Hawthorne: Last Gunfighter takes aim at Gold Cup

STICKNEY, Ill. – Trainer Chad Brown has won Breeders’ Cup races. He had a horse in the Kentucky Derby this year, and through Monday, Brown was North America’s third-leading trainer by earnings, his stable having amassed more than $12.5 million in purses.

One thing Mr. Brown never has done is sent out a winner at Hawthorne Race Course, though he will be favored to fill that tiny hole in his r é sum é when Last Gunfighter starts Saturday in the Grade 2, $350,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup.

Last Gunfighter was one of nine horses entered Tuesday for the Gold Cup, a 1 1/4-mile dirt race that, until this season, had long been run as at least a nominal prep for the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Hawthorne trimmed the race’s purse by $150,000 and pushed the Gold Cup back on the calendar for 2013, and the results, in terms of field composition, were at least decent. From the rail out, the Gold Cup drew Mister Marti Gras, Derby Kitten, Last Gunfighter, Hattash, Alpha, Fordubai, Prayer for Relief, Suns Out Guns Out, and Street Spice. The race, which will be televised on WGN, is the eighth on the Saturday card with post time scheduled for 5:43 Central.

Brown lost with his lone previous Hawthorne runner six autumns ago, but Last Gunfighter is the one to beat here Saturday if he can maintain the baseline form he’s demonstrated throughout a seven-start 2013 campaign. A 4-year-old by First Samurai, Last Gunfighter has three Grade 3 wins on the season, and exits a steadily closing fifth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Joe Bravo, who rode him to victory in the Iselin this past summer at Monmouth, has the call Saturday.

The race’s other name horse is Alpha, who hasn’t won a race at a track other than Saratoga since February 2012. Alpha captured the Grade 1 Woodward in the slop there this past summer, but followed up with a sixth in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and an eighth in the BC Dirt Mile. Alpha loves wet conditions, but the Saturday forecast here calls for clear skies and a high temperature around 40.

Prayer for Relief, Derby Kitten, and Suns Out Guns Out all ship from the Kentucky, with the remainder of the field comprising locally based runners.

Hawthorne is hosting a jockey autograph session at noon Saturday, and will be the site of an NTRA handicapping tournament Saturday and Sunday.

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Alpha finished eighth in this year's Breeders' Cup Classic. He finished eighth in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. Also, a purse cut and calendar change for the Hawthorne Gold Cup is taking place this year, not in 2014.