Jockey Club Gold Cup important race for Effinex, Jerkens

ELMONT, N.Y. – Much like his Hall of Fame father, the late Allen Jerkens, trainer Jimmy Jerkens holds in high esteem the series of Grade 1 stakes for older horses run on the New York Racing Association circuit. History-laden races like the Brooklyn, Suburban, Met Mile, Whitney, and Jockey Club Gold Cup are still among the most prestigious races run annually in New York.

This year, Jimmy Jerkens has already won the Brooklyn and Woodward with Shaman Ghost and the Suburban with Effinex for a second straight year. In 2007, he won the Met Mile with Corinthian.

On Saturday, Jerkens will seek to add the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup to his résumé when Effinex takes on four rivals in the featured event on the biggest day of the Belmont Park fall meeting.

“That would be cool,” said Jerkens, whose father won the Gold Cup three times.

Saturday’s 11-race card begins at 12:15 p.m. Eastern and features seven stakes, including four Grade 1 events that are Win and You’re In races for their respective Breeders’ Cup divisions. The Breeders’ Cup will be held Nov. 4-5 at Santa Anita.

The Jockey Club Gold Cup, run at 1 1/4 miles, offers a fees-paid berth in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, which will include the world’s best dirt horse, California Chrome.

Six were entered for this year’s Gold Cup, but only five will run. On Thursday, longshot War Story had to be scratched after it was determined that he was administered Dormosedan, a sedative, too close to race day by trainer Mario Serey. The New York State Gaming Commission requests and publishes the veterinary records for all horses participating in races at NYRA tracks with a purse of $1 million or more.

War Story’s scratch leaves Effinex four opponents – Hoppertunity, Protonico, Mubtaahij, and Watershed.

Last year, Effinex finished third in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and then ran second behind Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland.

Effinex, a New York-bred son of 2003 Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Mineshaft, is a bit temperamental. When he’s focused and on his game, he’s an upper-tier horse, as he proved in beating Grade 1 winner Melatonin in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap and Tonalist in last year’s Suburban.

Thrown off his game, he can run a stinker, as he did in the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs, where he finished sixth as the 3-5 favorite, and in the 2015 Brooklyn, where he bolted at the head of the lane and was pulled up.

“He doesn’t strike me as a horse that likes any particular surface better than any other,” Jerkens said. “He has to be in the mood on the day, that’s all.”

Effinex appears to do his best running when he’s forwardly placed early in his races. In a Gold Cup without much pace, it would appear that he will have little choice but to be forwardly placed under Mike Smith.

Only Protonico has any early speed among the rest of the field.

“I’d rather somebody else be on the lead,” Jerkens said. “If he’s there by default, I guess he’ll have to deal with it. Mike’s good on the lead.”

Key Contenders

Effinex, by Mineshaft

Last 3 Beyers: 103-104-91

◗ Had a bit of a wide trip and was no match for a razor-sharp Frosted when beaten 2 1/2 lengths in the Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga.

◗ He is a three-time winner at 1 1/4 miles, including back-to-back victories in the Grade 2 Suburban over this track.

◗ He breaks from the outside post.

Mubtaahij, by Dubawai

Last 3 Beyers: 106-101-95

◗ Beaten 1 1/2 lengths by Effinex in the Suburban, his first start since running second to California Chrome in the Dubai World Cup.

◗ Beaten a head by Shaman Ghost when he broke from the outside post in field of nine in the Woodward.

◗ Noting the lack of pace, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said: “We probably won’t be too far away. I do like him better at a mile and a quarter.”

Hoppertunity, by Any Given Saturday

Last 3 Beyers: 101-105-105

◗ Beaten a neck for second by Mubtaahij when third in Dubai World Cup.

◗ Finished second to Effinex in last year’s Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill.

◗ Scratched out of last Saturday’s Grade 1 Awesome Again, won by California Chrome, for this spot.

“I would rather face those horses at a mile and a quarter for a million dollars and not have California Chrome and Arrogate in there,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “I’m hoping the deeper tracks and big turns might help him out a little bit.”

Protonico, by Giant’s Causeway

Last 3 Beyers: 96-95-96

◗ Originally pointed to Saturday’s Grade 2 Kelso, he was redirected here when this race lost potential starters Shaman Ghost and Samraat.

◗ Has had only one race in 10 months, a one-mile allowance win here Sept. 9.

“If he’s able to control things in reasonable fractions, that’s obviously going to help him get the mile and a quarter and make up for a lack of seasoning this year,” trainer Todd Pletcher said.