Vino Rosso gets his Grade 1 in Gold Cup at Santa Anita

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Gold Cup at Santa Anita on Monday was worth $300,000 in cold, hard cash to the winner, but in this case the payoff was much larger, both financially and emotionally.

Vino Rosso earned his first Grade 1 victory in the $500,702 Gold Cup, outfooting local hero Gift Box through the final quarter-mile to win the 1 1/4-mile race for 3-year-olds and up by three-quarters of a length. That will make the son of Curlin far more attractive as a stallion, something that was at the forefront of trainer Todd Pletcher’s thinking for sending him here from New York.

“We felt like the only thing he was missing was a Grade 1,” said Pletcher, who sent out Vino Rosso to a win in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial last year as a 3-year-old. “He’s a beautiful horse with a stallion pedigree.”

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The win also had special meaning for Pletcher in that Vino Rosso was purchased for $410,000 as a yearling for owners Mike Repole and Vinnie Viola by respected horseman J.J. Crupi, who died last week at age 79.

“It’s a tribute to him,” Pletcher said.

Vino Rosso was making only his third start of the year after a layoff of more than six months following the Travers last summer. He won his return in the one-mile Stymie, then was fourth in the Grade 1 Carter going seven furlongs, both at Aqueduct.

“We were looking at the Met Mile, and thought that might be a touch short, and it’s coming up tough,” Pletcher said of the prestigious race to be run on the Belmont Stakes card June 8. “We don’t take lightly shipping the horse across the country to run against the winner of the Big Cap, but he was doing great. His last two breezes were excellent, really liked the way he galloped out.”

That foundation was crucial in the final quarter-mile. Gift Box, winner of the Santa Anita Handicap at this track and distance April 6, put up a fight, finishing 5 1/4 lengths clear of everyone else, but Vino Rosso wouldn’t yield.

“It’s nice when it comes together,” Pletcher said by phone after watching the race in New York.

Vino Rosso ($10.20), under John Velazquez, covered 1 1/4 miles on the fast main track in 2:03. The race was fast early (46.37-second half-mile), slow late, but both Gift Box and Vino Rosso were close to the pace early and went on with it.

Lone Sailor, last in the seven-horse field early, ran on for third, then came, in order, Mongolian Groom, Higher Power, Core Beliefs, and Blitzkrieg, the early leader.

Vino Rosso has now won five times in 12 starts. In his previous tries at 1 1/4 miles and beyond, he was ninth in the Kentucky Derby, fourth in the Belmont Stakes, and fifth in the Travers.

“We always thought a mile and quarter would be okay,” Pletcher said. “He didn’t handle a sloppy track in the Derby. In the Belmont, he made a run at Justify, trying to win the race – which is what you’re supposed to do – and that probably cost him second. And by the time he got to the Travers, he probably was over the top.

“He’s come back bigger and stronger this year.”

Sounds like he’s aging like fine red wine.