Goldencents’ Phantom Currency goes gate to wire in Mac Diarmida S. (G2)

Phantom Currency hustled out of the gate and was never headed in his three-quarter length win in Saturday’s $200,000 Mac Diarmida S. (G2) to give the 5-year-old son of Goldencents his first stakes win in the 1 3/8-mile turf marathon.

With Paco Lopez in the irons, Phantom Currency shot to the front to post a very lively first quarter-mile in :23.60 and a three-length lead. Lopez slowed the pace down from there, eventually getting a mile in 1:38.40. Tide of the Sea, who chased in second the entire trip, came on nearly even terms at the top of the homestretch, but Phantom Currency edged clear to repel his foe all the way to the wire.

“I was surprised thy left him alone like they did, and I was very happy to see him make the lead like they did and then slow it down the second quarter,” said trainer Brian Lynch. “He’s a horse that gets very, very game when he’s left alone. Paco said he gave him a little breather around the three-eighths pole and he still felt like he had a lot of horse. He let them come to him and then he crept away. I’m very proud of him.”

Phantom Currency is owned by Jim and Susan Hill, who purchased him for $260,000 at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling sale. With Saturday’s win, Phantom Currency is 5-1-0 in 14 starts and has earned $314,355.

The winner was bred in Kentucky by Sally Thomas and New Dawn Stable LLC.

Last year’s leading Third-Crop sire in the Northern Hemisphere, Goldencents has got off to a terrific start in 2021 and currently sits atop the Fourth-Crop Sire list. He stands at Spendthrift Farm for $15,000 S&N.