Clubhouse Ride eyes Gold Cup after Californian win

ARCADIA, Calif. – When Clubhouse Ride won Saturday’s $200,500 Californian Stakes at Santa Anita for the second consecutive year, the 6-year-old horse ended an eight-race losing streak dating back a year and put rest to a tumultuous start to his 2014 campaign.

Last winter, trainer Craig Lewis sent Clubhouse Ride to a local farm for a break. While Clubhouse Ride was there, Lewis was alarmed to learn that the 6-year-old was shod in a way that a considerable portion of his foot was removed, the trainer said.

“For reasons unknown to me, they trimmed his feet and took off most of his foot,” he said. “We had to stimulate foot growth.”

Because of that, Clubhouse Ride’s early season goals were changed. Races such as the San Antonio Stakes and Santa Anita Handicap were off the list.

“We couldn’t get him fit enough to race with the best,” Lewis said. “We had to start with glue-on shoes and give his feet time to grow.”

In his first start of 2014, Clubhouse Ride was fifth in the Joe Hernandez Stakes on the hillside turf course Feb. 23, prior to finishing third in the Grade 2 San Carlos Stakes over seven furlongs March 8. He finished third in the Santana Mile behind Fury Kapcori before a fourth-place finish April 19 in the $1.5 million Charles Town Classic in West Virginia. In 2013, Clubhouse Ride was second to the handicap star Game On Dude in the West Virginia Classic.

“I couldn’t build him to the West Virginia Classic the way I did the previous year when he ran so well to Game On Dude,” Lewis said.

Game On Dude did not start in Saturday’s Californian, which drew a field of seven. Clubhouse Ride was the 6-1 second choice and the mount of jockey Joe Talamo. Clubhouse Ride was last for the first six furlongs and closed along the rail in the final furlong to catch pacesetter Fury Kapcori, the 1-2 favorite who set a quick early pace.

Clubhouse Ride won by a half-length over Fury Kapcorifor his fifth win in 37 starts. A 6-year-old horse, Clubhouse Ride has earned $1,220,132.

The Californian was a prep race for the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita over 1 1/4 miles June 28, a race formerly run as the Hollywood Gold Cup at Hollywood Park. The Californian was run in past years at Hollywood Park, which closed in December for development.

In 2013, Clubhouse Ride was fourth behind Game On Dude in the Hollywood Gold Cup. After watching the Californian, Lewis said Sunday that the Gold Cup is a goal.

“It looks like it’s the next step,” Lewis said. “I think he was fit enough to do something of consequence. He’s a tough dude. He’s had a lot of tough battles.”

Aside from Clubhouse Ride, the Gold Cup has six candidates, including Fury Kapcori and Majestic Harbor, who was third in the Californian, and Imperative and Game On Dude, the first two finishers April 19 in the Charles Town Classic. Game On Dude won the final two runnings of the Hollywood Gold Cup at Hollywood Park.

There are two South American Group 1 stakes winners among the probable starters – Lideris, trained by Peter Miller, and Salto Del Indio, trained by Mike Puype.