Collected to skip Gold Cup at Santa Anita

ARCADIA, Calif. – Californian Stakes winner Collected, who was expected to vie for favoritism with Midnight Storm in the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita on Saturday, will not run in the 1 1/4-mile race.

Trainer Bob Baffert said on Wednesday that he was “not satisfied” with Collected’s five-furlong workout in 1:00.80 on Sunday and will skip the $500,000 Gold Cup, the richest race of the track’s spring-summer meeting.

“He breezed all right,” Baffert said. “He looked good, but to my standards, it wasn’t an ‘A’ work. I want to make sure he brings his ‘A’ game.”

Collected won the Santana Mile in his first start of the season April 1, followed by a dominating win in the Grade 2 Californian Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on April 22. The 4-year-old would have been the first or second favorite in the Gold Cup.

Baffert said he does not have any race plans for Collected, whom he considers a leading prospect in the older-horse division.

“It’s still early” in the year, Baffert said.

Collected’s defection solidifies Midnight Storm as the Gold Cup favorite.

Midnight Storm won the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on Jan. 1 and lost his next two starts – a second in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap at 1 1/4 miles on March 11 and a third in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap at 1 1/8 miles on April 15.

Even without Collected, Baffert could have two live Gold Cup runners, including Cupid, a three-time Grade 2 winner who would be making his first start of the season. Cupid was entered for the Californian Stakes but was withdrawn after sustaining a cut on a leg a few hours before the race.

Baffert might also supplement American Freedom for $10,000. American Freedom, second to Arrogate in the Travers Stakes last August, was fourth in the Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 5 in his first start of 2017.

Other probable starters for the Gold Cup include Accelerate, Big John B, Hard Aces, Follow Me Crev, and Prime Attraction. Texas Ryano, fourth in the Californian, was under consideration for the Gold Cup and Sunday’s Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf.

The Gold Cup is one of two Grade 1 races on Saturday’s program, along with the $300,000 Gamely Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on turf. The Gamely field is led by Lady Eli and Avenge, the second- and third-place finishers in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf here last November.

Lady Eli was beaten a nose by Queen’s Trust in the BC Filly and Mare Turf and was second by a head at 1-2 in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on turf at Keeneland on April 15 in her first start of the year.

Avenge has not raced since the Breeders’ Cup. Other candidates for the Gamely include Goodyearforroses, Mokat, and Pretty Girl.

– additional reporting by Steve Andersen