Spa Saturday: Jockey Club Gold Cup, Flower Bowl, Prioress fields

Godolphin’s Grade 1 winner Proxy will make his Empire State debut in Saturday’s 105th running of the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup going 1 1/4 miles for 3-year-olds and upward at Saratoga.

For the winner, the race is an automatic qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.

Proxy, a son of Tapit, is a six-time winner over four different ovals and enters from a victory in the Monmouth Cup (G3) on July 22 going 1 1/8 miles, where he led from start to finish.

Click here for Saratoga entries and results.

The 5-year-old bay horse established clear command entering the turn before being pressed by multiple graded-stakes placed Calibrate to his outside down the backstretch. Around the far turn the two were joined by Whelen Springs, who was three wide nearing the quarter pole as Calibrate began to drop out of contention. Whelen Springs had dead aim on Proxy in mid-stretch, but the latter had enough left to kick clear to a 2 1/2-length triumph. Whelen Springs exited that effort to capture the Philip H. Iselin (G3) on August 19 at Monmouth Park.

Proxy’s Monmouth Cup conquest came two starts following an off-the-pace win in the Oaklawn Handicap (G2) on April 22, when he defeated multiple graded-stakes-winning millionaire Last Samurai and Grade 1 winner Stilleto Boy. Trainer Michael Stidham praised his talented earner of $2,024,970 for being able to switch things up tactically at Monmouth.

“He showed some versatility and showed us that he can adapt to the pace whatever it may be,” Stidham said. “Those are things that earlier in his career he wasn’t able to do. It gives us a little more confidence that if things don’t set up the way we expect them, he can change tactics and still run a big race.”

Proxy secured his breakthrough triumph in last year’s Clark (G1) on Nov. 25 at Churchill Downs, defeating eventual Grade 1 winner West Will Power by three-quarters of a length. The effort came five months following a third-place finish in the Stephen Foster (G2) in July 2022 at Churchill Downs, where he earned a career-high 104 Beyer Speed Figure finishing five lengths back of the victorious Olympiad, last year’s Jockey Club Gold Cup winner.

Joel Rosario, a two-time Jockey Club Gold Cup winner, has been aboard Proxy for his last three wins and will return to the irons from post 1.

Trainer Kenny McPeek will saddle Lucky Seven Stable’s Grade 1 winner Rattle N Roll, who was last seen posting a runner-up effort in the Stephen Foster (G1) on July 1 at Ellis Park. The 4-year-old Connect colt earned his Grade 1 accolade in his stakes debut when conquering the Breeders’ Futurity in October 2021 at Keeneland.

Rattle N Roll will break from post 4 in rein to Brian Hernandez Jr.

?Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher will seek his second Jockey Club Gold Cup triumph when saddling Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable’s Bright Future who will take Javier Castellano out of post 8.

Bright Future defeated second-level winners by 4 3/4 lengths last out July 21 traveling 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga, where he earned a career-high 100 Beyer. The three-time winning son of Hall of Fame inductee Curlin, who won the Jockey Club Gold Cup in 2007-08, made his lone stakes performance in the Brooklyn (G2) on June 10, going 1 1/2 miles at Belmont Park. He finished a distant eighth in his lone off-the-board placing.

Trainer Josie Carroll will bring a pair of formidable contenders by way of Canada in last-out, graded-stakes winners Tyson, who will break from post 6 with Manny Franco, and Duke of Love, from post 7 with Luis Contreras.

Hill ‘n’ Dale Equine Holdings’ Kentucky homebred Tyson brings a highly consistent 5-4-0-1 record into his dirt debut, entering from a three-length score in the Seagram Cup (G3) going 1 1/16 miles on July 29 over Tapeta at Woodbine.

MyRacehorse’s Duke of Love has campaigned mainly over Woodbine’s all-weather surface but has captured both of his conventional dirt starts. The 4-year-old bay son of Cupid won last year’s Prince of Wales on dirt at Fort Erie by a half-length over next-out, graded-stakes winner Ironstone. Following a trio of unplaced efforts at Woodbine, Duke of Love returned to the dirt to capture the West Virginia Governor’s Cup (G3) on Aug. 6 at Mountaineer Park.

