Harvey’s Lil Goil provides American Pharoah with first Grade 1 success

Harvey’s Lil Goil provided US Triple Crown hero American Pharoah with his first Grade 1 winner when toughing out victory in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes at Keeneland on Saturday.

Bred by the late Harvey A. Clarke, Harvey’s Lil Goil is from the first crop of Coolmore's prize stallion and out of the unraced Tapit mare Gloria S, a half-sister to Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another plus Golden Award, a two-time Grade 3 scorer. She is one of ten black type winners for the sire.

Kenny McCarthy, assistant trainer to Bill Mott, told Bloodhorse: "She pretty much goes on any surface for us. At least in my mind, I think the turf probably is a little bit easier for her to handle."

American Pharoah, a son of the late Pioneerof The Nile, raced on the dirt but his progeny have revelled on the turf so far, with the likes of Pista, Ocean Atlantique and Maven striking in stakes company in Europe.

The winner of two Grade 1s as a juvenile when landing the Del Mar Futurity and FrontRunner Stakes, American Pharoah was peerless at three with wins in the three Triple Crown races before ending his career with a dominant display in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland in 2015.

Standing at Ashford Stud in Kentucky, the eight-year-old stands for a private fee and among his leading progeny include the aforementioned Pista, winner of the Park Hill Stakes and second in the Prix de Royallieu for Joseph O'Brien, plus Four Wheel Drive, who struck in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint last November.

Harvey's Lil Goil was notching up her second stakes success, having landed the Regret Stakes at Churchill Downs in June. She was also third behind the subsequent Preakness heroine Swiss Skydiver in the Grade 1 Alabama Stakes.

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