The Jockey Club Gold Cup is part of the Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series, and with his victory Bright Future earned an automatic fees-paid berth in the Nov. 4 Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park.
Proxy, a $2-million earner who won the Grade 1 Clark Stakes Presented by Norton Healthcare last fall, had a tough trip under Joel Rosario after breaking from post 1. The 5-year-old son of Tapit was boxed in on the rail for most of the race, but unleashed a furious late charge down the center of the track to fall just short of collaring Bright Future, the 3.75-1 second betting choice in the eight-horse field.
Rattle N Roll, the 1.65-1 favorite, never mounted a serious rally and finished sixth, beaten 3 ¾ lengths by the winner. Bright Future and Proxy were well clear of Tyson, who finished in third, and Clapton, the fourth-place finisher. The final time was 2:03.00, the slowest running of the Gold Cup since 2011 when the winner, Flat Out, ran the distance in 2:03.17 at Belmont Park.
Bright Future returned $9.50 for a $2 win bet.
After breaking from post 8, Bright Future and Castellano tracked the early pacesetter, Warrior Johny, in second through fractions of :22.25, :48.86, and 1:14.10. When the field reached the top of the stretch, Bright Future surged to the lead while Proxy moved off the inside and began to rally. Bright Future appeared to be on the way to a clear victory until Proxy made it a horse race in the final yards.
“I really like the way he did it and the way he finished,” Castellano said. “I had a lot of confidence after the way I rode the horse last time. He gave me the impression he was going to step up the ladder a little bit. I had a lot of confidence because this is a good horse and I thought he (could) do it. I had a beautiful trip and a good post today. It worked out great.
“I felt great because we went pretty quick (early) and had to hustle a little bit to put him in a good spot because we were way, way outside. I took a forward position and I could use my spot to get in the clear. I think that’s why I used my horse a little bit, but we backed it up a little bit just to give a little break. I think it was the key to (winning) the race.”
Heading to the winner’s circle. (Eclipse Sportswire)
Unraced as a 2-year-old, Bright Future had won three of six starts before the Gold Cup, including a dominant victory in a July 21 allowance race at Saratoga. But in his only prior stakes start, the colt was a complete non-factor while finishing eighth in the June 10 Brooklyn Stakes at Belmont Park as the second betting choice.
“Just a really nice effort,” Repole said. “A horse we had high hopes for last year. He’s a Curlin. He was winning at a mile, so we decided to try him in the Brooklyn and we looked at each other and said, ‘What were we doing?’ Something happened that day but there’s nothing wrong. He backed up his last win very impressively.”
Pletcher, who said it was unlikely that Bright Future would run again before the Breeders’ Cup Classic, always had confidence in the colt.
“He’s a horse that we’ve always thought a lot of. I’ve got to give the Violas and the Repoles a lot of credit because we’ve had to kind of tap on the brakes a few times along the way and they gave him time to develop,” Pletcher said. “We probably got a little ambitious when we tried the Brooklyn, maybe didn’t have quite the foundation to be ready to go a mile and a half at that stage. We regrouped with the allowance race here and I thought it was a powerful performance, so from that time on we’ve been pointing for this and the horse has trained exceptionally well. Coming into it, we were optimistic he was ready to make a move forward.”
With his victory in the Gold Cup, Bright Future elevated his career earnings to $716,940.
