Mother Goose Stakes : Goodbye Halo Scores Easy Win

It won’t happen soon, but a rematch between Winning Colors and Goodbye Halo would be a stirring horse race.

With Winning Colors leaving the 3-year-old filly division to run in the Santa Anita Derby and the Triple Crown, Goodbye Halo has continued to run against females, improving with every race. Friday, Goodbye Halo lurked off the early pace in the $237,200 Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park, then coasted to a 1-length win over eight rivals for her seventh victory in nine starts.

Winning Colors split two decisions with Goodbye Halo at Santa Anita, losing by a neck in the 1-mile Las Virgenes and winning the 1 1/16-mile Santa Anita Oaks as the daughter of Halo finished a distant third.

But Friday’s win indicated that Goodbye Halo would be ready to challenge Winning Colors again.

“If she’s on top of her game, it would take a hell of a filly to beat her,” said Charlie Whittingham, who trains Goodbye Halo.

The Mother Goose was Whittingham’s first major victory in New York since Exceller won the Jockey Club Gold Cup in 1978.

Jorge Velasquez rode Goodbye Halo Friday as she ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:49 4/5. The winner paid $4.40 as the slight favorite, over the entry of Aptostar and Topicount, and earned $142,320, increasing her total to $875,770.

Make Change, a 36-1 shot making her first stakes start, finished second, a half-length ahead of Aptostar, and it was another 2 lengths back to Topicount in fourth place.

The Mother Goose was Goodbye Halo’s fourth major win, coming on the heels of her victory in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs last month. Whittingham said Goodbye Halo would probably go back to California, then return to Belmont Park for the 1 1/2-mile Coaching Club American Oaks July 3.