Forged Steel Dominates Hollywood Gold Cup
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Photo: Benoit Photo
Forged Steel wins the Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita Park
Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. won his second consecutive Hollywood Gold Cup (G2) May 25 by shipping horses across country to Santa Anita Park. He did it in 2025 with the venerable Skippylongstocking , who is heading toward career earnings of $6 million, and this year he sent Forged Steel , a multiple stakes-placed runner who got his first career stakes win.
At one point in the afternoon, it looked like Joseph might need a jockey because Flavien Prat had a 3 1/2-hour flight delay coming in from New York, where he had ridden at Aqueduct Racetrack the previous day. While Prat couldn't get to Santa Anita in time for his mount in the fourth race, missing out on a win in an allowance race aboard multiple graded stakes-placed Resolve , he made it in time for the Gold Cup, the fifth race on the program.
Forged Steel, the 3-1 third choice, does his best running when he can set the pace, and in the 1 1/4-mile Gold Cup, he shot out of the gate from the rail and went right to the front. Malarchuk , the 9-5 favorite, sat right off Forged Steel's hip a half-length back, with Mc Vay , British Isles , and Subsanador staying well within reach.
But Forged Steel dominated throughout. The others allowed him to get away with easy fractions of :23.22 for the first quarter-mile and :46.73 after a half-mile. Forged Steel pulled away from Malarchuk approaching the quarter pole, and then the gray invader gave the locals a trouncing that will not be easily forgotten. He crossed the wire 9 1/2 lengths in front of Malarchuk, who beat Mc Vay by a nose for third. Forged Steel stopped the timer in 2:01.58.
It was the biggest margin in the Gold Cup since the race was moved from Hollywood Park to Santa Anita in 2014. Lava Man came close in 2005, the first of his three consecutive Gold Cups, when he won by 8 3/4 lengths at Hollywood Park.
"The horse ran a good race; it was my first time aboard him," Prat said. "He had a good run in his past races, and he showed another good run here today."
Forged Steel races for the partnership of C2 Racing Stable and Mathis Stables. Prior to the Gold Cup, the colt had raced exclusively in the eastern half of the United States, primarily in Florida, but with stops in Kentucky, New York, and Arkansas. His stakes placings came in the 2025 Cutler Bay Stakes, English Channel Stakes, and Carry Back Stakes at Gulfstream Park and the 2026 Temperence Hill Stakes at Oaklawn Park.
Richard Wilson bred Forged Steel in Kentucky from the Tale of the Cat mare Scorecard . Forged Steel sold twice, for $80,000 at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Select Yearling Sale and for $190,000, to C2 Racing Stable, at the 2024 Ocala Breeders' Sales March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.
Forged Steel and Mad House are 2026 graded stakes winners sired by Vekoma , a millionaire son of Candy Ride . The leading first-crop sire in North America in 2024, Vekoma stands for a 2026 stud fee of $100,000 at Spendthrift Farm near Lexington.