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| Staff Writer |
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Gosger is carrying the proud legacy of owner-breeder Harvey Clarke into Saturday's US$2 million Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, with connections believing the progressive colt can deliver an emotional triumph in the Triple Crown event.
The Brendan Walsh-trained 3YO announced himself with a commanding two-length victory in the Gr.3 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland last month, securing his place in this weekend's Classic.
"Ever since he came in, we always thought he was going to be a pretty good horse," said Walsh. "I think this horse, as he goes along, there's definitely a big race in him at some point."
Should that big day arrive on Saturday, it would carry profound significance as Gosger continues the breeding legacy of Harvey Clarke, who succumbed to lung cancer in 2019.
Following Clarke's passing, his wife Donna took over the stable while son Scott stepped up as managing partner to preserve his father's Thoroughbred legacy.
"I've always been really interested in it, but that was more where I would follow my dad around," Clarke said. "When my dad passed away, I kind of became the one to head the whole thing up."
Working alongside Harvey's longtime bloodstock agent Steve Shahinian, the family reduced their broodmare band to focus on quality over quantity.
"Keep the quality and if you're not sure, sell it," Shahinian said. "The goal of the family is to have small numbers and good quality."
Gosger hails from one of Clarke's most successful families. His dam, Gloria S, is a Tapit filly out of Arch's Gal Edith, whom Harvey Clarke purchased for US$80,000 at the 2004 Ocala Breeders' Sales Selected Sale of 2YOs in Training.
The colt's versatile American Pharoah half-sister, Harvey's Lil Goil, won the 2020 Gr.1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes at Keeneland and placed in that year's Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf and Alabama Stakes.
Arch's Gal Edith brought Clarke his greatest breeding triumph when her Flower Alley son, I'll Have Another, captured the 2012 Santa Anita Derby, Kentucky Derby, and Preakness Stakes on his way to being crowned champion 3YO male. She also produced two-time Grade Three winner Golden Award (Medaglia d'Oro).
Unlike Gosger, Clarke and Shahinian had reservations about I'll Have Another as a yearling and decided to sell him.
"I saw him as a yearling as being very weak, 'Will he ever develop?' kind of horse," Shahinian said. "I recommended his sale and the buying public shared that opinion."
I'll Have Another sold for just US$11,000 at the 2010 Keeneland September Yearling Sale before being pinhooked. When Shahinian saw him again at the 2011 OBS Spring Sale, he noted significant development.
"I called Harvey and said we may have made a mistake," Shahinian recalled.
However, he expressed concern over one of the colt's tendons – a prescient observation as I'll Have Another would later be scratched from his Triple Crown attempt in the Belmont Stakes due to tendon issues.
"You can't really have any regrets about anything you do," said Scott Clarke. "It's fun to be the breeder of a dual classic winner. When you own the mare, and you have so many members of the family, it helps solidify that whole side of it."
Now the Clarke family has the chance to enter a Classic as both owner and breeder with Gosger.
"It's absolutely a testament to everything that Harvey did," Clarke said. "He laid the groundwork and set a really strong foundation where we have this family of mares that can go to nice stallions and we know we're going to be able to get the two-turn distance and nice-moving horses."
In an interesting twist, the Clarke family is again linked to Reddam Racing and trainer Doug O'Neill through Gosger's sire Nyquist, who gave the owner-trainer duo their second Kentucky Derby winner.
"I saw Nyquist at the 2YO sale and I thought he was the best 2YO I'd ever seen," Shahinian said. "The mating with Gloria S was a MOTO play, master of the obvious."
"He's got a beautiful pedigree," Walsh said. "It's a tribute to Clarke. Long may it last. Hopefully we can get a Preakness winner for them."
Shahinian believes stamina will be crucial for Gosger at Pimlico. Despite being a 20-1 outsider on the morning line, he is one of only three graded stakes winners in the nine-runner field, with the Lexington marking just his third career start.
"We feel good, he's improving," Scott Clarke said. "Brendan Walsh has been very high on him. He's very honest, so I take what he says very seriously. In the Lexington he showed that he's maybe something special."
Should Gosger enter the stretch with a winning chance, thoughts will inevitably turn to Harvey Clarke. Walsh, who began training for the family near the end of Clarke's life, remembers him fondly.
"There's not too many people like Clarke around anymore and they're great people for the game," Walsh said. "We're going to miss people like that as we move along."
"It was being around the horses, being at the track," Scott Clarke reflected on his father's passion. "The excitement of it was fun to him. Taking some win pictures was an added bonus. He was the humblest guy, he wouldn't take any credit for anything. He caught the bug back in the '70s. It was a fun, unique thing my family has been able to enjoy."