

After finishing runner-off as the favorite in all three legs of New York's Philly Triple

Crown and after finishing sixth in the Grade 3 Test Dakes at Saratoga, Optimistic Gal regrouped

from that four race win streak to take the Grade 1 Alabama at the spa by 16 lengths with

Eddie Maple aboard.

Optimistic Gal got the mile in a quarter in two minutes one and three-fifth seconds, making

for the fastest running ever of the race to that date.

The race itself dating back to 1872.

And Optimistic Gal wasn't done.

Three weeks after the Alabama, Optimistic Gal was sent to Delaware Park for the Grade

1 Delaware handicap, Jolly chose to skip the gazelle where his Philly would have carried

124 pounds against three-year-olds in New York instead opting for the Delaware event

against older to get a 5-pound break in the wait for age race.

With Eddie Maple once again in the saddle, Optimistic Gal went to the post as the 2-5 favorite

and got the 10-4 longs in 201 flat, becoming just the seventh-three-year-old to win the race

in 39 runnings.

For the final start of her career, Optimistic Gal returned to Keenland where she was already

three-for-three lifetime for the 21st running of the Grade 1 spinster.

The day was described as dismal and rainy and the track was sloppy.

Greg Perret was named to ride and he had visited the Firestone Sparrow in Virginia a few days

earlier to study film of the Philly's prior races.

Going to the post as the 2-5 favorite, Optimistic Gal made her move on the final turn and was

on top by 10 lengths turning for home.

She was handwritten to the wire from there to win by a margin of five lengths.

Optimistic Gal concluded her racing career with 13 wins and 21 starts, including six

Grade 1 victories, for earnings of $686,000.

But she was once again denied by eclipse award voters at the end of the year, as losses

to a Philly named Revvedere in both the coaching club American Oaks and the Ruffian Stakes

resulted in the latter claiming championship honors.

It had been a remarkable racing career nonetheless for Optimistic Gal who would produce 14 folds

but just one stake source as a brood bear prior to her death in 1999 at the age of 26.

It has been 50 years since Optimistic Gal graced the racetrack, yet folks like Greg

and Southern Illinois remember her well.

They have never forgotten the graceful and versatile Philly or the visually impressive

victories which made her a champion in the hearts of her fans.

Please join me again next week when I take another stroll through racing history presented

by Keamelin for HRRM, I'm Kurt Becker.