Melatonin, Hard Aces among eight probable for Gold Cup

Melatonin and Hard Aces, the first two finishers of the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap, are among eight projected starters for the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita next Saturday.

The race is expected to be comprised of California-based runners, including Bal a Bali, Follow Me Crev, Imperative, Lieutenant Colonel, Second Summer, and Win the Space.

Si Sage, the winner of the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes on turf May 29, will not start and will be pointed for graded turf stakes at Del Mar in July and August, trainer Jim Cassidy said on Friday. Earlier this week, trainer Bob Baffert said Hopportunity, third in the $10 million Dubai World Cup in the United Arab Emirates in March, will skip the Gold Cup in favor of a stakes on dirt at Del Mar this summer.

The Grade 1 Gold Cup is run at 1 1/4 miles and offers a fees-paid berth for the winner to the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic here on Nov. 5 through the Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In program.

Melatonin was second in the Oaklawn Handicap in Arkansas on April 16. Second Summer and Hard Aces were first and second in the Grade 2 Californian Stakes here on May 22.

The Gold Cup is the top dirt race for older horses at the spring-summer meeting. The leading sprint is the $300,000 Triple Bend Stakes at seven furlongs next Saturday.

Kobe’s Back, third in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes on May 7, and Taris, who won the Grade 1 Humana Distaff for females on the same program at Churchill Downs, will be part of an expected small field in the Grade 1 Triple Bend.