Antiquarian wins Jockey Club Gold Cup; Ortiz dislodged from Mindframe

The entire complexion of Sunday’s $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) changed in the opening strides at Saratoga, when a chain reaction of interference caused Mindframe to unseat jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. The other Todd Pletcher trainee, 13-1 shot Antiquarian, escaped the jostling and went on to beat the hampered favorite, Sierra Leone, in this “Win and You’re In” for the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1). 

The melee began when jockey Kendrick Carmouche, breaking alertly from post 7 with Phileas Fogg, angled over toward Sierra Leone’s rabbit, Contrary Thinking, who left from post 6. Contrary Thinking then reacted by squeezing into the horse on his inside flank, White Abarrio, who, in consequence, was shoved into Mindframe. 

The force of White Abarrio’s collision with Mindframe, the 9-5 second choice, dislodged Ortiz from the saddle and unbalanced White Abarrio’s rider, Edgard Zayas. In a twist of fate, Zayas only just picked up the mount on White Abarrio Sunday after his connections initially named Ricardo Santana Jr. to ride. 

Ortiz made every effort to avoid going down. He even found refuge for an instant by hopping onto White Abarrio, but the situation was untenable. Ortiz fell between White Abarrio and Mindframe, and directly in the path of the trailing Sierra Leone. 

Although Flavien Prat immediately snatched up Sierra Leone, he appeared to strike the fallen rider. Sierra Leone lost his stride as Prat assessed whether to pull him up, but he then felt that the 1.15-1 favorite was moving well and able to continue the race. 

Most of the field was compromised in one way or another. Highland Falls and Disarm also took evasive action at the back of the pack, while Zayas somehow managed to regain his seat and irons aboard White Abarrio. The riderless Mindframe galloped around the track before ultimately being snared by an outrider.

Centennial Farms’ Antiquarian, the only contender drawn outside of Phileas Fogg, was unaffected by the incident. Ridden by Hall of Famer John Velazquez, just back at the Spa after guiding stablemate Fierceness to a stunning victory in Saturday evening’s Pacific Classic (G1) at Del Mar, Antiquarian settled into fourth in the strung-out field.

Contrary Thinking managed to speed ahead in service of Sierra Leone, posting fractions of :23, :46.96, and 1:11.92 in isolation. Phileas Fogg, who was sitting in second, made an aggressive move on the far turn to overtake the pacemaker and go clear.

But Velazquez, aware of what Phileas Fogg was trying to do, stoked up Antiquarian to stay in the hunt. Three lengths adrift as Phileas Fogg reached the mile in 1:36.83, Antiquarian advanced into second by midstretch. 

Phileas Fogg and Antiquarian were reprising their stretch run from the July 4 Suburban (G2) over this same track and trip, only this time, with a different result. Unlike the Suburban, where Phileas Fogg just hung on, he could not withstand Antiquarian’s rally here.

Antiquarian drove past Phileas Fogg and edged away. Sierra Leone offered a belated charge from last, and widest of all, but Antiquarian maintained a 1 1/2-length cushion.

By negotiating 1 1/4 miles in 2:02.16, Antiquarian scored his first Grade 1 win along with a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Classic. His fans were rewarded with a $28 payout.

Phileas Fogg crossed the wire in third, but the inquiry sign flashed as the stewards reviewed his action in the opening strides. Ruling that he was the instigator of the incident, they disqualified Phileas Fogg and placed him last.

Carmouche explained that his intent was to correct Phileas Fogg after he broke outward.

“My horse broke a step out, and I reached and grabbed him and pulled him back in to make him switch the leads to straighten up course,” Carmouche said, “and then I went out. He ran his race.

“I thought I was clear. I came over a little, but then Dylan (Davis on Contrary Thinking) went more. I don’t think I had anything to do with it.”

Highland Falls, the defending Jockey Club Gold Cup champion, was promoted from fourth to third. Next came White Abarrio, Disarm, and Contrary Thinking. Banishing was scratched.

