Gold Cup: Speedsters Big Cazanova, Moreno draw outside posts
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
ELMONT, N.Y. – Blame it on the Cazanova.
Eric Guillot, the trainer of the speedy Moreno, didn’t love hearing that Big Cazanova, a speedster from Southern California, was shipping across the country to run in Saturday’s $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park. Without Big Cazanova in the field, Moreno looked like the potential lone speed in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, the centerpiece of a six-stakes, 11-race card Saturday at Belmont.
With Big Cazanova in the field, a potential early pace battle looms in the 1 1/4-mile race.
“Am I scared of him beating me? No,” Guillot said during a national teleconference call this week. “Am I scared of him hurting Moreno’s chances? Of course.”
Big Cazanova, coming off two record-setting performances over Del Mar’s Polytrack, and Moreno, the winner of the Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga, were among 12 horses entered Wednesday for the Jockey Club Gold Cup, a Win and You’re In race for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.
The field is headed by the 3-year-olds Tonalist, the Belmont Stakes winner; V. E. Day, the winner of the Travers; and Wicked Strong, beaten a nose in the Travers after winning the Jim Dandy.
Zivo, the Suburban winner, Last Gunfighter, Micromanage, Prayer for Relief, Stephanoatsee, Speak Logistics, and Long River also were entered in the Gold Cup.
:: BREEDERS’ CUP 2014: See DRF’s top contenders
Though Moreno won the Whitney – a race that earned him a fees-paid berth into the BC Classic – Guillot believes the Suburban, in which he was beaten three lengths by Zivo, was his best performance. Moreno broke from post 11 in the Suburban and got that same post in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Big Cazanova drew post 12, meaning both speed horses are on the outside.
Noting the configuration of the starting gate for 1 1/4-mile races at Belmont Park – which starts on the middle of the clubhouse turn – Guillot said Moreno had to be hard-used to make the lead.
“I had to go 22 [seconds] and change to go 23 and change [for the first quarter],” Guillot said. “I had to make up three or four lengths and shake him and use him up.”
In the Whitney, Moreno overcame a stutter-step start to make the front, but he never was seriously challenged on the lead and beat Itsmyluckyday by 1 1/4 lengths. In the Woodward, Itsmyluckyday was kept closer to the pace, and in the stretch, the two bumped, which Guillot believes compromised the half-hearted Moreno.
“He put his head up in the air, and he’s like, ‘What’s this guy doing?’ ” Guillot said.
If Moreno is going to win the Jockey Club Gold Cup, he likely is going to have to fend off one of the 3-year-olds in the stretch. While Guillot said he respects the trio of V. E. Day, Wicked Strong, and Tonalist – the top three finishers from the Travers – he noted the final quarter of that race was run in 26.33 seconds.
“The last quarter of the Travers left a lot to the imagination,” Guillot said. “If my horse runs back to his form and gets everything his way that last quarter, they’re going to have to pick up the pace the last part of it.”
Zivo, who came from last to win the Suburban, and Prayer for Relief, who finished third in the Suburban after racing close to the pace, will be among the top threats to Moreno.