Looks like no BC this year for Gottcha Gold

MIAMI - A return trip to the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile does not appear to be in the cards for Gottcha Gold, who finished second after setting the pace in the inaugural running of that event last fall at Monmouth Park.

Gottcha Gold recently returned to his old stomping grounds at Calder, where he worked a mile in 1:44.20 on Friday over a fast but still somewhat cuppy racetrack. The work should set him up nicely for the Grade 3 Spend a Buck Handicap here on Oct. 18.

Said trainer Eddie Plesa Jr.: "He tailed off a little bit this summer, but he's training great, and I guess our plans could change at the last minute regarding the Breeders' Cup if he were to run a bang-up race in the Spend a Buck and be tearing the barn down afterwards, although it's not likely. We already made the trip to Santa Anita with him once before, and he didn't like it."

Gottcha Gold finished ninth behind Go Between after chasing the early pace in his one and only start over an artificial surface, the $1 million Sunshine Millions Classic at Santa Anita in January.

He did bounce back from that performance with an easy 3 1/2-length triumph in Gulfstream Park's Grade 3 Skip Away Handicap and a second-place finish in the Grade 1 Pimlico Special, and as a result has more than enough points to secure himself a spot in the starting gate for the Dirt Mile if Plesa so desired.

"Right now our principal goal with him is probably getting back to the Sunshine Millions Classic, which returns to Gulfstream again this winter," said Plesa.

Plesa could have a big day on the Oct. 18 Festival of the Sun program, when he'll also start his lightly raced but very promising 2-year-old Edgemoor in the $400,000 In Reality Division of the Florida Stallion Stakes.

"He was a little slow coming around but I always thought he could have been my best 2-year-old," Plesa said of Edgemoor, a son of Halo's Image.

Edgemoor rallied to finish third in his debut before drawing off to a 12-length maiden win when he was stretched to a mile here last week.

"There's certainly no question about the distance with him the way he won his last start, and he's a smart horse who handles himself well, so that should help him going up against the more experienced competition he'll meet in the In Reality," said Plesa.

Plesa continues to race on two fronts, both locally where he's second in the standings behind only Kirk Ziadie, and in New Jersey where he recently wrapped up a very successful summer finishing fifth at Monmouth Park with 23 wins.

* Gold Time will be favored over Midwest invader Taco Pizza in Sunday's $22,400 allowance feature for 2-year-olds. Gold Time was an easy maiden winner at first asking before returning to finish second three weeks later.

Taco Pizza led throughout to win his only start, which came at Canterbury Downs on Aug. 31.