Flip Daddy offers value in Cleveland Gold Cup
There are precious few clues to help handicappers decipher the $75,000 Cleveland Gold Cup, Saturday’s feature for Ohio-bred 3-year-olds at ThistleDown.
Not only is the distance of 1 1/8 miles longer than anyone in the field has ever raced, but only two horses – Gone too Soon and Signal Ridge – show a win going two turns, and their best winning Beyer Speed Figures are 46 and 41, numbers that aren’t likely to be nearly good enough in a stakes.
The best advice might be to go with a horse from the barn of either William Cowans or Tim Hamm, trainers who have combined to win the Gold Cup three times since 2010.
The Cowans-trained Flip Daddy might offer the best value, coming out of the same slow allowance race won by Gone too Soon on June 13. Flip Daddy was a good second in last fall’s Ohio Juvenile going 1 1/16 miles, and his dam, Flip Side, won 4 of 11 dirt-route races, including the 1 1/8-mile Queen City Oaks at River Downs in 2005. Cowans won back-to-back Gold Cups in 2010 and 2011, both with horses switching from turf to dirt.
Pure Gold Liner returns to facing 3-year-olds after finishing far back against older optional-claiming horses June 17. His sire, Purim, has won at a 22 percent clip with 3-year-olds in dirt routes over the past five years. Hamm won last year’s Gold Cup with the filly Needmore Flattery.
:: Bet the Cleveland Gold Cup with DRF Bets. Get up to a $500 cash bonus! Find out more today.
KEY CONTENDERS
Flip Daddy (Last 3 Beyers: 40-43-50)
◗ His two races this season were both slow, but he might be primed for a peak performance in the third start of his form cycle and while removing the blinkers after a one-race experiment.
Pure Gold Liner (Last 3 Beyers: 35-59-61)
◗ His first two tries going long were good efforts in May, but he regressed last time out. It’s encouraging that Hamm sees fit to bring him back within three weeks of that poor performance.
Alliseeisgold (Last 3 Beyers: 68-67-60)
◗ He has won 3 of 4 starts this year, all by daylight margins, but this will be his first start beyond 6 1/2 furlongs, so it’s tough to take a horse at a short price making the switch from six furlongs to 1 1/8 miles.
Sunshine’s Son Bob (Last 3 Beyers: 58-41-49)
◗ He was beaten less than a length for second by Pure Gold Liner in the off-the-turf Green Carpet at Belterra, his best performance in three route tries. He and his siblings are a combined 0 for 20 lifetime in dirt routes, however.