LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Golden Pal got the 2020 Breeders' Cup at Keeneland off to a flying start. With his speed metered out by Irad Ortiz Jr., the favored colt broke running to take command of the race, spurted clear to break it open in upper stretch, and held sway in the final stages for a three-quarter-length victory in the Grade 2, $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, the first of the 14 races at the event. This was the third running of the Juvenile Turf Sprint, and Wesley Ward, known for his prowess with juveniles, has now trained the past two winners of the race. He and Ortiz teamed up to win last year's edition at Santa Anita; Ward has now won four Breeders' Cup races overall, and Ortiz -- who jubilantly leapt into the air off his mount in the winner's circle -- has won 10. “He’s a really nice horse,” Ortiz said. “He did the hard job. I just sat on him waiting for the time to go.” Ward, meanwhile, notched another accolade for his training career, bringing Golden Pal up to the race off an 11-week layoff by design. "He's just amazing," Ward, who saddled four horses in the race, said, adding, "He's a champion colt." :: BREEDERS’ CUP 2020: See DRF’s special section with top contenders, odds, comments, news, and more for each division Golden Pal, a Florida-bred Uncle Mo colt who races as a homebred for Randall Lowe's Ranlo Investments, is the first foal out of Lady Shipman, an 11-time stakes winner. That mare also raced as a homebred for Lowe. “He’s pure speed,” Ward said. “He takes after the mare in that regard.” Golden Pal has now won two of four career starts in his nascent career. With Keeneland’s spring meet canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, Golden Pal made his debut on the Gulfstream Park dirt, finishing second. He was then part of Ward’s contingent at the renowned Royal Ascot meeting in England, finishing second to The Lir Jet by a neck on testing ground. Off that effort, Golden Pal was sent away favored, despite still being a maiden, in the Skidmore Stakes on Aug. 21 at Saratoga. He led throughout and widened in the lane to win by 3 1/2 lengths, finishing the 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:00.88, just off the course record of 1:00.21, and earning an impressive 92 Beyer Speed Figure. Golden Pal and Ortiz loaded into post 13 in the 14-horse field for the Juvenile Turf Sprint -- the duo originally drew the extreme outside post, but moved inward one spot with the scratch of Ward-trained stablemate Amanzi Yimpilo, which allowed yet another Ward trainee, Blame the Booze, into the lineup. From that outside gate, Golden Pal broke like a shot and cleared the field by several lengths in the opening strides to get over and save some ground. He lacked company in the opening yards, as second choice Bodenheimer, a front-running winner of the local prep, the Indian Summer on Oct. 4 at Keeneland, bobbled at the start and was fourth after a quarter. "He threw his head up and had a trip that wasn't perfect, and today is the day you have to have the perfect trip to get there," trainer Valorie Lund said. Even without that expected pressure, Golden Pal tripped the timer in a wickedly fast 21.62 seconds for the first quarter on a turf course officially rated good after taking a large amount of rain last week, but none during the week. The colt was leading by a half-length at that point, as Ortiz had firmly wrangled him back to rate in the middle stages. Indeed, he slowed to get the half in 44.63 seconds. "I got a little worried on the backside," Ward said. "Irad kind of lost a little momentum there and took a pretty good hold of him, but then he just accelerated down the lane." Coming to the head of the lane, Ortiz let Golden Pal out a notch, and the colt was all too happy to flaunt his speed, spurting clear to a four-length lead that essentially broke the race open. Emerging from the pack seven wide into the lane to give chase was Cowan, who had been a rallying second to Bodenheimer in the Indian Summer. As Cowan, who had been eighth in the early stages, closed, for Lowe, it was a role reversal of the 2015 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint in the event's first go-round at Keeneland, when Lady Shipman cut into Mongolian Saturday's lead in the stretch but came up a neck short at the wire. "I was a little nervous," he said of the stretch drive, "but I saw the wire coming." Golden Pal ultimately held sway by three-quarters, finishing the 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:02.82, good for a 90 Beyer Speed Figure. For Cowan, it was his third consecutive stakes placing since trainer Steve Asmussen moved him from the dirt to the turf. "That looked like a replay of his last," Asmussen said. "He comes running and was second. Hopefully, one of these days it will be his turn. But he’s obviously a very quality horse. I thought he’d win every day since the Indian Summer, and I’m disappointed he was second.”  After the top two, it was another length back to the European shipper Ubettabelieveit, who finished a clear third by 1 3/4 lengths over fellow traveler Lipizzaner. They were followed, in order, by After Five, County Final, Momos, Bodenheimer, Dirty Dangle, Windy City Red, Mighty Gurkha, Second of July, Into the Sunrise, and Blame the Booze. Along with Amanzi Yimpilo, the also-eligibles Gypsy King and Trade Deal were scratched. For Lowe, who rode the highs and lows with his beloved Lady Shipman, the victory with his homebred was especially sweet. "He came up to me and put his chin in the palm of my hand," Lowe recalled. "From that point on, I knew he was gonna be something." Now that Golden Pal has delivered on that promise and avenged his dam's defeat at the Breeders' Cup, a return journey to Europe to avenge his own defeat at Royal Ascot is likely to be on his agenda for the first half of 2021. "[The 2021 Breeders' Cup] is where we’re heading, but first we’re going to Royal Ascot," Ward said. "Here we come. He’s going to get them this year!”