St. Lewis relishing Discreet Lover's 'unbelievable' win

Uriah St. Lewis' newly minted millionaire Discreet Lover has settled back in at his Parx Racing base following his 45-1 upset of the Grade 1, $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup on Saturday at Belmont Park.

"He's good this morning -- just tired," said St. Lewis, who owns and trains the 5-year-old son of Repent.

St. Lewis said he vanned the horse back Saturday night after the race, arriving at the Bensalem, Pennsylvania, racetrack around 9:30 p.m. It was the first Grade 1 win for St. Lewis, who took out his trainer's license in 1988 and was surrounded by family and friends during an emotional winner's circle presentation.

"I got my sleep last night," he said by phone Sunday morning. "I've got 20-something other horses to take care of, so I just got to celebrate for a minute, but we enjoyed it. Maybe tonight, we'll go to dinner and really enjoy it."

In the Gold Cup, Discreet Lover rallied from well off a hot pace set by Diversify and Mendelssohn, charging down the middle of the track in the stretch to get up in the nick of time, beating Group 1 Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow by a neck. It was his seventh win in 44 career starts and added to a victory in the Grade 3 Excelsior in April, his only previous graded stakes win. 

This year, Discreet Lover has been a regular player in many of the East Coast's biggest races, generally outrunning long odds to get up for minor awards. He finished fourth this spring in both the Grade 3 Pimlico Special and Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, and this summer recorded back-to-back thirds this summer in the Grade 2 Suburban Handicap and Grade 1 Whitney, both won by Diversify, the 3-5 beaten favorite in the Gold Cup.

It was the score of a lifetime in the Gold Cup, though, that pushed the Florida-bred's earnings past the seven-figure mark for a total of $1,354,060 and earned him an all-fees-paid berth into the Breeders' Classic on November 3 at Churchill Downs.

"We watched the replay five times last night and it's just unbelievable," said St. Lewis. "Every time, we're asking, 'Did he really do that? Did he really do that?'"

St. Lewis said he doesn't plan to rush a decision on the Breeders' Cup, pre-entries for which are due by noon on October 22.

"I think we've got plenty of time, but we'll probably give it another four or five days and then we'll make a decision," he noted.