Chunk of Gold entered the gate for the Aug. 3 West Virginia Derby (G3) with a record of one win in six starts but left with a chunk of change after charging home 4 1/4 lengths clear to take the winner's share of the $400,000 purse.
The Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort event is one of those lucrative prizes that offer an opportunity for 3-year-old colts who have been among the supporting cast in the major spring and early summer stakes to step into the limelight, and Chunk of Gold is a horse who very much fits that description.
Purchased for just $2,500 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale, he more than repaid that modest outlay at first time of asking, taking a maiden special weight (limited to horses that sold or were an RNA for $50,000 or less in their most recent auction) over six furlongs at Turfway Park last December.
Since then, it's been nothing but stakes competition for the bargain buy. Following his debut victory, he performed with commendable consistency in a trio of Kentucky Derby (G1) preps, taking second in the Leonatus Stakes, again at Turfway; second to a rampant Magnitude in the Risen Star Stakes (G2); and second to Tiztastic, beaten 2 1/4 lengths, in the Louisiana Derby (G2). Taking his chance in the Kentucky Derby (G1), Chunk of Gold was clipped from behind at the start but recovered to race near the head of the midpack, turning for home in sixth, just six lengths off the lead before fading to an eventual ninth. On his only other start prior to the weekend, the gray and/or roan returned to the fray for the Ohio Derby (G3) and stayed on well to record his fourth runner-up in spot in his last five outings.
In the West Virginia Derby, Chunk of Gold sported blinkers for the first time and for the first time, adopted front-running tactics. After setting a measured pace, he was already three lengths clear at the head of the stretch, a margin he continued to extend to the wire. For his West Virginia Derby performance, Chunk of Gold received a new top Equibase Speed Figure of 100, and if the career of his sire, Preservationist, is any indication he may well continue to progress.
A son of Arch, Preservationist was unraced as a juvenile, was second in his only start at age 3, and third in his sole outing at age 4. He finally broke through as a newly minted 5-year-old, taking a six-furlong maiden special at Aqueduct Racetrack in January 2018. The following month, he added a one-mile allowance event, scoring by four lengths over subsequent millionaire and multiple stakes winner Mr. Buff. Preservationist then went to the sidelines for the rest of the year. Returning at age 6, Preservationist went on to capture two more allowance events, before making a belated black-type debut in the 2019 Suburban Stakes (G2). There, he demonstrated why his connections had continued to persevere, with a dramatic 4 1/2-length triumph over grade 1 winners Catholic Boy and Pavel . Fourth to McKinzie , Yoshida, and Vino Rosso in the Whitney Stakes (G1), Preservationist rebounded to gain grade 1 honors in the Woodward Stakes (G1), before ending his career with a fourth in the Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1).
Retired to stand at Airdrie Stud in Central Kentucky for the 2020 breeding season, Preservationist was dispatched to South Korea for the 2025 breeding season but died of colic there this July. He sired three stakes winners in his first crop, headed by 2024 Peter Pan Stakes (G2) captor, Antiquarian, and from his second crop came Chunk of Gold and Diakonissa, twice a stakes winner at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races at 2 in 2024. As a son of Arch, his export marked another blow to the increasingly slim chances of the Roberto branch of Hail to Reason continuing in North America (although it does continue to flourish in both Japan and South Africa.)
Chunk of Gold's dam, Play for Gold, is also dam of Band of Gold, a full sister to Chunk of Gold, who made winning debut at Churchill Downs the month after Chunk of Gold passed through the sales ring, and subsequently added the 2024 Martha Washington Stakes.
The mating that resulted in Band of Gold and Chunk of Gold is an in-house Airdrie Stud one, as Play for Gold is by Airdrie resident Cairo Prince , and she is a half sister to another Airdrie product in the Creative Cause gelding My Boy Jack, whose successes include the 2018 Lexington Stakes (G3) and Southwest Stakes (G3).
Play for Gold is out of Gold N Shaft, an unraced daughter of 2003 Horse of the Year Mineshaft . She is out of the talented runner, Gold n Delicious, winner of the 1997 Fleur de Lis Handicap (G3), and placed in six other graded stakes, including when runner-up in the 1996 Coaching Club American Oaks (G1). She was half sister to Beth's Melody, dam of two stakes winners, including Beauty Melody, successful in the 2001 Gran Premio Ciudad de Buenos Aires Internacional (G1), and third dam of Olimpico, winner in Brazil of the 2018 Grande Premio Juliano Martins (G1) and to Argentine graded stakes winner and grade 1 performer Beauty Sea.
Chunk of Gold is bred on the cross of Arch and sons over mares by Empire Maker and sons and grandsons, which has produced five stakes winners from 28 starters (18%), including grade 1 winner Arklow, and other graded winner Maraud.
We can also note that the granddam of Preservationist, Flying Passage, is by A.P. Indy out of a Mr. Prospector mare, and the granddam of Chunk of Gold is by Mineshaft, also by A.P. Indy out of a Mr. Prospector mare, and is herself an A.P. Indy/Mr. Prospector cross.