“Mixed emotions,” Pletcher said of the spill-marred victory. “You hate to see anything like that happen, but at the same time, I want Antiquarian to get his due. Centennial – that's a huge win for them, so I'm happy for them. It's horrible that something like that happened. When you have a pacesetter in there, I think it changed some tactics for some riders, and it got a little messy, and unfortunately, Mindframe took the worst of it.

“It appears as though he pulled up fine,” Pletcher added of Mindframe. “He kind of slowed down, and the outriders looked like they caught him safely. Our initial inspections back here are fine. We'll obviously go over him very closely at the barn like we always do. Luckily, I think he's OK.”

Ortiz’s status was less clear. He was transported to Albany Medical Center, reportedly with pain around his ribs and left wrist. 

“I hope Irad is OK,” said Sierra Leone’s trainer, Chad Brown. “That's my main concern. Our horse is the one that went over the top of him, and my concern is for him. 

“Sierra lost his action there for a moment, and you could see Flavien looking around to see what happened. As far as the race goes, we lost a considerable amount of ground. He had to use him to try and regain where he should have been, and it certainly played a role in the finish. 

“That's horse racing, and it's just unfortunate on a big day – both for my horse, for Mindframe, who was poised for a big effort; and most importantly for Irad, who we just hope can escape from this without any injuries.

“Flavien said he nearly pulled him up out of the race when he first went over him,” Brown added. “He took a couple strides and let him run into the first turn and used him to try and catch up again. It's unfortunate, but hopefully the horses and Irad come back healthy.”

“Obviously, we lost quite a bit of ground with the incident,” Prat said of his trip aboard Sierra Leone, ”so we recovered and he made a run, but you can only make up so much ground on those good horses.

“You can definitely guess that he would have ran better” without the spill. 

Antiquarian’s record now reads 9-4-3-0, $944,100. The chestnut’s previous career highlight came in the 2024 Peter Pan (G3). Sidelined following his fifth in last year’s Belmont (G1), he hinted of more to come with his successful return at Gulfstream Park in April. Antiquarian was runner-up in the May 31 Blame (G3) at Churchill Downs en route to his near-miss in the Suburban. 

“It seemed like he was getting better and better,” Pletcher said. “We always expected him, as he got older, to get better. It seemed like the last couple times he got going just a little too late. So, he was able to get there a little sooner this time.

“I think he just got his momentum going a little sooner. The last two times, he had the best last hundred yards of the race, but he just hung a little bit from the top of the stretch to that point. Today, he got himself in a little better position to polish it off.”

Antiquarian figured to improve with maturity, not only as a May 11 foal, but especially as a son of the late-developing Preservationist. Himself a high-class Centennial colorbearer, Preservationist peaked at the age of six when taking the 2019 Woodward (G1) and Suburban.

“That makes it that much more special,” Centennial’s Don Little Jr. observed. “To have this a second time that Centennial has won this prestigious trophy is really, really exciting and special.”

Little was alluding to Colonial Affair, who turned the Whitney (G1)/Jockey Club Gold Cup for Centennial in 1994.  

“In one way, people were cheering for Sierra Leone to win the Whitney and the Jockey Club, but our horse Colonial Affair was the last to do it. We keep that in the record books,” Little said, “and it’s just been a great go. Team Todd, all the way. We’re glad that Mindframe is in good shape. We look forward to the Breeders’ Cup.”

Bred by the late Brereton C. Jones in Kentucky, Antiquarian sold for $250,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. His younger half-sister, Fondly, won this year’s Delaware Oaks (G3) and Virginia Oaks and recently placed second in the Monmouth Oaks (G3).

They are out of Lifetime Memory, an Istan half-sister to Grade 2 vixen Speaktomeofsummer. Lifetime Memory’s dam is Grade 3 scorer Silver Reunion, from the further family of Lucayan Prince and Comic Strip.