Vino Rosso upsets Gift Box in Gold Cup at Santa Anita

Vino Rosso, 0-for-3 at 1 1/4 miles or farther last season, successfully stretched back out Monday while giving trainer Todd Pletcher a major contender in the handicap division thanks to a score in the Grade 1, $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita.

A son of Curlin, Vino Rosso had John Velazquez aboard for the Memorial Day feature, in which the 4-year-old colt overcame a wide trip around the first turn and edged away from local favorite Gift Box late.

The final time was 2:03.00 with Lone Sailor a distant third in the field of seven.

"We're coming from 7/8," Velazquez said of Vino Rosso's last out start, a fourth in the Carter Handicap (G1), "so we know we're going to be close. There was only one speed in the race."

They bunched early at the front with longshot Blitzkreig setting early fractions of 22.97 and 46.37 just ahead of Gift Box. Up the back stretch, Vino Rosso sat third but in the clear before making it a two-horse race through the far turn.

"It worked out the way we thought," Velazquez said.

Vino Rosso, who’s campaigned by Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable, has now won two races as an older horse, pairing Monday’s Gold Cup with the March 9 Stymie Stakes back home in New York.

Last season he appeared in two legs of the Triple Crown series, the Kentucky Derby (ninth) and Belmont Stakes (fourth). After a fifth in the Travers — his other start at 10 furlongs or farther — connections shut him down in anticipation of this season.

"He's always been knocking on the door -- very close," Velazquez said. "He just had to put it all together, and he seemed to put it all together today."

“He’s come around as a bigger, stronger, better horse this year," added Pletcher's assistant, Amy Mullen, "so we were excited to get him at the right distance.”

This year could end back at Santa Anita, which hosts the Breeders' Cup.

Off at 4-1, Vino Rosso paid $10.20 to win.