Cross Traffic to point for Jockey Club Gold Cup

Cross Traffic will make his next start in the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup

on September 28 at Belmont Park, trainer Todd Pletcher confirmed on Wednesday.

An impressive front-running winner of the Whitney Handicap on August 3 at

Saratoga, Cross Traffic also was being considered for Saturday's $750,000

Woodward.

The Whitney and Woodward are run at 1 1/8 miles, while the Jockey Club Gold

Cup is contested at 1 1/4 miles, the same distance as the Breeders' Cup Classic

on November 2 at Santa Anita, which is Pletcher's primary goal for the

four-year-old son of Unbridled's Song.

"It was a tough decision, but we're trying to figure out the best way to get

to the Breeders' Cup," Pletcher said. "We felt like bypassing (the Woodward) and

getting a mile and a quarter race five weeks out from the Breeders' Cup Classic

puts us in a better position than running a mile and an eighth nine weeks out,

and then possibly needing to run back in the Jockey Club, as well. It was a

tough call, but that's kind of what it came down to."

The Whitney was the longest race to date for Cross Traffic, who ran ran

second in the one-mile Metropolitan Handicap and Westchester, beaten a nose and

a head, respectively.

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