Summer Bird Hopes to Pocket Celebrated Gold Cup
Woodrow Wilson was president, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 660 and Sir Barton became the first Triple Crown winner when Belmont Park inaugurated the Jockey Club Gold Cup Invitational.
The year was 1919. The winner: Purchase. The purse: $5,850.
Purchase was headed to the Kentucky Derby when he reared up in his stall, caught a front hoof in a haystack and was slightly injured. The son of Ormondale also missed the Preakness.
The colt still won nine of 11 races during his sophomore year, including a three-length victory over Sir Barton in the Dwyer, and was the runner-up in two other stakes.
Four Triple Crown champs have captured the Gold Cup, including Gallant Fox in ’30 and Citation in ’48. Two others scored when they turned 4: Whirlaway, ’42, and Affirmed, ’79.
Nine horses were back-to-back winners with Curlin the latest, ’07 and ’08, when the purse was $450,000. Skip Away did it in ’95 and ’96 when the race was worth $600,000.
Kelso is the only Gold Cup champ to triumph more than twice – an amazing five times from ’60, when he was 3, to ’64, at 7.
Saturday’s likely favorite will be Summer Bird, who scored in the Travers and Belmont Stakes, the only runner that’s coming off a victory. The son of Birdstone worked five furlongs in a leisurely 1:02 1/5 over Belmont Park’s main track last Saturday.
The colt is aiming to join the ranks of nine 3-year-olds that captured the Belmont, Travers and Gold Cup, which includes such greats as Damascus, ’67; Sword Dancer, ’59; Gallant Man, ’57; and Man o’ War, ’20. The last sophomore to perform the feat was Easy Goer, ’89.
Quality Road, the Florida Derby victor that finished third in the Travers after missing Triple Crown events because of foot problems, went five furlongs in 1:01 3/5 the same morning over the Belmont dirt.
Dry Martini, with two victories this year at Belmont, covered the same distance in the same time at the same track. The 6-year-old rallied from well off the pace to win the Grade 2 Suburban while defeating Asiatic Boy by two lengths.
Asiatic Boy, also runner-up to Macho Again in the Stephen Foster at 1 1/8 miles, Saturday’s distance, recently posted a bullet 47 2/5 breezing a half-mile at Belmont last Saturday.
Macho Again, a head behind Rachel Alexandra in the Woodward, went five furlongs 1:04 over a sloppy Church Downs surface on Sept. 24. Asiatic Boy was fourth in that Grade 1 at Saratoga.
Others going in the $750,000 Grade 1 are non-stakes winners Tizway, boasting three victories in his last five outings, and Sette E Mezzo, recording three triumphs this year all on the grass.
Bullsbay, the Whitney winner that ran third in the Woodward, was being considered for the Gold Cup or Santa Anita’s Goodwood on Oct. 10 featuring Kentucky Derby champ Mine That Bird. But he was sidelined with an injury to his right front foot suffered during training.
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