Two-mile Belmont Gold Cup has decided European flavor
ELMONT, N.Y. – What does $400,000 and two miles get you these days? A bunch of European racehorses is what.
Six of the 13 entrants in the Belmont Gold Cup Invitational on Friday flew across the Atlantic to start in the race, which attained Grade 3 status for its fourth renewal this year.
Two of them, Clondaw Warrior and Wicklow Brave, are trained by Willie Mullins, the legendary Irish steeplechase trainer who increasingly has dabbled in flat racing. Clondaw Warrior finished second last summer in the American St. Leger, just Mullins’s third American runner and his first on the flat.
It makes perfect sense that the Euros would turn up in numbers: There is an entire set of horses overseas that regularly runs in staying races at something close to the Gold Cup’s two miles, which is 1 1/2 laps around Belmont’s Widener turf course. Such races have gained a small foothold recently in North America, and one trainer in particular, Mike Maker, has excelled in them.
Maker has won two of the three runnings of the Gold Cup, with Charming Kitten in 2014 and Da Big Hoss last year. His entrant this year, Taghleeb, won his lone two-mile start.
The Gold Cup goes as race 10 of 11 and should be run on turf neither too hard nor too soft to greatly disadvantage anyone.
KEY CONTENDERS
Wicklow Brave, by Beat Hollow
◗ What a crazy career this 8-year-old has put together for Mullins. Sometimes racing on the flat, sometimes over jumps, he won five races in a row in 2013 and 2014 and three in a row in 2015. But Wicklow Brave had lost 11 straight starts going into the Group 1 Irish St. Leger last September. What did he do? Upset last season’s best European staying horse, Order of St George.
◗ Wicklow Brave comes off another rousing win, a 1 1/2-length score in the Group 1 Punchestown Champion Hurdle in Ireland, a race worth $271,900. There, as in the Irish St. Leger, Wicklow Brave rather stole the race, opening up a long lead and hanging on.
◗ Mullins has contracted Javier Castellano to ride, and do not expect Wicklow Brave, who could go favored, to fall far behind the leaders since his best asset appears to be his strong gallop.
Red Cardinal, by Montjeu
◗ Australian Bloodstock Investors purchased this 5-year-old gelding by stamina influence Montjeu following the Geoffrey Freer Stakes in England last August as a candidate for the two-mile Melbourne Cup in November, turning him over to trainer Andreas Wohler in Germany. But shipping issues arose, and Red Cardinal, unable to make the trip, stayed in Germany and ran his best race, a second-place finish behind Nightflower in the Group 1 Preis von Europa.
◗ Intended for the 2017 Melbourne Cup, Red Cardinal started his campaign by trying two miles for the first time. He got the distance comfortably, beating moderate competition in a German Group 2. He’s an improving horse with decent acceleration.
Taghleeb, by Hard Spun
Last 3 Beyers: 98-101-102
◗ He’s 1 for 1 at two miles, and though the two-mile race he won at Gulfstream was not nearly as competitive as Friday’s, Maker thinks the extended trip helps his horse.
“I think it’s actually a little better for him,” Maker said. “He’s just always shown he doesn’t have any distance limitations.”
◗ He finished a distant second last out at Belmont while racing over soft ground in the Grade 1 Man o’ War.
“He ran a good race,”Maker said. “He’d just prefer to have it a little firmer.”
Renown, by Champs Elysees
Last 3 Beyers: 95-87-94
◗ Improving 5-year-old has won three in a row, including a wide-trip victory in the Grade 3 Sycamore last fall at Keeneland over Bigger Picture, who came back to win the Red Smith at Aqueduct.
◗ Tries two miles for the first time, but the sire’s get have an average winning distance of 11.7 furlongs, and his dam sire’s offspring 11.3 furlongs.
Now We Can, by Martillo
◗ Eight-year-old French horse might have run a career-best race when rallying for second behind Da Big Hoss in this race last year. Julien Leparoux rides him again, and they could benefit from a decent pace.
Clondaw Warrior, by Overbury
◗ Mullins’s second string closed well for second behind Da Big Hoss last summer in the American St. Leger at Arlington, but the 10-year-old mainly has struggled since.