Saratoga: Fort Larned likely for Jockey Club Gold Cup

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - While trainer Ian Wilkes hasn’t ruled out running Whitney winner Fort Larned in the Woodward here on Sept. 1, he said Tuesday that he is leaning toward waiting for the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont on Sept. 29.

“I ran him three times in [seven] weeks,” Wilkes said. “It was hot the other day, it was hot in Iowa and just the timing of it. As the old saying goes, If you go to the well too much it dries up.”

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Fort Larned finished eighth in the Stephen Foster on June 16, then came back two weeks later to win the Cornhusker Handicap at Prairie Meadows before coming back four weeks later to win the Whitney on Aug. 4.

Fort Larned has run seven times this year, winning four stakes, three of which were graded.