FRANKLIN, Ky. - As of Aug. 31, the 7-year-old gelding Goliad had made 18 starts in a career interrupted one time after another by niggling injuries. On Saturday, Goliad made his second start in six days and, after capturing the $500,000 Tight Spot Handicap here at Kentucky Downs on  Sunday, he wired the field Saturday in the Grade 3, $1.8 million Mint Millions. Goliad’s performance was gallant, Flavien Prat rode a masterful race on the lead, waiting until the furlong pole to truly ask his mount, and legendary California trainer Dick Mandella showed why he’s in the Hall of Fame. Goliad, a homebred who campaigns for Perry and Ramona Bass, shipped here from Del Mar late last month with a plan: Run in the Tight Spot, then run back in the Mint Millions if Goliad handled this tricky course and if he had come out of the first race in good order. He did, and he had, and Goliad in a week earned just less than $1.5 million after arriving in Kentucky with a bankroll of less than $300,000. “I just try to learn something from him every day,” Mandella assistant Taylor Cambra said of his boss, for whom he’s worked six years. Cambra came here with Goliad and saddled him Sunday and Saturday. Goliad went to the front and won the Tight Spot by three quarters of a length. He ran better Saturday. “The last race was like a breeze to him. He never left the bridle.” :: Subscribe to the DRF Post Time Email Newsletter: Get the news you need to play today's races!  Goliad did benefit from the scratch of Strong Quality, his main pace rival, and after breaking from post 9, Prat angled his mount down toward the rail and established an early lead. They were not going slow. The first quarter of this one-mile contest went in 23.14, the half in a demanding 44.92. The other horses near the lead would finish at the back. Prat had not ridden Golaid since June 2021, in a six-furlong turf sprint. “It always feels like you’re going easy, and he’s a tricky horse to ride but what a great job by Mr. Mandella,” Prat said. “The first part, he’s kind of nice and relaxed, and then you do about a furlong, and he gets on the bridle and gets his momentum going, and if you fight him, he’ll just fight back. Just try to keep him happy.” As pacechasers Tut’s Revenge and Funtastic Again began fading into the homestretch, Prat snugged his mount right along the fence, waiting as long as he could. With an eighth of a mile left and the closers revving up behind him, Prat got to work on Goliad, and while it took him nearly 13 seconds to complete that final furlong, it was fast enough. Goliad won by one length, clocking 1:33.38 for the mile on firm turf. “To be honest, at the eighth pole I was pretty worried because I knew they were coming, but he was just brave enough to stay on,” Prat said. Goliad wasn’t the only horse running back six days after the Tight Spot: Cash Equity, third last Sunday, rallied from the back of the Mint Millions field for second, three quarters of a length ahead of Talk of the Nation. “Everything went to plan. I had a good trip. Just second best,” jockey Julien Leparoux said. Reckoning Force, a 42-1 shot, closed late for fourth and was followed home by Emmanuel, who came up the rail with force at the quarter pole but flattened out. Behind him was Irish Aces in fifth, and Ancient Rome, who won this race in 2023 and was favored at 5-2, checking in sixth. Ancient Rome appeared to have run coming into the stretch but came extremely wide before fizzling. Tut’s Revenge and Funtastic Again brought up the rear. Goliad, by War Front out of Choreograph out of Dynaformer, paid $21.14 as the sixth choice, bringing life to the old adage, ‘run them when they’re good.’ He came, he won, and he won again. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.