Winston C will carry heavy load in Lonesome Glory

ELMONT, N.Y. – Winston C, who won both Grade 1 steeplechase stakes at Saratoga this summer, will have two new serious challengers in Scorpiancer and Moscato when he runs in Thursday’s Grade 1, $150,000 Lonesome Glory Handicap at Belmont Park.

Winston C became the first horse in 20 years to win both the A.P. Smithwick and New York Turf Writers Cup in the same year at Saratoga, with his win in the Turf Writers Cup coming by a whopping 8 3/4 lengths. He will pay the price for those victories by carrying 160 pounds Thursday under Thomas Garner.

“I think that’s asking quite a lot of a first-season [steeplechase] horse, to carry quite a bit of weight, but he won those two races quite impressively at Saratoga so I guess he’s earned it,” Jonathan Sheppard, the Hall of Fame trainer of Winston C, said. “He’s coming up to the race as well as we could expect.”

The Lonesome Glory is run at 2 1/2 miles, a furlong farther than the New York Turf Writers.

“He is a fairly quick horse. He’s pretty manageable and can do what the rider wants him to do,” Sheppard said. “I think he’ll switch off and settle. The hope is for a bit of pace that he can tuck in behind. I think if it sets up okay, I’m not overly concerned about the distance. The weight will be more a factor, I’d say.”

Scorpiancer won the Lonesome Glory in 2016 but has run only five times since. He won the Grade 1 Iroquois in 2017 – the year he won an Eclipse Award – but came out of that race with a bowed tendon. He missed all of 2018 and was pulled up in his first start in 2019. Trainer Jack Fisher said he couldn’t find anything wrong with Scorpiancer that day in April and wheeled him back in three weeks to win the Iroquois again on May 11.

Fisher said he did not run Scorpiancer at Saratoga by design, wanting to point for this race and the Grade 1 Grand National at Far Hills on Oct. 19.

“I think he’s coming into this race perfect,” Fisher said.

Fisher also runs Moscato in the Lonesome Glory. Moscato, who may have the weight advantage by carrying only 148 pounds, was beaten a length by Scorpiancer in the Iroquois.

“Moscato should have won that race,” Fisher said. “He got stopped.”

In eight jump races in the U.S., Moscato has five wins, two seconds and a third.

Fisher also sends out Hinterland, who was beaten only 4 1/4 lengths by Winston C in the Smithwick when he was getting 10 pounds. Thursday, he will be in receipt of 18 pounds from Winston C and should appreciate firm ground, Fisher said.

Completing the Lonesome Glory field are Surprising Soul, second in to Scorpiancer in the Iroquois, Bedrock, Redicean, All the Way Jose, and Belisarious.

The Lonesome Glory goes as the first of eight races on a card that begins at 3 p.m.