The Good Life
Life was great for CHC, WinStar and First Go Racing Sunday at Saratoga when The Good Life posted an impressive victory in the stallion-making GI Hopeful S. The win marked a double victory for the partnership as it was also the first Grade I victory for their sensational young stallion Life is Good.
Sent off from the one-hole as the favorite, The Good Life broke sharply under Saratoga’s leading rider Manny Franco and went straight to the front. It was all over from there as he coasted through sharp early splits and bounded clear to register a four-length victory.
He will make his next start in either Belmont’s GI Champagne S. or Keeneland’s GI Breeders’ Futurity. Both of which are Oct. 3.
“I didn’t expect to be on the lead to be honest, but the way he breaks, I got the one-hole, so I’ve got to go with the flow,” said Franco. “I outbroke the other horses, so I went on with him. I was comfortable and happy with the way he was doing it.”
He continued, “We knew this horse is a good horse, a nice horse. He just needed to run this kind of race to prove it. We were high on him and he proved it.”
The Good Life was named a ‘TDN Rising Star’ after running his competition off their feet in his debut win at Saratoga July 18. One of 11 winners for his multiple Grade I-stakes winning sire Life is Good, The Good Life is his second stakes winner and first at the highest level.
“The Good Life’s win Sunday was just sensational,” said CHC’s Christie DeBernardis. “It is very meaningful to our operation as it makes The Good Life a future stallion and takes his phenomenal young sire Life Is Good, who we’ve always been very high on, to the next level as a Grade I-winning sire. The Hopeful is a very prestigious race and we hope it is the stepping stone to even bigger things for both this colt and his sire.”
CHC’s 2-year-olds have been on fire this summer. In addition to The Good Life, American History became a ‘TDN Rising Star’ at Saratoga when he powered clear to an eye-catching debut win Aug. 22. Owned in partnership with WinStar and First Go, he is also under consideration for both the Champagne and Breeders’ Futurity.
On the same day as The Good Life’s top-level success, the partnership’s Hemingway romped in his first try on grass at Kentucky Downs. Additionally, CHC will be represented by a homebred son of Life is Good, Caribbean Life, in Saturday’s GIII Iroquois S. at Churchill Downs, the first race of the season offering points for the Kentucky Derby.