Moreno, Itsmyluckyday go separate ways on Belmont’s Super
Saturday
Moreno certainly likes
Belmont Park and, according to trainer Eric Guillot, is more than capable at
a mile and a quarter despite not having won at the distance. That combination of
factors might help the four-year-old gelding against a deep field of 11 rivals
Saturday in the Grade 1, $1 million
Jockey Club Gold
Cup.
The historic Gold Cup, which anchors Belmont’s traditional Super Saturday
program of Breeders’ Cup preps, will provide Moreno with an opportunity to
enhance his championship credentials in the older male category. The son of
Ghostzapper has just one win in six starts this year — in the $1.25 million
Whitney at Saratoga on August 2 — but a win Saturday and in the $5 million
Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on November 1 would surely attract support
his way.
After a disappointing first three starts to the year, including a last-place
effort in the Metropolitan Handicap, Moreno has posted two seconds — in the
Suburban Handicap and Woodward — in addition to his wire-to-wire score in the
Whitney. He will break from post 11 on Saturday, the same post he drew in the 1
1/4-mile Suburban in July, and could prove tough to pass if he can shake loose
early from other potential front-runners such as longshot California invader Big
Cazanova and the three-year-old Wicked Strong.
Moreno, who romped in the 2013 Dwyer at “Big Sandy,” has a mixed record over
10 furlongs, but ran two solid races in defeat in both the Suburban, where he
set a fast pace, and in last year’s Travers when second by a nose to the
recently-retired champion Will Take Charge.
Also hoping to keep some hope alive for a year-end championship are the
three-year-old colts Wicked Strong, Tonalist, and V. E. Day. Currently longshots
in a race where Shared Belief and California Chrome are favored, any one of the
trio could make a late grab at that prize with a victory in the Gold Cup and
Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Wicked Strong, hero of the Wood Memorial and Jim Dandy, was run down late by
stablemate V. E. Day in the Travers last time. The photo-finish loss was the
first for the Hard Spun colt since adding blinkers in the Jim Dandy.
V. E. Day, also from the Jimmy Jerkens barn, enters the Gold Cup on a
four-race win streak. The Travers was the colt’s graded stakes debut, and came
one month after his initial stakes score in the restricted $100,000 Curlin, also
at Saratoga.
Tonalist, who stopped California Chrome’s Triple Crown bid with a head score
in the Belmont Stakes, is perfect in two starts over the Belmont main track,
having also captured the Peter Pan earlier this year. However, the Christophe
Clement charge disappointed upstate over the summer, finishing second at odds-on
in the Jim Dandy and third in the Travers. He will race without blinkers for the
first time this year in the Gold Cup.
Zivo, who possesses a solid 6-4-0-2 mark at Belmont, is the dark horse of
this year’s Gold Cup. Impressive when beating Moreno by three lengths in the
Suburban, the New York-bred five-year-old saw a six-race losing streak snapped
in the August 30 when he was a rallying fourth in the Woodward over 1 1/8 miles.
Among those who look a cut below the top contenders are the older horses
Prayer for Relief, Last Gunfighter, and Micromanage. A multiple Grade 2 winner
in years past, Prayer for Relief has earned minor awards this season in the
Pimlico Special, Suburban, and Woodward. Last Gunfighter, a multiple graded
stakes winner last year, showed lesser form throughout the summer, while
Micromanage has been competing primarily in marathons, with varying success,
this term.
Completing the field are outsiders Long River, Stephanoatsee, and Speak
Logistics.
Itsmyluckyday, who wore down Moreno to win the Woodward by a half-length,
cuts back to a mile Saturday for the Grade 2, $400,000
Kelso Handicap.
Ostensibly a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, Itsmyluckyday would have
more than just that option with a victory in the Kelso. Trainer Eddie Plesa Jr.
has reported that the Lawyer Ron colt might be considered for the Dirt Mile or
Classic, for which he would have to be supplemented, or might wait for the Cigar
Mile Handicap at Aqueduct on Thanksgiving weekend.
Fourth to Palace Malice in the Gulfstream Park Handicap to kick off the year,
Itsmyluckyday next reeled off three straight wins at Monmouth Park, including
the Salvator Mile, before finishing second to Moreno in the Whitney. He got his
revenge in the Woodward while wearing blinkers for the first time.
Golden Ticket, best known for dead-heating with Alpha for the win in the 2012
Travers, has run his best races this year around one turn. Second by a head in
the Gulfstream Park Handicap, the Kenny McPeek trainee looked sharper than he
had in some time with a last-to-first rally in the $98,000 Left Bank over a mile
on opening day of Belmont’s fall meet.
Other leading contenders in the seven-horse Kelso are Bradester, second to
Itsmyluckyday in the Salvator Mile and recently the winner of the Ack Ack
Handicap at Churchill Downs, and River Rocks, who makes a return to stakes
company after ripping through his second- and third-level allowance conditions
at Saratoga in fine style.
Graded stakes veterans Capo Bastone and Vyjack, and the allowance-class
Scarly Charly, complete the field.
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