Godolphin’s homebred Highland Falls took it to odds-on favorite Arthur’s Ride early in Sunday’s $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) and powered away down the Saratoga stretch, stamping his ticket to the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1).
Trainer Brad Cox believed that more aggressive tactics were needed to bring out the best in the stamina-laden colt, and new rider Flavien Prat executed the idea to perfection. In the process, Prat extended his all-time record of stakes wins during the Saratoga meet to 17. According to NYRA, 13 were graded stakes — another single-season record at the Spa.
Highland Falls will get the opportunity to add to Breeders’ Cup history as the son of past champions Curlin and Round Pound. Hall of Famer Curlin, himself a two-time winner of the Jockey Club Gold Cup, captured the 2007 Classic. Round Pond, heroine of the 2006 Distaff (G1), is in turn by Awesome Again, who won the fantastically deep 1998 edition of the Classic.
Arthur’s Ride was heavily favored to follow up on a pair of devastating wire-to-wire wins at the Spa, a June 7 allowance romp at this 1 1/4-mile trip and the Aug. 3 Whitney (G1). The 0.85-1 choice could well have been the controlling speed again here, but the change of tactics for Highland Falls created an entirely different dynamic.
Drawn just to the inside of Arthur’s Ride in post 6, Highland Falls showed good early speed to force the favorite to go faster to clear him entering the clubhouse turn. Arthur’s Ride did so through an opening quarter in :23.25.
Prat then angled Highland Falls outside to reengage, and the 7-1 chance kept applying pressure down the backstretch. Arthur’s Ride was a half-length up at the half in :47.67, but his margin was only a head when the pace lifted through six furlongs in 1:11.31.
Highland Falls was traveling the better of the two rounding the far turn. Once he put his head in front, passing the mile in 1:36.19, it was clear that Arthur’s Ride was beginning to tire. The favorite gamely battled to the eighth pole before shortening stride and dropping out of contention.
Meanwhile, Highland Falls widened his advantage inside the final furlong. The rest of the field was mostly strung out behind him, despite his slowing through a final quarter in :27.06. They were simply unable to go his pace as he finished in 2:03.25.
Pyrenees, his nearest pursuer, checked in four lengths adrift. There was a further gap of 2 3/4 lengths to Disarm, who grabbed third by a nose from Tapit Trice. Arthur’s Ride was another 2 3/4 lengths back in fifth. Defending champion Bright Future was a tailed-off sixth, and Kuchar was eased home before walking off.
Highland Falls just became a millionaire with earnings of $1,192,060 from his 9-5-2-1 record. An inexperienced fourth in the March 3 Santa Anita H. (G1) in his stakes debut, the four-year-old placed second in the Oaklawn H. (G2) and broke through in the Blame (G3) at Churchill Downs. Highland Falls accordingly went off as the 7-10 favorite in the Monmouth Cup (G3) on Haskell Day, but a passive trip off a tepid pace resulted in a nonthreatening second to Tapit Trice.
Hence his connections opted to make the change to Prat, and Highland Falls responded with a career-best effort.
“I thought Flavien did a great job of getting him out,” Cox said. “That was the plan, to not let the other colt (Arthur’s Ride) get away, and he didn’t. He broke running and made Junior (Alvarado) use his horse (Arthur’s Ride) a little bit going into the first turn. We were able to hook onto him, and he stayed on going the mile and a quarter. We always thought he was a mile-and-a-quarter horse, and he proved it today.
“I was hopeful,” Cox said of Highland Falls’ ability to serve it up to Arthur’s Ride early. “I don’t know if I would use the word ‘confident.’ This horse (Arthur’s Ride) has been awful impressive up here in his last two races. If you don’t get any pressure and you’re on a loose lead — he’s obviously proved he’s a Grade 1 horse. We weren’t going to let him just walk the dog. We wanted to be aggressive, and it paid off for us.”
Prat had confidence that Highland Falls’ stamina would come into play.
“I thought if one horse could handle the distance, it was him,” the winning rider said. “We wanted to break running and then try to make a good pace. That was the case, and we got past the wire for the first time, it felt like Arthur’s Ride was going a bit quicker easier than me, so I don’t need to go on, but I was able to get him outside after that and give him another push. He was just a well of stamina.
“I wanted to get him into a good rhythm and get him running going into the first turn, and I didn’t want to let Arthur’s Ride get an easy lead. And then, that was it.”
The Arthur’s Ride camp will regroup for the Classic at Del Mar.
“The horse ran hard last time,” trainer Bill Mott said of his victory in the “Win and You’re In” Whitney. “Now we have 60 days back to the Breeders’ Cup. We’ll have time to regroup. Hopefully, he comes back good, and we can move forward and try to train for that.
“I knew they would try to keep him (Highland Falls) up in the race,” Mott added. “I don’t think it was any secret. Frankly, I was a little surprised they were able to keep him there that close. He took it to us. I don’t have any big excuse.”
Alvarado likewise anticipated early company but hoped that Arthur’s Ride would have too much speed for them.
“Zero excuse. I did what I wanted to do, and the horse that beat me and won the race was right there next to me the whole time — horse to horse. We got outrun today, simple,” Alvarado said.
“I figured it would either be him (Prat) or Luis Saez (on Kuchar), but I figured he (Prat) had a better horse and would try to push like that. If I had sat right off, I would never catch him. I had to go with my plan and hope he couldn’t deal with chasing the pace.”
Bernard Baruch S.
One race earlier in the $150,000 Bernard Baruch S., Calumet Farm’s Running Bee rolled past Taking Candy to give Irad Ortiz Jr. his fifth win on the card. The 1.90-1 favorite was rebounding from a sixth in the 1 3/8-mile United Nations (G2) at Monmouth Park, and the cutback to 1 1/16 grassy miles suited him.
Running Bee, the 124-pound co-highweight, was giving six pounds to runner-up Taking Candy. But the concession made no difference as the Chad Brown trainee burst 1 1/2 lengths clear in 1:41.86 on the firm inner course. Fort Washington, the other co-highweight, closed from last for third.
“Irad all meet, but particularly today, is just razor-sharp,” Brown said of his textbook ride, where Ortiz saved ground in a stalking spot before angling out in the stretch.
With this second stakes score, Running Bee sports a mark of 13-6-3-1, $525,568. The bay shared a dead-heat win with Fort Washington in the Monmouth (G3) two back. He previously placed in the Feb. 3 Tampa Bay (G3) and the Dinner Party (G3) on Preakness Day.
The son of English Channel has plenty of upside as a still relatively unexposed five-year-old.
“I’m very appreciative of Calumet Farm — Mr. Brad Kelley and his team — for letting me run here,” Brown said of his placement in the Bernard Baruch.
“He was also nominated for a very lucrative race at Kentucky Downs next week, but it’s only a mile, and I just felt like this horse really has a future. I didn’t want to put him in an unknown situation in a big, messy field, even if it was for a lot of money.
“I felt this horse could put it together today and really move forward. Polish this race off well was my hope and really move forward.
“These English Channel horses certainly get better as they get older. We’ve seen that over and over. I really have high hopes for this horse.”
Bred by English Channel Co-Owners and Gordon Gilliam in Kentucky, Running Bee is out of the stakes-placed El Prado mare Our Joy.
