Wicked Strong, V. E. Day square off again in Jockey Club Gold Cup
ELMONT, N.Y. – Jimmy Jerkens admitted to riding “a roller coaster of emotions” after his horses, V. E. Day and Wicked Strong, finished a nose apart when first and second in last month’s $1.25 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga. It’s a ride the 55-year-old trainer wants to experience again Saturday at Belmont Park, where V. E. Day and Wicked Strong meet again in the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup.
Jerkens said right after the Travers that he felt fantastic for Magalen Bryant, the owner of V. E. Day, and awful for Centennial Farms, the syndicate that owns Wicked Strong. He was gratified by the classy manner in which the Centennial constituent, led by Don Little Jr., handled the defeat.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 10 V. E. Day. Trainer Jimmy Jerkens is 33-10-6-3 with a $4.13 ROI over the past five years in dirt routes following a win. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Jerkens felt both horses belonged in the Travers, and he feels the same way about the Jockey Club Gold Cup, which is run at the same 1 1/4-mile distance. Those two 3-year-olds, as well as the Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist, meet nine older horses, including the Whitney winner Moreno and the Suburban winner Zivo.
As the Jockey Club Gold Cup gets closer, Jerkens is more focused on how the horses are feeling, as opposed to the owners.
“It looks like we’re getting them over there as good as we can, and I’m not going to worry about who beats who and anything like that,” Jerkens said on a dreary Thursday morning at Belmont.
Wicked Strong, the Wood Memorial and Jim Dandy winner, is the 3-1 morning-line favorite in the Gold Cup, a race that awards a fees-paid berth to the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 1. The Jockey Club Gold Cup is the centerpiece of an 11-race card that includes five other stakes. There also is a food-truck festival and a Tom Durkin bobblehead giveaway and autograph session, limited to 6,000 and 200, respectively.
The 12 horses entered in the Gold Cup mark the race’s biggest field since 13 went postward in 1977. In 1983, 11 horses ran in the Gold Cup, and the race was won by the 3-year-old Slew o’ Gold, whose résumé included a victory in the Wood Memorial, a fourth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, and a second-place finish in the Travers – the same as Wicked Strong. For good measure, Slew o’ Gold broke from post 3, as will Wicked Strong.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 5 Prayer for Relief. Trainer Dale Romans is 20-0-0-7 over the last four years in dirt routes at 10 furlongs and longer. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
Key contenders
Wicked Strong (Last 3 Beyers: 102-100-98)
* Since Jerkens added blinkers to his equipment before the Jim Dandy, Wicked Strong has raced closer to the pace and was a stalking third early in the Travers. He figures to get a similar setup, sitting behind Moreno and Big Cazanova, whose jockeys figure to send their horses from posts 11 and 12.
“Wicked seems to run his best races stalking a little closer than he did a little earlier in the year,” Jerkens said.
V. E. Day (Last 3 Beyers: 102-90-89)
* Breaking from post 10, V. E. Day likely will fall back and come with one run, as he did in the Travers, in which he rallied from 14 lengths back to win.
* V. E. Day, a son of the turf champion English Channel, is 3 for 3 on dirt, a streak that began with an off-the-turf maiden win here in May.
“He’s a much bigger, stouter, stronger horse than he was three months ago,” Jerkens said. “You don’t develop like he has unless you’re developing in all areas, and he certainly has.”
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Tonalist (Last 3 Beyers: 98-96-100)
* Won the Peter Pan and Belmont Stakes here in May and is looking to rebound off a second in the Jim Dandy and a third in the Travers.
* In an attempt to get the horse to relax, trainer Christophe Clement is removing the blinkers from his equipment.
“He showed plenty of speed in his last two races,” Clement said. “There’s no need for me to use them anymore. When I used them, he was very immature when he trained in the spring. He’s not the same horse now.”
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 12 Big Cazanova. Trainer Peter Miller is 17-6-1-3 with a $4.82 ROI over the past two years going from synthetic to dirt in routes. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
Moreno (Last 3 Beyers: 107-109-96)
* As consistent as he’s been, Moreno is only 3 for 21 lifetime. Trainer Eric Guillot believes he ran the best race of career when second in the Suburban. He broke from post 11 that day and will break from there again with the speedy Big Cazanova to his outside.
* Guillot said his horse will rate off Big Cazanova if Peter Miller, the trainer of that horse, says, “ ‘Hey, I’m going to get the lead because I’m a fast horse, too,’ then I’ll have to sit off of him. I’m not going to go ‘ding-dong’ and set it up for the other ones.”
Zivo (Last 3 Beyers: 103-100-96)
* Beat Moreno by three lengths in the Grade 2 Suburban going 1 1/4 miles in July, making him 4 for 6 over the Belmont main track.
* Had a six-race win streak snapped when fourth, beaten three lengths, in the Woodward.
“I was never warm and fuzzy about that horse breezing at Saratoga. He breezes OK,” trainer Chad Brown said. “Historically, a mile and an eighth at Saratoga on the main track, it’s hard to come from downtown.”
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 2 Last Gunfighter and No. 4 Zivo. Trainer Chad Brown is 27-1-2-2 with a $0.18 ROI over the past five years in Grade 1 stakes on dirt. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan