Top 3 from Travers eye Jockey Club Gold Cup

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Decisions won’t be made for several weeks, but don’t be surprised if the top three finishers from Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga end up meeting again in the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup on Sept. 27 at Belmont Park.

Trainer Jimmy Jerkens said Sunday that his Travers 1-2 finishers, V. E. Day and Wicked Strong, separated by a nose, “both looked great” the morning after their terrific Travers finish. Meanwhile, Tonalist, beaten 2 1/2 lengths when third, came out “a touch stiff but okay,” according to trainer Christophe Clement.

V. E. Day, a 19-1 shot under Javier Castellano, caught Wicked Strong in the final jump in the Travers. He is 4 for 6 overall and 3 for 3 on dirt. Wicked Strong, who was third early before making the lead in upper stretch, has now given two solid performances since being equipped with blinkers. Last month, he won the Grade 2 Jim Dandy.

“They were both doing great,” Jerkens said. “I was confident. You still never know. Things have to go your way. I thought they were both on the top of their game.”

V. E. Day and Wicked Strong each were assigned a 102 Beyer Speed Figure for their performance.

Jerkens all but ruled out running either horse in the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 20, saying he would prefer to keep his horses in New York.

While it might not be ideal to run the two horses against each other, Jerkens said, “You might be forced to. With Wicked, I’d rather stay home, although he did ship well to Kentucky. I can’t argue with that; got to think a lot of things out, that’s for sure.”

That V. E. Day, a son of turf champion English Channel, has morphed into a dirt horse has not been that much of a surprise to Jerkens. V. E. Day alternated surfaces after his maiden win in an off-the-turf race at Belmont because Jerkens didn’t want the horse against winners around one turn. Also, he didn’t want to run V. E. Day on the turf at Saratoga with its “hairpin turns,” he said, which is why he ran him in last month’s Curlin Stakes.

“It’s nice to make a decision like that and get vindicated,” Jerkens said.

Though V.E. Day has had success on turf, Jerkens said that the horse would likely finish the year out on the dirt.

V. E. Day is owned by Magalen Bryant, who also is a partner in the Centennial Farms syndicate that owns Wicked Strong. Bryant has a 2.5 percent interest in Wicked Strong.

Don Little Jr., president of Centennial, said he thought Wicked Strong was a winner at the eighth pole.

“I started making a few steps down the stairs, but I remember the ’93 Jockey Club Gold Cup. We were making that same walk, and Miner’s Mark came up and got Colonial Affair at the wire,” Little said.

Little said he received a text from Jerkens immediately after the race expressing disappointment that Wicked Strong ran so well and lost. Little said that instead of responding to the text, he came over to the barn and gave Jerkens a hug.

“We’ve come back together. It’s been a long relationship, and we look forward to it continuing great things,” Little said.

Little said the Jockey Club Gold Cup would be under consideration for Wicked Strong, but he said no decision would be made for two or three weeks.

The 1-2 finish in the Travers will be the highlight of a fabulous meet for Jerkens, who on Sunday won the Fleet Indian Stakes with Star Grazing. It was his ninth win of the meet and fourth in a stakes.

“I thought we had a shot to do some good, I didn’t dream it would turn out quite like it did,” Jerkens said. “You never know what this place has in store for you.”

Some criticized jockey Joel Rosario for keeping Tonalist too close to the front-running Bayern in the early stages of the Travers. He was within a length through a half-mile in 47.31 seconds and six furlongs in 1:11.27.

Clement said he left the riding tactics up to Rosario.

“It was his choice,” Clement said. “I don’t think it was far too aggressive, just a touch more aggressive. I would have been delighted to be two lengths back from where he was. I didn’t want to be 10 lengths back from where he was. In the meantime, he ran a very good race, finished third. Well done to Jimmy Jerkens.”

Clement said he would wait at least a week before deciding where next to run Tonalist, but said the decision would be between the Pennsylvania Derby and the Jockey Club Gold Cup.