Good Cheer

Good Cheer enjoyed a perfect 4-for-4 season as a 2-year-old filly in 2024 including three wins at Churchill Downs after winning her maiden race at first asking in a one-mile race at Horseshoe Indianapolis on Aug. 5. She beat allowance horses by 17 lengths in the slop at Churchill on Sept. 28 and then added a stakes win by 4 ¾ lengths in the $200,000 Rags to Riches Stakes going 1 1/16 miles at Churchill on Oct. 27. 

The Godolphin homebred Medaglia d’Oro filly became a graded stakes winner for the first time with her win in the Grade 2 $400,000 Golden Rod Stakes going 1 1/6 miles at Churchill Downs on Nov. 30. Sent off as the 3-5 favorite on the tote board in a field of seven fillies in the Golden Rod, Good Cheer stalked the pace in the back half of the field and then effortlessly took control of the race into the stretch and drew off to a 2 ½-length victory.

Good Cheer made her 3-year-old seasonal debut for trainer Brad Cox on Feb. 15, 2025, in the Grade 2 $300,000 Fasig-Tipton Rachel Alexandra Stakes going 1 1/16 miles at Fair Grounds and earned her fifth straight lengthy victory to remain unbeaten in five lifetime outings to date. Sent off as the prohibitive favorite in a field that scratched down to four horses, Good Cheer stalked the pace, raced in traffic at the top of the stretch, got through between horses, and powered away from the others in the stretch for a 6 ¼--length win.

Good Cheer maintained her perfect unblemished career record back at the Fair Grounds again in the Grade 2 $400,000 Fasig-Tipton Fair Grounds Oaks going 1 1/16 miles atop a field of eight 3-year-old fillies on March 22. Good Cheer stalked the pace, made a move to the lead in the stretch and extended her winning margin to 3 ½ lengths under the wire.

Based on her perfect 6-for-6 record, Good Cheer was sent off as the post-time favorite in the May 2 Longines Kentucky Oaks. The bay filly settled in a stalking position through the backstretch three or four wide and swept into contention in the far turn. Racing on a wet track at Churchill for the second time in her career, she relished the conditions once again, rolling to a convincing 2 ¼-length victory, Brad Cox’s third in the Oaks and jockey Luis Saez’s second.

Good Cheer's 3-year-old season momentum hit a mid-year snag when she suffered the first losses of her career. She finished fifth as the 0.30-1 favorite in the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes going 1 1/8 miles on a sloppy track at Saratoga on June 6. She then settled for second when beaten 1 1/2 lengths by Nitrogen back at Saratoga in the 1 1/4-mile Grade 1 Alabama Stakes on a fast track on Aug. 16.

Good Cheer was bred in Kentucky by the sire Medaglia d'Oro out of the Street Sense mare Wedding Toast, a two-time Grade 1 winner on the track.