Diversify Brings Top Class to Jockey Club Gold Cup

There are some performances in a racehorse's career that can be pegged as the moment the corner turned for the better. Diversify's 2018 debut was not one of those.

Five months ago, the Bellamy Road  gelding was having a most inauspicious time of things in his seasonal bow, finishing last as the favorite in the April 21 Charles Town Classic Stakes (G2). Considering he ended his 2017 campaign with a disappointing run in the Clark Handicap presented by Norton Healthcare (G1), the notion the 5-year-old bay was a few starts from becoming the top handicap horse in the East would have taken some measure of gall to bet on.

Proving once again how quickly fortunes can shift, Diversify has completely flipped his narrative. With a trio of victories behind him,  including a top-level win where he never let his rivals get close to challenging him, the Rick Violette-trained gelding comes into the Sept. 29, $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park atop the divisional perch on this side of the Mississippi and stands as the heavy favorite for the 10-furlong test against seven others.

In the aftermath of his Charles Town debacle, Violette gave Diversify a chance to get his confidence back by putting him in against fellow New York-breds in the one-mile Commentator Stakes May 28 at Belmont. Though his winning margin was just a nose that day, the regrouping effort moved the venerable runner forward to the point that he dismantled nine others during a 6 1/2-length, gate-to-wire triumph in the Suburban Stakes (G2) July 7, when he covered 1 1/4 miles in 1:59.84.

Violette was leaning toward bypassing the Whitney and waiting for the Woodward Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1), but the gelding trained well enough to convince him otherwise. The result was another statement-making effort from Diversify as he broke on top and dictated every point of call en route to besting runner-up Mind Your Biscuits by 3 1/2 lengths.

"He just threw in a clunker in the one race (at Charles Town), and he's been terrific ever since," said Violette, who conditions Diversify for Ralph Evans and Lauren Evans. "He's just gotten very, very confident. He settled in over the racetrack, he loves Saratoga, and he's done everything we've asked of him.

"We're trying to duplicate what we did last year," Violette added, referencing Diversify's triumph in the 2017 Jockey Club Gold Cup, which marked his first graded stakes score. "There's a lot of marbles on the table. A big race is a big race, and there's some nice horses in there. He's had three very, very good races, and it certainly doesn't hurt that he can handle an off racetrack."

The Belmont main track has often brought out the best in Diversify, with the gelding posting six wins from eight starts over Big Sandy. Assuming nothing goes amiss this weekend, Diversify is expected to be among the top contenders for the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Churchill Downs—a track he never got comfortable over during his fourth-place finish in last year's Clark Handicap.

To that end, Violette said he would consider shipping his charge in earlier to get him acclimated to the surface. But first, there is the matter of getting himself in that position to begin with.

"We'll kind of take it one step at a time," Violette said. "We'll probably head down to Kentucky and train him over there, and if all things go well, we'll go ahead to the Breeders' Cup. But it's one step at a time."

Leaving Diversify loose on the lead has been a surefire way for his rivals to get burned. How much company—if any—he has on the front end Saturday could depend on which versions of Thunder Snow and Mendelssohn show up in the starting gate.

Though Thunder Snow's antics at the start of the 2017 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1)—where he propped and bucked after the break and was ultimately pulled up by jockey Christophe Soumillon—gained him infamy on this side of the ocean, the quirky Godolphin homebred is a grade/group 1 winner at ages 2,3, and 4 who defeated champion West Coastby 5 3/4 lengths with a frontrunning effort in the Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1) March 31.

In his only start since that win, the son of Helmut was last of eight in the Juddmonte International Stakes (G1) at York Aug. 22, beaten 13 1/4 lengths by Roaring Lion. Saturday will mark his return to dirt, and he got accustomed to the Belmont surface Sept. 26 with a four-furlong breeze in :52.94.

"We're excited to get him back to the dirt," said Tommy Burns, traveling manager for trainer Saeed bin Suroor. "He was running well in the U.K. on the grass in group 1s, and he did win a group 1 in France on heavy ground in Saint-Cloud Racecourse, but he really enjoys the dirt, so we're happy to see him back on it."

Mendelssohn is another who freaked over the Meydan surface March 31, going to the front in the UAE Derby Sponsored By Saeed & Mohammed Al Naboodah Group (G2) on his way to throwing down an 18 1/2-length victory. The regally bred son of Scat Daddy had a terrible trip in this year's Kentucky Derby, finishing 20th, but he enters off a solid second-place run in the Aug. 25 Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1), where he set the pace before giving way to Catholic Boy.

Entries: Jockey Club Gold Cup S. (G1)

Belmont Park, Saturday, September 29, 2018, Race 10

• Grade I
• 1 1/4m
• Dirt
• $750,000
• 3 yo's & up
• 5:50 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Carlino (KY)	Jose Lezcano	126	Mark A. Hennig	30/1
2	2Gronkowski (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	122	Chad C. Brown	4/1
3	3Mendelssohn (KY)	Ryan L. Moore	122	Aidan P. O'Brien	7/2
4	4Patch (KY)	Luis Saez	126	Todd A. Pletcher	20/1
5	5Uno Mas Modelo (KY)	Javier Castellano	126	Anthony T. Quartarolo	30/1
6	6Diversify (NY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	126	Richard A. Violette, Jr.	4/5
7	7Discreet Lover (FL)	Manuel Franco	126	Uriah St. Lewis	15/1
8	8Thunder Snow (IRE)	Christophe Soumillon	126	Saeed bin Suroor	6/1