A two-mile contest of any consequence is a rarity in American racing, and the two-mile Belmont Gold Cup on Friday at Belmont Park drew an appropriately unusual cast of characters. The sheer size of the field, 13, is surprising, and the race includes five horses coming out of jump races – four from America, one from Ireland – plus Channel Maker, a multiple Grade 1 winner of $3.75 million, and Amazing Grace, a mare imported from Germany. The Grade 2 Gold Cup had its purse halved to $250,000 from 2022, yet is set to go with five more starters than last year and four more than in 2019, when the purse was $400,000. The Gold Cup winner has come from Europe the last five years and England-based Siskany is reasonably set as the 8-5 morning-line favorite. Siskany is the first Gold Cup runner for private Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby, who earlier this week frankly termed Siskany something below a Group 1-level talent, which is why the horse is in New York rather than the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup on June 22. :: Bet the Belmont Stakes with confidence! Join DRF Bets and get a $250 deposit match bonus, $10 free bet, and FREE DRF Formulator! The competition will suit Siskany, as should American-style racing. Siskany has done his best work over the flat, left-handed course at Meydan, which more closely resembles an American racecourse than European. The 5-year-old gelding has been two miles only once, but if he repeats that performance, a close second to Broome 10 weeks ago in the Dubai Gold Cup, he’ll probably win. That said, only one of five favorites Appleby has started at Belmont came through, and Siskany performed only mildly May 22 finishing fifth in the 1 3/4-mile Yorkshire Cup. On career accomplishment, 9-year-old Channel Maker heads the Gold Cup, but the gelding, one of five Gold Cup entrants by English Channel, has never raced beyond 1 1/2 miles and has lost a step or two off his peak. Channel Maker was not bad in his two starts this year, the Elkhorn at Keeneland and the Man o’ War at Belmont, but he finished fourth in the former and sixth in the latter, and trainer Bill Mott, who has guided this gelding through 47 of his remarkable 52 starts, is trying to find a late-career niche. “I don’t think the distance will be that big a deal,” Mott said. “If the pace is reasonable, I think he’ll go the distance.” Reasonable meaning not too fast. There are plenty of front-running types entered, but Channel Maker can sit in the second tier. Ireland-based trainer Joseph O’Brien won the 2021 Gold Cup with Baron Samedi and for Friday’s renewal has a different sort of horse in High Definition, who made his first 14 starts on the flat for trainer Aidan O’Brien before running four times over jumps this spring for the junior O’Brien. High Definition at his best has performed at least as well as Channel Maker, nearly winning the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup over 1 1/4 miles in May 2022 and finishing a commendable third in the Group 1 Coronation Cup over 1 1/2 miles in June before tailing off. At 8-1 on the morning line he’s a more appealing play than Siskany. Nine-year-old Cross Border made his first 45 starts on the flat but now returns to trainer Mike Maker’s care after four jump races. Three others exiting steeplechases – Barbados, L’Imperator, and Cibolian – are trained in South Carolina by former steeplechase rider Arch Kingsley Jr. Barbados came from Ireland last summer and has solid older form going 1 3/4 miles; L’Imperator was a Grade 2 winner over 1 1/4 miles for Chad Brown; and Cibolian finished fourth in the 2022 Gold Cup. All three, Kingsley said, are prepping for jump races in a month – Cibolian at Colonial Downs, the other horses two at Saratoga. :: DRF Belmont Stakes Package: Save on PPs, Clocker Reports, Betting Strategies, and more. The 6-year-old mare Amazing Grace has strong 1 1/2-mile form; she was third to Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Rebel’s Romance last fall in Germany. She was sharp winning the Orchid at Gulfstream Park in her North American debut, dull finishing fourth on May 5 in the Sheepshead Bay, and is an unknown going two miles. British Royalty and Strong Tide, second and third in the 2022 Gold Cup, are back again, but the more appealing entrant is the race’s youngster, 4-year-old The Grey Wizard, who began his career in Ireland with Joseph O’Brien and now is based in Maryland with English expatriate Graham Motion. The Grey Wizard showed distance chops facing older foes in the 1 1/2-mile Hollywood Turf Cup last fall, and he shouldered his way through a couple of tight spots to post an eye-catching 1 1/2-mile Keeneland allowance race win April 27 returning from a layoff. “I don’t know if he’s a two-mile horse, but he strikes us as being that type, and I feel like this horse has really improved, even in his morning works,” said Motion. Young, improving, 10-1 on the morning line – a promising longshot for a long race. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.