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Moreno, Itsmyluckyday go separate ways on Belmont's Super Saturday

Moreno will be looking to take the Jockey Club Gold Cup wire to wire (Jessie Holmes/EquiSport Photos) Moreno certainly likes Belmont Park and, according to trainer Eric Guillot, is more than capable at a mile and a quarter despite not having won at the distance. That combination of factors might help the four-year-old gelding against a deep field of 11 rivals Saturday in the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup. The historic Gold Cup, which anchors Belmont's traditional Super Saturday program of Breeders' Cup preps, will provide Moreno with an opportunity to enhance his championship credentials in the older male category. The son of Ghostzapper has just one win in six starts this year -- in the $1.25 million Whitney at Saratoga on August 2 -- but a win Saturday and in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita on November 1 would surely attract support his way.

After a disappointing first three starts to the year, including a last-place effort in the Metropolitan Handicap, Moreno has posted two seconds -- in the Suburban Handicap and Woodward -- in addition to his wire-to-wire score in the Whitney. He will break from post 11 on Saturday, the same post he drew in the 1 1/4-mile Suburban in July, and could prove tough to pass if he can shake loose early from other potential front-runners such as longshot California invader Big Cazanova and the three-year-old Wicked Strong.

"(Moreno) does not want anything right next to him," Guillot said. "So (jockey) Junior (Alvarado has) already been told (about it); that little flaw in him is something that we have worked on, and that (Alvarado) knows to (try to get a way from a challenger) if we find ourselves on the lead turning for home."

Moreno, who romped in the 2013 Dwyer at "Big Sandy," has a mixed record over 10 furlongs, but ran two solid races in defeat in both the Suburban, where he set a fast pace, and in last year's Travers when second by a nose to the recently-retired champion Will Take Charge.

Also hoping to keep some hope alive for a year-end championship are the three-year-old colts Wicked Strong, Tonalist, and V. E. Day. Currently longshots in a race where Shared Belief and California Chrome are favored, any one of the trio could make a late grab at that prize with a victory in the Gold Cup and Breeders' Cup Classic.

Little separated stablemates V. E. Day (left) and Wicked Strong in the Travers (NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography) Wicked Strong, hero of the Wood Memorial and Jim Dandy, was run down late by stablemate V. E. Day in the Travers last time. The photo-finish loss was the first for the Hard Spun colt since adding blinkers in the Jim Dandy. V. E. Day, also from the Jimmy Jerkens barn, enters the Gold Cup on a four-race win streak. The Travers was the colt's graded stakes debut, and came one month after his initial stakes score in the restricted $100,000 Curlin, also at Saratoga. "I realized inside the eighth pole it was going to be between our two (horses)," Jerkens said. "I thought Wicked (Strong) was going to hold on, but (V. E. Day) switched his lead and surged the last three jumps and nailed him right on the wire. I mean it was really the very last jump. It was disheartening for Wicked Strong. You know, he ran so hard. He didn't cut out the pace, but he was pretty close to a lively pace. He pretty much ran all the way."

Tonalist, who stopped California Chrome's Triple Crown bid with a head score in the Belmont Stakes, is perfect in two starts over the Belmont main track, having also captured the Peter Pan earlier this year. However, the Christophe Clement charge disappointed upstate over the summer, finishing second at odds-on in the Jim Dandy and third in the Travers. He will race without blinkers for the first time this year in the Gold Cup.

"Tonalist was a little more aggressive than I wanted him in both races in Saratoga," said Clement of the equipment change. "He's an older horse than he was in May or June and he's more mature. He's been working without blinkers after the Travers and has been working very well."

Zivo, who possesses a solid 6-4-0-2 mark at Belmont, is the dark horse of this year's Gold Cup. Impressive when beating Moreno by three lengths in the Suburban, the New York-bred five-year-old saw a six-race winning streak snapped when he was a rallying fourth in the Woodward over 1 1/8 miles.

"We gave him a prep race in the Woodward, and I thought he ran well considering the little bit of a layoff, cutback, and how Saratoga maybe isn't his favorite track," trainer Chad Brown said. "He seems to be coming into the Jockey Club Gold Cup in terrific shape."

Jockey Club Gold Cup contender Zivo easily won the Suburban Handicap in July (NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography) Among those who look a cut below the top contenders are the older horses Prayer for Relief, Last Gunfighter, and Micromanage. A multiple Grade 2 winner in years past, Prayer for Relief has earned minor awards this season in the Pimlico Special, Suburban, and Woodward. Last Gunfighter, a multiple graded stakes winner last year, showed lesser form throughout the summer, while Micromanage has been competing primarily in marathons, with varying success, this term. Completing the field are outsiders Long River, Stephanoatsee, and Speak Logistics. Itsmyluckyday, who wore down Moreno to win the Woodward by a half-length, cuts back to a mile Saturday for the Grade 2, $400,000 Kelso Handicap.

Ostensibly a prep for the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, Itsmyluckyday would have more than just that option with a victory in the Kelso. Trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. has reported that the Lawyer Ron colt will be considered for the Dirt Mile or Classic, for which he would have to be supplemented, or wait for the Cigar Mile Handicap at Aqueduct on Thanksgiving weekend.

"We're looking at the Kelso not so much for what the race will tell us about him but as a prep for what's next," Plesa said. "This weekend will be the final (Breeders' Cup) preps for all these horses. We're going to look and see what happens -- so far, you have Palace Malice retiring, California Chrome not running his best race (in the Pennsylvania Derby) -- so we'll wait to see what shakes out."

Fourth to Palace Malice in the Gulfstream Park Handicap to kick off the year, Itsmyluckyday next reeled off three straight wins at Monmouth Park, including the Salvator Mile, before finishing second to Moreno in the Whitney. He got his revenge in the Woodward while wearing blinkers for the first time.

"We know he can go a mile, and last year he finished second at 1 3/16 miles, and he's a lot bigger and stronger than he was in the Preakness," Plesa added. "We have options, and after the race we'll make some decisions. The Classic is definitely on the radar."

Itsmyluckyday beat Moreno in the Woodward, but opts for the Kelso on Saturday (NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography) Golden Ticket, best known for dead-heating with Alpha for the win in the 2012 Travers, has run his best races this year around one turn. Second by a head in the Gulfstream Park Handicap, the Kenny McPeek trainee looked sharper than he had in some time with a last-to-first rally in the $98,000 Left Bank over a mile on opening day of Belmont's fall meet. Other leading contenders in the seven-horse Kelso are Bradester, second to Itsmyluckyday in the Salvator Mile and recently the winner of the Ack Ack Handicap at Churchill Downs, and River Rocks, who makes a return to stakes company after ripping through his second- and third-level allowance conditions at Saratoga in fine style. Graded stakes veterans Capo Bastone and Vyjack, and the allowance-class Scarly Charly, complete the field.

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