Marathon Turf Runners Seek 'Gold' at Belmont Park

Even the New York Racing Association can run out of stakes races.

In constructing the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, with 18 stakes spread across June 6-8, NYRA vice president of racing operations Martin Panza had to get creative in assembling the right mix of dirt and turf stakes for males and females at various distances.

To that end, Panza came up with the $400,000 Belmont Gold Cup Invitational (G2T), which ranks as one of the most unique contests during the three-day stakes spree.

Carded as the 10th race at Belmont Park | BloodHorse.com Track Profile">Belmont Park June 7, the sixth renewal of the Belmont Gold Cup will bring together an international field of nine who will travel a marathon two-mile, three-turn distance over the track's Widener Turf Course.

Yes, two miles, a rare sight for New York fans and an even longer and taxing distance than the centerpiece 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1).

"When you try to run festivals with 17 or 18 stakes races, quite frankly, you run out of stakes races to offer," Panza said. "It's obviously a unique distance in the United States. There's only the two-mile stakes at Gulfstream Park (the H. Allen Jerkens Stakes) and the mile-and-three-quarters San Jun Capistrano (at Santa Anita Park). We've been getting 10- or 11-horse fields to go. It's something unique and it's fun to watch and handles well, so it works for us."

Europeans captured the last two runnings of the race, and Friday's field includes three shippers who last raced overseas.

Heading that group is the Luke Comer owned and trained Raa Atoll, a 4-year-old son of Sea The Stars who started 2019 with a 1 1/2-length victory in the May 12 Comer Group International Oleander Rennen (G2), a two-mile turf test at Hoppegarten in Germany.

A winner of three of six starts, Raa Atoll, along with the other two Europeans, will be racing on Lasix for the first time Friday.

OTI Racing, Laurent Dassault, and Elisa Berte's Amade is a 5-year-old Casamento gelding who should have no problem with the distance. His last four starts included three wins and a second at distances of at least two miles, though all of them were on synthetic surfaces. Trained by Alessandro Botti, he owns one win in two tries on turf.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al Maktoum's Mootasadir has won six of nine career starts, but the son of Dansili has yet to finish better than fourth in three starts on turf for trainer Hugo Palmer.

The United States' contingent includes the Trinity Farm homebred Red Knight, who prevailed in the aforementioned H. Allen Jerkens Stakes for trainer Bill Mott. The 5-year-old, New York-bred son of Pure Prize out of the Skip Away mare Isabel Away, proved best by a head over Soglio in the Dec. 29 stakes, covering two miles in 3:19.87.

In his most recent start, Red Knight led in mid-stretch but settled for second by a half-length April 20 in the 1 1/2-mile Dixiana Elkhorn Stakes (G2) at Keeneland.

"He's doing very well," Mott said. "He had a couple of very good works and he's in good order for the Gold Cup."

Donegal Racing, Joseph Bulger, and Peter Coneway's Arklow comes off a sharp second in the Man o' War Stakes (G1T) at Belmont Park, in which he rallied from ninth to finish second by a neck to Channel Maker going 1 3/8 miles. The son of Arch already owns graded stakes wins in the Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup Stakes (G3T) last year and the 2017 American Turf Stakes Presented by Ram Trucks (G2T). 

"On paper, we think he's as good as the best there is in the country," said Jerry Crawford, president of Donegal Racing. "There's a little fear of the unknown in going this long but he's showing signs of being able to get the two miles and we know that he likes the turf at Belmont.

Bred by John and Frank Penn, he was bought for $160,000 from the Penn Sales consignment at the 2015 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Sean Shay and Michael J. Ryan's Hunter O'Riley ran in the 2017 Belmont Gold Cup, finishing fifth, 2 1/2 lengths behind Europe's Red Cardinal. The son of Tiz Wonderful won his subsequent start, the Bowling Green Stakes (G2T), but enters winless in his last six starts, including a seventh in the Elkhorn in his last try.

The 6-year-old gelding is out of the Bernardini  mare Oblige and was originally sold by Legacy Bloodstock to Jarazen Stable for $120,000 at the 2014 Keeneland September sale. He then went to Shay for $50,000 from the Niall Brennan Stables consignment at the 2015 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.

Last year's Belmont Gold Cup winner, Call to Mind, had a regal ring to it as he is owned by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, who watched from afar in England. As a result, thanks to his wisdom in creating the Belmont Gold Cup, Panza experienced a cherished thrill that will never leave him when he and former NYRA president and CEO, Chris Kay, traveled to England later that month and presented Her Majesty with the Belmont Gold Cup trophy at Royal Ascot. 

"It was a pleasant surprise to present a trophy to The Queen of England and talk with her for a few minutes," Panza said. "It created a moment of a lifetime."

Entries: Belmont Gold Cup Invitational S. (G2T)

Belmont Park, Friday, June 07, 2019, Race 10

• Grade IIT
• 2m
• Turf
• $400,000
• 4 yo's & up
• 5:48 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Mootasadir (GB)	Ben Curtis	121	Hugo Palmer	6/1
2	2Noble Thought (KY)	Kendrick Carmouche	115	Michael J. Maker	20/1
3	3Amade (IRE)	Flavien Prat	119	Alessandro Botti	8/1
4	4Red Knight (NY)	Jose L. Ortiz	115	William I. Mott	7/2
5	5Highland Sky (KY)	Manuel Franco	115	Barclay Tagg	15/1
6	6Arklow (KY)	Florent Geroux	123	Brad H. Cox	5/2
7	7Hunter O'Riley (KY)	Junior Alvarado	115	James J. Toner	10/1
8	8Raa Atoll (GB)	Jozef Bojko	121	Luke Comer	6/1
9	9Canessar (FR)	Joel Rosario	115	Arnaud Delacour	9/2