Cupid likely to run at Saratoga this summer

ARCADIA, Calif. - Cupid is likely to be on trainer Bob Baffert’s traveling team in the older horse division this summer and fall after winning Saturday’s Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita in his first start in eight months.

Baffert’s home team is led by the 4-year-old star Arrogate, who won the $10 million Dubai World Cup in his last start on March 25. Arrogate is back in training and has been galloping on a daily basis at Santa Anita for a scheduled comeback at Del Mar this summer. The Grade 1 Pacific Classic on Aug. 19 is a goal for Arrogate.

“He’s doing more every day,” Baffert said.

Cupid is unlikely to start in the Pacific Classic against his stablemate, and will be considered for a variety of races, notably at the Saratoga meeting, Baffert said. There are two Grade 1 races at 1 1/8 miles on dirt at Saratoga likely to enter into the discussions for Cupid’s summer plans – the $1.2 million Whitney Stakes on Aug. 5, and the $750,000 Woodward Stakes on Sept. 2.

“He’ll run where ever Arrogate doesn’t run,” Baffert said.

Cupid ($16) won the $500,690 Gold Cup at Santa Anita at 1 1/4 miles by 3 1/4 lengths over an unlucky Follow Me Crev, a 7-2 shot who was bumped severely at the start. The Gold Cup was Cupid’s first start since an eighth-place finish in the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing last September.

“He still needed the race, but his class overcame everything,” Baffert said.

Cupid was an intended starter in the Grade 2 Californian Stakes on April 22, but missed the race after sustaining a cut on his leg on the afternoon of the race.

Owned by the Coolmore team of Michael Tabor, Susan Magnier, and Derrick Smith, Cupid has won 5 of 10 starts and earned $1,636,803. Last year, Cupid won three Grade 2 stakes away from California – the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park, Indiana Derby at Indiana Grand, and West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer.

Plans for the second- through fourth-place finishers from the Gold Cup range from stakes on dirt and turf during the Del Mar summer season.

Follow Me Crev, third to Shaman Ghost and Midnight Storm in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap in March, will have a rest before his next start is finalized, trainer Vladimir Cerin said. Wednesday is the two-year anniversary of the day Follow Me Crev was claimed for $50,000 by owners David and Holly Wilson.

“He’s a little tired,” Cerin said on Sunday. “He needs to recover from the race. He’s a fun horse. People like him.”

Hard Aces closed well to finish third in the Gold Cup, beaten six lengths. Trained by John Sadler for Pete and Kosta Hronis, Hard Aces won the 2015 Gold Cup and the Grade 3 Tokyo City Cup at 1 1/2 miles on April 2.

“He looked like he wanted a mile and a half,” Kosta Hronis said.

Hard Aces may get a chance at that distance in the Grade 3 Cougar II Handicap on dirt at Del Mar on July 26.

Midnight Storm finished a nose behind Hard Aces after leading on the final turn. The Gold Cup was Midnight Storm’s third consecutive loss, preceded by a second in the Big Cap and a third in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap.

Owners Alex Venneri and the Little Red Feather Racing partnership will decide in coming weeks how to race Midnight Storm this summer, with the Breeders’ Cup Mile on turf or Dirt Mile as possible long-term goals on the first weekend of November at Del Mar, trainer Phil D’Amato said.

“We need to regroup and see what we want to do,” D’Amato said.

Midnight Storm was third in the BC Mile last November at Santa Anita in his most recent turf race. He won the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on turf last August and the same race on Aug. 20 will be considered, D’Amato said.