SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Bright Future and Proxy, separated by a nose when finishing one-two in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga, will both likely train up to the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita, their connections said Sunday. Bright Future earned a fees-paid berth into the Classic by winning the Gold Cup, taking the lead in upper stretch from pacesetting Warrior Johny and holding off Proxy at the wire. It was the first graded stakes win for Bright Future, a son of Curlin owned by Mike Repole and Vinnie and Teresa Viola and trained by Todd Pletcher. His previous graded try resulted in an eighth-place finish in the Grade 2 Brooklyn at 1 1/2 miles in June. He rebounded with a solid allowance win going 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga last month. “Usually, you don’t go immediately from an allowance to a Grade 1 but, in that case, we did because we thought it was a good enough performance and the timing of the Jockey Club seemed to fit,” Pletcher said. :: Visit the Saratoga Handicapping Store for Past Performances, Clocker Reports, Picks, Betting Strategies, and more. Pletcher noted that a forward, stalking-type trip is what best suits Bright Future, who, under Javier Castellano, battled Proxy from the eighth pole to the wire. “He’s always been competitive, he’s run well in all his races except for the Brooklyn,” Pletcher said. “That trip he was bottled up, never really could get into a comfort rhythm which seems to be a key component to having any success in those types of races.” Bright Future earned a 103 Beyer Speed Figure for the Jockey Club victory. Bright Future will be one of three horses Pletcher is pointing to the Classic along with 3-year-olds Forte and Tapit Trice. Those two horses - fourth and third, respectively, in the Travers last week - will also train up to the Classic, Pletcher said. Trainer Michael Stidham said he was pleased with the performance put in by Proxy, who broke from the rail in the Gold Cup, got an up-close inside trip under Joel Rosario, tipped off the rail in the stretch and was gaining steadily in the final sixteenth. “I told Joel I think we have the best horse, you just got to get him a trip and he did a great job of hustling him away from there to maintain position,” Stidham said. “He took a ton of dirt in his face which in the past he hasn’t really liked. Joel knows him so well, you have to keep niggling on him to keep him in there and stay after him, he’ll keep giving. “He was coming all the way to the wire, we unfortunately came up a nose short,” Stidham added. “I was really, really happy with the effort and Rosario’s ride.” Proxy will train with Stidham at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland before shipping to California next month. Earlier this year, Proxy shipped to Santa Anita and finished second, beaten a head by Stilletto Boy, in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap. That race was designed to be a test run over the track on which the Breeders’ Cup is being held. “When we went there that was our intentions, hoping we would have a horse at the end of year for the Breeders’ Cup,” Stidham said. “We got a mile and a quarter and got to test him over the surface and he handled it well. We feel good about going back.” Parnac has options; McKulick to BC Though Parnac earned a fees-paid berth into the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf by winning Saturday’s Grade 2 Flower Bowl at Saratoga, trainer Christophe Clement said Sunday a decision will wait on whether she is pointed to the Breeders’ Cup. “I’m not sure she’s a Breeders’ Cup, firm turf, California-kind of a horse, but we don’t have to decide that now,” Clement said. “The main thing is she’s a Grade 2 winner, she did run very well before that at Delaware Park even though she got beat, it was a good race, and she was sound enough to run yesterday.” In the Flower Bowl, which had only four horses, Parnac was able to get loose on the lead through dawdling fractions and beat odds-on favorite McKulick by 1 1/4 lengths. It was the first stakes win for Parnac, a 4-year-old French-bred daughter of Zayak owned by her breeder, Jean Pierre Dubois and West Point Thoroughbreds. She had finished third, beaten three-quarters of a length, in the Grade 3 Robert G. Dick Memorial. Clement said non-Breeders’ Cup options for Parnac include the Waya and/or Long Island, run at Aqueduct, or the E.P. Taylor at Woodbine. Parnac earned a 90 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance. Meanwhile, McKulick, who beat War Like Goddess in the Grade 2 Glens Falls earlier in the meet, was compromised by that slow pace and had to settle for second in the Flower Bowl. Trainer Chad Brown said the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf is still on her agenda. “A horse got loose there, it was just a messy race,” Brown said. “McKulick I thought still ran great in spite of it. I’m very much interested in pointing her to the Breeders’ Cup at a mile and a quarter.” Brown said he would likely run McKulick one more time before the Breeders’ Cup, potentially in the Grade 3, $200,000 Waya Stakes at Aqueduct on Oct. 7. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? 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