Gold Cup next for Imperative

Imperative, the upset winner of the $1.5 million Charles Town Classic in West Virginia on Saturday, will have the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita on June 28 as his early-summer goal, trainer George Papaprodromou said Tuesday.

Imperative ($55) won the first stakes of his career in the Charles Town Classic over 1 1/8 miles, beating 3-5 favorite Game On Dude by 1 1/2 lengths.

“Hopefully, it will be that kind of year,” Papaprodromou said.

A son of Bernardini owned by Kenji Morinaga, Imperative was claimed for $50,000 at Hollywood Park on Dec. 21. In five starts since being claimed, all this year, Imperative has earned $1,079,850, the most of any horse in 2014.

Imperative finished second to Blingo in the San Antonio Stakes on Feb. 8 and was seventh behind Game On Dude in the Santa Anita Handicap on March 8.

The Gold Cup at Santa Anita is run over 1 1/4 miles as part of Santa Anita’s new spring-summer meeting. In past years, the race was run at Hollywood Park as the Hollywood Gold Cup. Hollywood Park closed last December.

“We can go for that, and it will be the next step,” Papaprodromou said. “This way, he can recover from the trip.”

Imperative earned a 107 Beyer Speed Figure in the Charles Town Classic, the first triple-digit Beyer of his career. Imperative has won 3 of 15 starts and $1,134,620 in his career.