In a much smaller field, we will get to watch a rematch of the Saratoga Travers first and second place finishers. The Jockey Club Gold Cup is one of Saturdays Grade 1 races that is part of the “Win and You’re In” to the Breeders Cup Classic. This race is for the top 3 year olds to have a chance to run with older boys. The field is exceptionally light with only 5 horses running. This is a terrible betting race, but an important one to run just a month ahead of the Breeders Cup. This race will set up easily to be a 3 horse race. Let’s reintroduce you to the contenders.
1.Tacitus 7/2 [8: 3-3-1] $1,583,00
Tacitus is the horse that is just so consistently good, not great, that he is bad. He has been fooling me in nearly every race, except for the Jim Dandy where I solidly had Tax winning and Belmont Stakes where I had him with Sir Winston. This horse is big, strong and gray. The pedigree says this horse should be a monster, and he looks every part of it, except he cant seem to get the W. Watching his Belmont Stakes 2nd place effort, I told everyone in our Discord that this horse would and should go on to win the Breeders Cup Classic and locked in futures bets of 16-1. Since then, only disappointment and second place finishes. I’m not ready to give up on him, although I should. This race is just a stepping stone to the Breeders Classic so I don’t know if he exerts himself and proves hes a winner or just takes what is given to him in prep for the big race in a month. I hope the race sets up for him because this horse is My Choice.
2. Code of Honor 8/5 [8: 4-2-1] $1,885,820
Coming off an impressive victory in the Travers, you have to think this horse is primed for another big run. I think Code of Honor took advantage of a weird race set-up. Horses that were supposed to set the pace were bumped at the start, which caused a weird reaction of things to happen and allowed Code of Honor to pass Tacitus and close on him. I’ve never hated this horse, but I’ve also never thought this was the top 3 year old. I had Code to complete exotics in the derby, and he finished third in the slop and got pushed to second because of the Maximum Security DQ. I think having Code of Honor take off a bunch of time and big races helped set him up for success in the Travers. I’m interested to see if he can keep the momentum or if he burned too much out last month at Saratoga. Ask War of Will (if we can find him again) how running against the top horses burn you out. I still think it would be reckless to say hes anything short of a Win Contender, even if I don’t actually like him.
3. Vino Rosso 9/2 [13: 5-0-3] $1,353,125
Vino Rosso always seems to flirt with the horseplayers and usually let us down. Its part of this 4 year olds package. He’ll win a race, then drop his next one. If we are using patterns (which we don’t), this horse should drop this race since he won the Gold Cup at Santa Anita. Rarely ran in New York, he has a 4th place finish in his only start at Belmont (against Justify and friends) in the Belmont Stakes. I think hes got the speed to press Preservationist for the lead, but not sure he wins. I like this horse for no better than 2nd place.
4. Preservationist 2/1 [10: 6-1-2] $1,037,300
Here is one of the older horses that is always fun to watch. A very lightly raced 6 year old finding his best stride in his “later years” as a racer. With absolutely no pace in this race, this is the only true pace presser of the field, which likely means he will be leading the horses. Ill need to go back and watch some replays and see how hes done when he has led a field (if ever). If this horse can steady the pace and be in front, it may be tough for any of our closers to over take him. Don’t overlook this horse.
5. Olympic Village 30/1 [4: 3-0-0] $92,340
Once again we have a horse that fudged his resume to get into a race that he should look lost at. We checked his credentials and his badge worked to get into the stall, so he must have passed the right races to get here. No but really, this horse has ran the races needed to try his hand at the graded stakes level, but is slower than the rest of this field. I wouldn’t put any stock into this horse than MAYBE 4th place if playing a superfecta since theres only 5 horses running (but I wouldn’t play a superfecta in this race if its even allowed). Trash
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