Bernie Dalton pointed to Jack Fisher.
“Thanks Jack, he makes an old man like me look good.”
Old men doing young things.
Riverdee’s Cool Jet, a 9-year-old, and Bernie Dalton, a “young” 56-year-old teamed up for the first time in the Grade 1 Commonwealth Cup at Virginia Gold Cup May 3. Cool Jet broke sharply, established a controlling position in the 2 1/8-mile stakes, jumped definitively and never looked back. The Irish-bred secured his first Grade 1 stakes win by 7 ¼ lengths over Noble Anthem and Too Friendly. Owned by Riverdee Stable, Cool Jet increased his spring earnings to $100,500.
In an era when horses aren’t meant to come back on short rest (ahem, Sovereignty), Cool Jet completed 4 ¼ miles in seven days. Second in a handicap at Foxfield a week earlier, Cool Jet wheeled back and never looked back. Given a green light to go if no one else did, Dalton did exactly that.
“Jump off, go forward and if they give you a soft lead, take it,” Dalton said of his instructions. “Down at the start, it was like, ‘Anybody going lads? They’re all like, ‘I want to be handy. I want to be handy.’ I said, ‘I’m going.’ After I jumped the second, everybody let me have the lead and I basically walked the dog from there. I let the horse dictate. He jumped from fence to fence.”
On a day when several horses slipped and fell on the turns, Cool Jet galloped and jumped, a mountain goat on a rock face.
“No anxious moments, it panned out perfect being in front, you were able to pick your own line, that made it so much better for us than everybody else,” Dalton said. “You could give your horse every chance to get a grip, and you’re not worried about the guy behind you coming up in the inside or the guy on your outside holding you in. You were able to pick the line you want, that made a big difference. Once they get into a rhythm, they get so confident in themselves.”
The two-time novice stakes winner won for the fourth time, capitalizing on a busy couple of weeks on the steeplechase circuit. Champion Snap Decision, Temple Gwathmey runner up Abaan, Foxfield winner Foxy Walk and five top-tier Grade 1 horses waited for the Iroquois a week later. Cool Jet and stablemates Welshman and Proven Innocent came back in a week. Grade 1 winner Too Friendly and stakes winner Who’s Counting exited the Gwathmey. Noble Anthem made his stakes debut after winning a handicap at Camden. Grade 1 winner Belfast Banter returned from a nearly two-year layoff.
“Every one is a little different, the one on Saturday was very competitive, it was evenly matched,” Dalton said. “A bunch ran the week before against each other, it was like who took the race better and showed up on the day.”
James O’Sullivan, aboard at Foxfield, stuck with a prior commitment on Belfast Banter and Dalton was a Monday morning call up.
“To get a spare ride, and a good spare ride, in a Grade 1, man, I’m over the moon,” Dalton said. “When you’re a bit older, you appreciate things a lot more.”
Bred in Ireland by Deirdre McGrath, Cool Jet was purchased for €26,000 by Gerry Hogan Bloodstock at Goffs NH December Sale in 2016 and came back to fetch €45,000 from Harold Kirk and Willie Mullins in the Tattersalls Ireland May Store Sale in 2019. The son of Jet Away won a bumper in four tries for Mullins before transferring to Pat Boyle and Brian Ellison in England. After three losses by a combined 118 lengths and without a lot of options, Boyle teamed up with Riverdee Stable and Hall of Famer Jack Fisher in the U.S. in 2022. Cool Jet won three out of his first six starts, including two novice stakes before a fall in the Temple Gwathmey in April 2024. He made just two starts last season. The Commonwealth snapped a four-race losing streak and increased his earnings to $255,234.
At the end of the spring season, the title races were as tight as the Preakness stretch run. Led by Cool Jet’s Grade 1 win, Riverdee Stable led all owners $178,300, just $500 ahead of Bruton Street-US. Riding their one-horse train, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners sat in third. Powerhouses Irv Naylor and Leipers Fork rounded out the top five.