Spa winner McKulick headlines Flower Bowl

Klaravich Stables’ multiple graded-stakes winner McKulick will attempt to get her second such victory this summer at Saratoga in the $500,000 Flower Bowl (G2), a 1 3/8-mile, inner-turf test for older fillies and mares.

The Flower Bowl offers a win-and-you’re-in berth to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

McKulick enters from a determined neck score in the Glens Falls (G2) on Aug. 3 for four-time Eclipse Award-winning conditioner Chad Brown, claiming the victory from 4 1/2 lengths off the pace under regular pilot Irad Ortiz Jr. The daughter of Frankel was fourth at the top of the lane but showed a tremendous turn of foot to sweep past multiple Grade 1-winning multimillionaire War Like Goddess in the final yards and complete the course in 2:27.05. She was awarded a career-best 95 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort, according to Daily Racing Form.

“She looks good,” said Brown, who pursues a record-extending eighth Flower Bowl victory and second consecutive after sending out Virginia Joy to capture last year’s running. “I’ve been really happy with her training and we penciled this in right after (the Glens Falls). She seems to run well at Saratoga.”

The consistent McKulick is 2-for-3 lifetime at Saratoga, beginning with a win on debut traveling 1 1/16 miles in August 2021. She returned to the Spa the next summer to finish second in the Saratoga Oaks Invitational (G3) in between victories in the Belmont Oaks Invitational (G1) in June and the Jockey Club Oaks Invitational (G3) in September at Belmont at the Big A, the latter her only start at the Flower Bowl distance.

“She’s come around and was a little slow to come into form this year, but now I think she’s doing better than ever,” Brown said. “She needed a little more fitness and such, and this time of year she’s at her best, physically. She’s carrying the most weight I’ve seen her carry, and she’s really loving the summer. I think it’s leading to her success.”

Ortiz retains the mount from post 2.

Jersey Pearl is set to shine in Prioress

Silverton Hill’s Jersey Pearl will look to secure her first career stakes win in the $250,000 Prioress (G2), a six-furlong sprint for sophomore fillies.

Trained by Darrin Miller, the Bee Jersey chestnut was freshened after a brief, winter campaign at Turfway Park that included a third-place finish in the Gowell on New Year’s Eve. She returned from a four-month layoff in fine form May 27 in a six-furlong, optional-claimer at Churchill Downs to post a neck score over returning rival Alva Starr, who exited that effort to win the Dashing Beauty at Delaware Park.

Jersey Pearl followed by taking a six-furlong, optional-claiming sprint over older company on July 8 at Ellis Park, scoring by 9 1/2 lengths over next-out winner Let’s Be Clear.

"I think the freshening was key. She matured, not just physically but mentally," said Miller, who captured the 2018 Caress with Ruby Notion. "She's a big, rangy filly, but she's fast."

Last out, Jersey Pearl stepped into the top-flight for the first time in the seven-furlong Test (G1) on Aug. 5, stalking the pace from third position but was clipped from behind by Clearly Unhinged at the nine-sixteenths pole. She stayed on well until the upper stretch before fading to finish fifth.

Miller said clipping heels may have hindered his filly.

"It did, but I don't know to what effect. She came out of it in good order. Most importantly, she seemed to get across Saratoga fine," Miller said. "Obviously, that race was a tall order, and there were no great expectations. We knew what we were running against, and if she would have hit the board, it would have been fantastic, but building a resume is the biggest goal. I also think she's a competitor. I don't think you can throw her out. She can make sense in some places."

Bred in Kentucky by Charles Fipke, Jersey Pearl is out of the Perfect Soul mare Jersey’s Soul, who is a half-sister to 2010 Cigar Mile (G1) winner Jersey Town.

The Spa’s leading rider Irad Ortiz Jr. picks up the mount from the inside post.