Olympiad powers to victory in Jockey Club Gold Cup

Saratoga Spring, N.Y.

Olympiad showed he belongs in the Breeders’ Cup Classic mix when he bested Americanrevolution by two lengths to win the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup on Saturday at Saratoga.

The son of crack sprinter Speightstown had been surrounded by questions after a flat fourth-place finish in the Aug. 6 Whitney (G1) here abruptly snapped a season-opening five-race winning streak.

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott breathed a sigh of relief after Olympiad and jockey Junior Alvarado patiently stalked front-running Tax before pouncing around the far turn and then easily repelling Americanrevolution. Late-running First Captain settled for third.

“It was good to see him come back,” Mott said. “The other one the other day was almost too bad to be true considering the form he had been in the previous five races. It’s just good to see him bounce back.”

Olympiad’s first Grade 1 triumph in his initial try at 1 1/4 miles was rewarded with an automatic, fees-paid berth in the Nov. 5 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland.

Mott felt good about his Gold Cup prospects in the paddock. “I liked the way he looked after we put the saddle on. He was walking around, he was on his toes,” he said. “He was a little quiet the other day when it was so hot. He kind of had his head down a little bit, just a little too quiet. I think everybody was moving a little slow. But today it looked like he had a little extra energy, a little extra bounce in his step.”

As encouraging as that was, Mott still needed to see the Olympiad that began the season by rattling off victories in an allowance optional claimer at Gulfstream Park, the Mineshaft (G3) and New Orleans Classic (G2) at Fair Grounds and the Alysheba (G2) and Stephen Foster (G2) at Churchill Downs. No rival drew closer than a final two-length margin during that torrid stretch.

And then to never threaten in the Whitney? To come in 9 1/4 lengths behind Life Is Good, a relentless pace-setter?

“You always wonder. Any time a horse runs a dull race you wonder if they are tailing off on you,” Mott admitted. “The way he looked and attitude-wise, I wouldn’t have said that was happening. But when you look at the past performances, he didn’t run his best race last time.”

No one appreciated the 4-year-old’s return to form more than Alvarado, who has been aboard for every start this year. “It was just important to make sure he ran back to his race, that way we knew where we were and can draw a line through (the Whitney) because it was awful and a head-scratcher.”

The Gold Cup underscored the sport’s wrenching highs and lows. Less than an hour before, Mott watched War Like Goddess and jockey Joel Rosario fall victim to a lack of pace in suffering a stunning upset to front-running Virginia Joy in the Flower Bowl (G2).

“That was a very big disappointment for me because I felt I had probably the best horse in the race. But we were a victim of the pace,” Mott said. “We kind of got stuck down in there and he waited until they turned for home to let her run. And it was just too late.”

In contrast, Alvarado gave Olympiad a perfect ride, leaving Americanrevolution and Rosario to be second best.

“Olympiad got a jump on him at the quarter pole and he was playing catch up from there,” noted trainer Todd Pletcher. “He kept grinding away. I think he saw out the mile and a quarter no problem. He just couldn’t quite close the gap that was created at the top of the stretch.”

Pletcher also finished fourth with Untreated, fifth with Keepmeinmind and sixth with Suburban (G2) winner Dynamic One in an eight-horse field completed by Chess Chief and weary pace-setter Tax.

The winner paid $5.40. He completed the trip on "fast" track in 2:02.11.

When Pletcher was asked about which of his horses might emerge from the Gold Cup as Classic hopefuls, he responded, “We’ll see what we do between now and then. From what we saw in the Suburban, Dynamic One, in a different scenario, could fit. I think Americanrevolution showed today that a mile and a quarter is within his range.”

For now, the certainty is that resilient Olympiad is very much back in the Classic picture.