Jockey Club Gold Cup: Draw, odds for $1 million race
Mindframe and Sierra Leone, who finished a length apart in each of their first two meetings, drew adjacent posts in the nine-horse field for Sunday’s Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga.
Sierra Leone in post 3 was installed Wednesday night as the 8-5 favorite by New York Racing Association morning-line writer David Aragona. Mindframe drew 4 and was made the 2-1 second choice.
Entries were taken Wednesday for the 1 1/4-mile race, which qualifies the winner for a berth in the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 1 at Del Mar. The fifth of 14 races Sunday, the Jockey Club Gold Cup is scheduled for 1:45 p.m. EDT.
DeRosa: Jockey Club Gold Cup fair odds.
Mindframe, a 4-year-old Constitution colt trained by Todd Pletcher, is 3-for-3 this year with wins in the Gulfstream Park Mile (G2), the seven-furlong Churchill Downs Stakes (G1) and most recently the 1 1/8-mile Stephen Foster (G1). In that June 28 race at Churchill, Mindframe held off a late rally by runner-up Sierra Leone.
In his only previous start at Saratoga, Mindframe led in the homestretch only to finish second to Dornoch and just ahead of Sierra Leone in the 2024 Belmont Stakes. That race covered the same 10 furlongs as the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
With $1,844,580 in earnings for owners Mike Repole and Vinnie Viola, Mindframe will be ridden again by Irad Ortiz Jr.
Sierra Leone, a Gun Runner colt, successfully showed off his signature, deep-closing style Aug. 2. That was when he went from worst to first to win the 1 1/8-mile Whitney (G1) at Saratoga. It was his first win since he scored last fall in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Trained by Chad Brown for owners Peter Brant, Coolmore, Westerberg and Brook Smith, 4-year-old Sierra Leone has earned $6,806,200. He will be paired again with jockey Flavien Prat.
Brown also entered Brant’s 5-year-old gelding Contrary Thinking (50-1), who succeeded in his mission as the pace-making rabbit for Sierra Leone in the Whitney. He goes with Dylan Davis from post 6.
White Abarrio (8-1), who won the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic, tries to rebound from fourth-place finishes at Saratoga in both the Met Mile (G1) on June 7 and the Whitney. The Race Day horse trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. and ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr. began 2025 at Gulfstream Park by winning the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) and the Ghostzapper (G3).
A $7,091,920 earner who is owned by Gary Barber, C2 Racing Stable and La Milagrosa Stable, 6-year-old White Abarrio will start Sunday from post 5.
Defending winner Highland Falls (5-1), trained by Brad Cox, finished second to Sierra Leone in this month’s Whitney. In between the Godolphin homebred who has earned $1,512,660 came in ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic and won a top-level, one-mile allowance race in June at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet. A 5-year-old entire by Curlin, Highland Falls will be ridden by Luis Sáez from post 2.
Top two Suburban (G2) finishers Phileas Fogg (15-1) and Antiquarian (12-1) also were entered, as were Whitney third-place finisher Disarm (15-1) and Friday’s Charles Town Classic (G2) victor Banishing (15-1).
Each horse will carry 126 pounds in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.