See the field, post positions, riders for Jockey Club Gold Cup

The only loss so far in Happy Saver’s short career came this summer on a sloppy track at Belmont Park. He will try to make up for that on what is forecast to be a sunny day Saturday at Saratoga.

Bred and owned by the Wertheimer brothers and trained by Todd Pletcher, Happy Saver drew post 4 and is likely to be the favorite among the six horses entered in the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup, a 1 1/4-mile race for 3-year-olds and up. The race is an automatic qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Classic covering the same distance Nov. 6 at Del Mar.

Click here for Saratoga entries and results

Irad Ortiz Jr. has the ride again on the 4-year-old Super Saver colt who finished wide-traveling third in the Suburban Stakes (G2) on July 3. Happy Saver had been 5-for-5 before that, racing on nothing but fast tracks since his debut in June 2020.

Suburban winner Max Player, who is 2-for-2 on wet tracks, will be rematched against Happy Saver. Drawing post 2, the 4-year-old colt by Honor Code will again have Ricardo Santana Jr. riding. Steve Asmussen trains Max Player, whose 10: 3-1-2 record includes four consecutive out-of-the-money finishes before his Suburban win.

Grade 3 winner Forza Di Oro, who also scored on an off track his last time out, was drawn into stall 2 for trainer Bill Mott. His muddy, three-length victory in a Saratoga allowance race July 21 came after he had been on the bench for eight months. Jockey Júnior Alvarado will again be on the 4-year-old Speightstown colt.

Second-itis seems to have gripped Night Ops, who has been a runner-up in his last four starts. Drawn into post 5 this weekend, the 5-year-old horse by Warrior’s Reward finished 1 1/2 lengths behind Art Collector in the Alydar Stakes on Aug. 6 at Saratoga. Jockey Manny Franco keeps the ride Saturday for trainer Brad Cox.

Two horses with a combined 12 wins in 66 starts fill out the field. Chess Chief in post 3 returns to the dirt after finishing fourth as the odds-on favorite in the Bert Allen Stakes on the Colonial Downs turf July 19. The meet’s leading jockey Luis Sáez will ride the 5-year-old for Dallas Stewart. A loser in his last 10 races, 6-year-old Forewarned drew outside with Sonny León in the irons for owner-trainer Uriah St. Lewis.

The National Weather Service has forecast a mostly sunny Saturday at Saratoga with a high near 76.

Traditionally held during the Belmont Park fall meet, the Jockey Club Gold Cup traded places on the calendar with the Woodward (G1), which had been a final-weekend fixture at Saratoga for 15 years.

The field for Saturday's Jockey Club Gold Cup, which is carded as race 12. 

1. Forza Di Oro, Junior Alvarado

2. Max Player, Ricardo Santana Jr.

3. Chess Chief, Luis Saez

4. Happy Saver, Irad Ortiz Jr. 

5. Night Ops - Manny Franco

6. Forewarned - Sonny Leon