Alpha could be headed to Jockey Club Gold Cup off Woodward win

Alpha could be headed to Jockey Club Gold Cup off Woodward
win

Alpha (rail) refused to let Flat Out get the best of him in the Woodward (Bud Morton/EquiSport Photos) Sitting in the Greentree office beneath a giant photo of Bernardini’s victory in the 2006 Travers, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin pulled out his smart phone and showed around a photo of himself posing with a white-bearded gentleman that was taken a few moments before Alpha upset Saturday’s Grade 1 Woodward. The Twitter caption for the photo appropriately read: “Christmas in August at Saratoga.” “It was fun,” McLaughlin said of Alpha’s victory, which marked the first in a graded stakes for the trainer this year. “Everything went right for us. It was a big win for the horse, and a big win for everybody. It’s been a long time between Grade 1s; it just shows you how hard they are, how hard any graded stakes are, to win.” Alpha, who was one of four Grade 1 winners last year at Saratoga for McLaughlin, had not won since dead-heating with Golden Ticket in the 2012 Travers. The Bernardini colt closed out his three-year-old campaign finishing sixth in the Pennsylvania Derby and 12th in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

He finished off the board in two starts during the winter
in Dubai and came off a four-month layoff to run fourth in the Suburban Handicap
in July at Belmont Park. Immediately prior to the Woodward, he was sixth in the
Whitney Invitational Handicap.

“It was a great win for him because he kind of went off the
track a little bit going to Parx and Santa Anita and then Dubai,” McLaughlin
explained. “But, I blame myself a little for taking the blinkers off, and maybe
he wasn’t quite as fit as I thought he was in his last two races. But, he loves
it here. The wet track is obviously a plus, and Johnny (Velazquez) did a great
job.

“The gate crew did a great job with him, too,” McLaughlin
added. “Alpha has always had his issues at the gate. We’ve schooled him and
worked with him, and the gate crew knows him and they’ve learned him. Hats off
to the gate crew.”

McLaughlin said Alpha emerged from his victory in good
order and that the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup on September 28 at
Belmont Park appeared to be the next logical spot.

“It’s Belmont Park and 1 1/4 miles, which he likes,”
McLaughlin said. “But, we’ll speak with (Godolphin racing manager) Simon
Crisford, who in turn will speak with Sheikh Mohammed.”

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