The four-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival opens Thursday at its temporary home of Saratoga, with the $250,000 Belmont Gold Cup (G2) anchoring a quartet of stakes on the card. The two-mile turf test offers a guaranteed spot in the world’s most famous race held in similar conditions – the Nov. 5 Melbourne Cup (G1) at Flemington.
Belmont Gold Cup (G2) – Race 10 (5:50 p.m. ET)
Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby has once again dispatched Siskany, hero of last year’s Belmont Gold Cup, in hopes that the homebred will adapt to the tighter contours of the Spa’s inner turf. He’s also drawn the far outside post 12 with regular rider William Buick.
Siskany has had a slightly different program this time. In 2023, the Dubawi gelding raced twice during the Dubai Carnival, winning the Nad al Sheba Trophy (G3) and missing by a head in the Dubai Gold Cup (G2) on World Cup night. Upon his return to England, he ran fifth in the Yorkshire Cup (G2) en route to Belmont Park.
But in 2024, all three of Siskany’s races came in Dubai, so he jets in off a freshening. Up in the nick of time in the Jan. 26 Al Khail Trophy before repeating in the Nad al Sheba Trophy, the six-year-old exits a fourth in the Dubai Gold Cup on March 30.
Siskany will renew rivalry with last year’s runner-up, The Grey Wizard, from the Graham Motion barn. Rounding back into form with a third in the May 18 Louisville (G3) at Churchill Downs, the five-year-old could entertain the Melbourne Cup.
“He ran super in this race last year,” Motion told NYRA publicity. “It’s what we thought he always wanted to do, so it wasn’t a big surprise, but it’s always rewarding when they run the way you thought they might. The further the better for him.”
“It’s something I would love to think about,” Motion added regarding a venture for the “race that stops a nation” Down Under. “I thought about it once before with Better Talk Now. I’m all about trying these things and it would be an exciting thing to think about.”
Mike Maker, the last U.S. trainer to win the Belmont Gold Cup courtesy of Da Big Hoss in 2016, has three chances. Mac Diarmida (G2) winner Starting Over is joined by stablemates Really Good and Lucky Curlin. Todd Pletcher won the inaugural running in 2014 with Charming Kitten, and his Six Minus missed by all of a neck in the two-mile H. Allen Jerkens H. at Gulfstream Park over the winter. Cibolian, fifth in last year’s Gold Cup, tries again for Archibald Kingsley.
Limited Liability is intriguing on the stretch-out, considering that the Shug McGaughey veteran has come closest to a graded victory going 1 1/2 miles. Christophe Clement’s well-bred Champagne Juan, a son of Justify and Grade 2 heroine Well Monied, steps up from a Keeneland allowance score. Naipaul Chatterpaul’s speedball So High will ensure a strong pace, placing a premium on stamina, and Sports Editor ships in from the Midatlantic for Ned Allard.
Linda Rice entered Spa aficionado Pioneering Spirit and the main-track-only Costa Terra. The other entered strictly aiming for a transfer to the main track is Bill Mott’s Dai Vernon.
Undercard stakes
The three supporting stakes are all dirt sprints carrying $150,000 purses – the Jersey Girl S. for three-year-old fillies along with the Tremont S. and Astoria S. for juveniles.
Yet the six-furlong Jersey Girl (the fourth race scheduled for 2:28 pm. ET) has something in common with the Gold Cup, in that a top contender was last seen competing in Dubai. Unbeaten UAE Oaks (G3) star Manama Gold makes her stateside debut for Pletcher. Once slated to try the Kentucky Oaks (G1), until a delayed U.S. arrival cost her too much time, she’ll have to channel the sprinting finesse of full sister Ova Charged to deal with her rivals in this spot.
The Brad Cox-trained Almostgone Rocket has dominated both of her starts so far, and Gray Lightning has won her past two at Parx by a margin in excess of 26 lengths combined. Other contenders include Becky’s Joker, cross-entered to Friday’s Acorn (G1); Pletcher’s Keeneland maiden winner Roman Grace, just denied in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance; the speedy Moonlit Lady from the Fausto Gutierrez barn; and Carmelina, who’s gone off form since her runner-up effort in the March 2 Busher S.
The 5 1/2-furlong Tremont, carded as the second race at 1:22 p.m. ET, pits five first-time starters against a trio of debut winners.
Wesley Ward unveils the Nyquist colt Touchy, a half-brother to Ward’s Grade 3-winning juvenile Royal Approval. Nyquist is also the sire of the John Robb-trained Studlydoright, who rolled from well off the pace to win at Laurel. The others with racing experience are Steve Asmussen’s Churchill maiden scorer Three Echoes and Classic of Course, a front-running winner at Gulfstream Park for Patrick Biancone.
Gary Contessa sends out an intriguing type in Dew, a Frosted colt out of a half-sister to Grade 2-winning sprinter Following Sea. Also debuting at the listed stakes level are Shoot the Nickel, a Violence colt representing Gold Square and Chad Summers; Jose Jimenez’s Dominican Thunder, from the first crop of the late champion Improbable; and Brereton’s Baytown, a son of Upstart from the Paul McEntee barn.
In the companion Astoria, which goes off as the ninth race at 5:17 p.m. ET, Ward’s smashing Churchill debut winner Long Neck Paula will command attention. So will Kentucky Juvenile upsetter West Memorial, who likewise starred on the Thurby card. But West Memorial subsequently left original trainer John Hancock and transferred to George Weaver. Since Weaver is provisionally suspended for a metformin positive (that he is contesting), West Memorial will be running in the name of Peter Gulyas.
The Queens M G, not seen since edging West Memorial in their mutual debut at Keeneland, has also moved to a new trainer in Saffie Joseph Jr. French Horn, who won first out for Mark Casse at Woodbine, has pedigree interest as a daughter of Complexity and Grade 1 queen Emma’s Encore. Fellow first-out winners Aoraki (Asmussen), Biscuitwiththeboss (Brittany Russell), and Baytown Butterfly (McEntee) aim to take the next step.
