Gucci Factor not a big fan of Saratoga

ELMONT, N.Y. – There’s a reason why trainer Christophe Clement runs Gucci Factor back on short rest at Belmont Park. The New York-bred gelding hates it at Saratoga.

So while Clement was naturally pleased Gucci Factor got his nose on the wire first in Sunday’s Grade 3 Poker Stakes at Belmont, he’s not sure what to do with him next. Saratoga opens in three weeks and Clement is quite leery of pointing him to a race there. The horse has run twice at Saratoga and he’s been beaten double-digit lengths both times. Last summer, Clement ran Gucci Factor at Belmont twice in 16 days and he won both races before giving him the summer off.

“He overreacts to the crowd and the walk through the crowd. I tried to school him 200 times,” Clement said. “The last time I ran him there I promised myself I’d never ever run him back, he was so awful when I saddled him there. He’s very weak mentally but he’s got talent.”

Gucci Factor rallied widest of all in the stretch and got his nose down on the wire in front of Hembree to win the Poker in a blanket finish where the top five finishers were separated by a neck. It was his third consecutive victory and fifth from his last six starts. Gucci Factor, a 6-year-old New York-bred by Gio Ponti, earned a career-best 98 Beyer Speed Figure.

Clement said he will point Gucci Factor to two stakes in the fall for New York-breds – the Ashley T. Cole and the Mohawk. He hasn’t decided whether he will attempt to run him somewhere in between.

“I need to think about it. Do I aim him to a race at an easier track and I ship him a week before and try to school him every day?” Clement said. “I’m not sure.”