Relishing added ground, Tawny Port gets long-awaited win in Belmont Gold Cup
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N. Y. – Tawny Port several minutes earlier had won the Belmont Gold Cup at Saratoga, and his trainer, Miguel Clement, beaming, lauded the grit, the toughness, and the heart of his 7-year-old warrior.
“I was amazingly confident in him today,” Clement said. “It’s rewarding, because he deserved to win a big race.”
Tawny Port, if deserve's got anything to do with it, was owed a win in any kind of race. Seventeen starts and more than two-and-a-half years had passed since the horse last tasted victory, in the John’s Call here at Saratoga.
It was a long, long time between drinks for Tawny Port, and on Friday, a long, long time – by American racing standards– from the start of Gold Cup to its conclusion, 3:17.75 to be exact.
The Gold Cup’s two-mile trip encompasses two laps around the Saratoga grass course, and Tawny Port wanted every bit of it. In fact, if a two-mile turf division existed in North America, little doubt Tawny Port’s losing streak would not have persisted.
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A rain-off onto a sloppy dirt track ruined his chance in this race a year ago, and in his first try over this true marathon trip, Tawny Port finished second going 2 1/16 miles late last summer at Kentucky Downs. That was a winning race, but Tawny Port had the misfortune of running into a German shipper named Flatten the Curve who delivered what felt like a world-class performance.
A week after that start, Tawny Port came back to finish second of 11 in the $2.5 million Turf Cup at Kentucky Downs. Four weeks later, he lost the Grade 1 Canadian International by a nose.
“Trust me – he’s tough as nails,” Clement said.
Clement’s confidence stemmed from his strong belief in Tawny Port’s staying power, form that stacked up very solidly in the Grade 2, $250,000 Gold Cup, and the way the horse had trained since arriving at Saratoga after a useful comeback start in the Elkhorn about seven weeks ago at Keeneland.
“Since Keeneland, he hit another level. He loved it here in the fall. He does so well at Saratoga,” Clement said.
Tawny Port looked like a winner a long way from home Friday. Flavien Prat broke his mount from post 3, beat a path straight to the fence, and came off it only when fading pacesetter Worthington backed up quickly as the horses went down the backstretch for the second time.
Worthington having thrown in the towel after going along at a good clip, 8-5 favorite Corruption inherited the lead, but he, too, had called it a day before the homestretch. Navy Seal, patiently handled by Jose Ortiz, came off the fence with about six furlongs remaining, Ortiz easing his mount forward and into contention, and with a quarter-mile of Gold Cup remaining, Navy Seal took the lead.
He could not hold it. Prat hugged the rail as long as he could before coming outside Corruption, then diving back down inside him when a hole opened past the three-sixteenths pole. Tawny Port, for a horse who’d already raced more than 1 3/4 miles, produced at least a decent turn of foot and sailed past Navy Seal to win by 2 1/2 lengths.
“For a two-mile horse, he did give me a run,” Prat said. “I started riding in France, and there are a lot of two-mile races there, so I got an idea of how it’s run. Essentially, it’s the horse. The horse allows me to relax him and stay inside.”
Miztertonic made a mild run for a distant third, the field spread out all over the track at the finish. The second choice, Tawny Port paid $6.90.
Corruption, who faded to fifth, fell after he’d been unsaddled and was being led back to the stables. He lay on the ground at about the three-sixteenths pole for a few minutes before getting to his feet. About 20 minutes later, his trainer, Mark Casse, reported that Corruption was grazing outside his barn, already mainly recovered from heatstroke.
Clement trains Tawny Port, a son of Pioneerof the Nile and Livi Makenzie, by Macho Uno, for the Peachtree Stable. Kentucky Downs looms again late this summer, and by winning Friday’s race, Tawny Port gained automatic fees-paid entry into the $7.1 million Melbourne Cup, a two-mile Australian race on Nov. 3 this year. Clement isn’t ruling out a trip.
Champagne Juan missed by a head in the 2024 Gold Cup while Clement served as an assistant to his late father, Christophe.
“He always thought it would be fun to go, so I am seriously considering it,” Clement said.
Would Tawny Port be good enough? Hard to say, but, as he showed Friday, it would not be the distance that gets him beat.
