Max Player takes Jockey Club Gold Cup, shows he's a Breeders' Cup Classic contender
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Though Max Player had won the Grade 2 Suburban nine weeks ago at Belmont Park, trainer Steve Asmussen felt the horse had more to prove to be considered a legitimate Breeders’ Cup Classic contender in November.
Asmussen saw everything he could have wanted and more in the twilight of a September Saturday afternoon at Saratoga as Max Player, under Ricardo Santana Jr., ran away from Forza Di Oro in midstretch and galloped to a four-length victory in the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup, which was moved to Saratoga this year after having been run at Belmont Park for decades.
Happy Saver, who won last year’s Jockey Club, finished second by a half-length over pacesetting Forza Di Oro. Night Ops finished fourth, followed by Chess Chief, and Forewarned.
The win not only made Max Player racing’s newest millionaire, it earned him a fees-paid berth into the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic to be run Nov. 6 at Del Mar.
Max Player’s victory came exactly one year after he finished fifth in the pandemic-delayed Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, his first start for Asmussen. Then Max Player was a one-run closer, a style that helped him win the Grade 3 Withers at Aqueduct in February 2020 when in Linda Rice's barn, but nothing else.
This spring, after Max Player was sixth in the Grade 3 Pimlico Special, Asmussen and his staff worked with Max Player to get him to break from the gate better. That style worked in the Suburban, in which he sat second before taking over and outfighting Mystic Guide to win by a neck.
Still, Asmussen had questions, since the race had been run over a wet track and at Belmont, where 1 1/4-mile races start on the turn.
“His Suburban was so much better than his four previous races for us - more than considerable - but it was on an off track, it was at Belmont,” Asmussen said. “To do it here, a more traditional mile and a quarter, fast racetrack, more than validates his Suburban.”
The promise of Forza Di Oro’s four wins from six starts helped send him off the even-money favorite Saturday despite his never having competed in a Grade 1 race. Breaking from the rail under Junior Alvarado, Forza Di Oro hit the side of the gate when the doors opened, but quickly recovered and advanced to the lead.
Santana hustled Max Player away in good order and had him within a half-length through a quarter in 24.05 seconds, a half-mile in 48.70, six furlongs in 1:13.14, and a mile in 1:37.77.
Turning into the stretch, Santana shook up Max Player. He overtook Forza Di Oro by the eighth pole and then spurted clear in the final sixteenth with Santana punching the air in triumphant victory.
“Before he never breaks, today he broke good, I was really happy with him,” Santana said. “You guys can see how much different he was today, how much the best he was. All I can say is he ran his race.”
Max Player, a son of Honor Code owned by George Hall and Sport BLX Thoroughbreds Corp., covered the 1 1/4 miles in 2:02.49 and returned $9.60 as the third choice. He earned a 102 Beyer Speed Figure.
“Ricardo did a tremendous amount of work with him [at the gate], he knows the horse really well,” Asmussen said. “It took some riding from Ricardo today in the first three or four jumps, but fifty yards from the gates you [like] your chance.”
Though Forza Di Oro hit the side of the gate when the doors opened, trainer Bill Mott felt his horse had no excuse in defeat.
“He broke in and kind of threw Junior off to the side a little bit, still he got his footing right back, we have no excuse,” Mott said. “Disappointed that he didn’t get the 10 furlongs just a little better.”
Happy Saver trainer Todd Pletcher felt his horse was bottled up behind a slow pace.
“He ran on well, but we’d benefit from a more truly run race,” he said. “I’m proud of his effort.”
Asmussen said Max Player would likely train up to the Breeders’ Cup Classic and would ship out to California well in advance, even though that means going to Santa Anita before Del Mar opens its backstretch for Breeders’ Cup horses 10 to 12 days before the event.