Jockey Club Gold Cup - Another Milestone To Breeder's Cup

By Author: Lee Lane-Edgar
Total Articles: 365
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Almost 8 weeks and counting for the prestigious and incredibly significant race leading to the Breeder’s Cup is the Jockey Club Gold Cup, a race that has been building the part and parcel of horse racing since 1919. The traditional race, nearing its first century of continuous annual runs each year, was initially known as Jockey Club Stakes at the time of its inception.

The Jockey Club Gold Cup, the name that made it popular, was a lengthy 2 mile race when it was established in 1919 and ran the distance till 1975. The 2 mile distance that initially tested the threshold of endurance was later relaxed to 1 ½ miles that saw a further relief when it was reduced to the classic distance of 1 ¼ miles, partially dissolving its uniqueness and disabling the beauty of extremity it could otherwise test.

The race offered a purse value of $750,000 making it one of the highest paying Grade 1 races following the $1,000,000 purse Pacific Classic offers. The aura of Jockey Club Gold Cup may always have been damped by the closely stalking Breeder’s Cup following in a month but recently the race was raised from the class of ...
... another graded stakes to a necessary qualification race for the Breeder’s Cup.

The race marks the opening of the fall racing season very much like Belmont Stakes depicting spring and Travers representing summer.

The Jockey Club Gold Cup is lined up with historical moments and records that make it very special and exclusive. The race open to three year olds and up and both genders has a series of untouched records no horse could ever break. Just like the five times consecutive wins by the incredible Carl Hanford trained Kelso from 1960 through 1964.

Many exceptionally fantastic horses like Curlin, Funny Cide, Mineshaft, Bernardini and Cigar have made earned historical victories at the tournament. However it’s Skip Away, who has the fastest lap (the 1 ¼ mile distance) in 1:59.89. The maximum wins any horse has made at the Jockey Club stays with Kelso.

The Skip Away record that stands virgin till date was established during its second contention in 1997 where he also posed a threat from a West Coast Brazilian star, Siphon. Even during his first run at the Belmont Park in 1996, he defeated Cigar who was headed for his 2nd hopeful at the event and a winner of 17 out of 18 starts.

Another incredible Jockey Club specials was the 1978 win by Exceller, who defeated that year’s Triple Crown winner Affirmed (finishing fifth) along with the previous year’s Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew. It was magical how Exceller glided to victory despite a serious stalking and running over effort from the other two.

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