JOCKEY CLUB GOLD CUP

(GRADE 1)

AMANDA St Lewis stood on the edge of the winner’s circle after the Whitney at Saratoga in August and cackled. Part admiration, part awe, She showed her respect for Discreet Lover, who finished third in Saratoga’s most important stakes for older horses.

“I love this little horse,” St Lewis said. “They always doubt him, his odds are always 30/1, 40/1, he never doesn’t show up, he might get beat but he always shows up.”

Moments later, Amanda’s husband, owner/trainer Uriah St Lewis offered the same type of admiration and awe.

“He runs in the mud, he runs in the slop, he runs in anything. He always tries, this horse always tries, he never gets any respect, we love it, we keep betting him, we make money and we keep making money.”

That day, Discreet Lover was sent off at 38/1 and finished a non-threatening third behind Diversify and Mind Your Biscuits. A month later, Discreet Lover, an overachiever from Parx, Pennsylvania, tried the big boys in New York again but wound up 12th after a rough-and-tumble attempt in the Woodward. He showed up, but got roughed up.

St Lewis, who purchased Discreet Lover for $10,000 as a yearling, didn’t waver, aiming Discreet Lover to the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park last Saturday.

Show up? He stood up, upsetting the iconic stakes at a cool 45/1. Oh yeah, St Lewis bet.

“All I want to do is go cash my ticket,” St Lewis said.

WICKED PACE

Capitalising on a wicked pace set by last year’s winner Diversify (he went the first half-mile over two seconds faster than he did in 2017) and prompted by Irish raider Mendelssohn, Discreet Lover charged from fifth to score by a neck over Irish-bred Thunder Snow. Mendelssohn hung tough to be third while Diversify faded to fifth.

Manny Franco guided Discreet Lover, who snapped a six-race losing streak while bounding into millionaire status for the low-budget team of Uriah and Amanda St Lewis.

“It’s the first Grade 1 for the horse and myself,” said St. Lewis. “He did it all. He can come flying. The wire came right when we wanted it to come.”

Asked about the Breeders’ Cup after winning the “win and you’re in” race, St Lewis, ever the horseman and the businessman, weighed both.

“It was great. But I want to go back and spend some time with him. Let’s see how he comes out of it, and then we’ll go from there. But everything is paid for so we don’t have to worry.”

From Trinidad and Tobago, St Lewis came to the US in the early ‘70s and began betting on horses at Aqueduct before trying his hand at training. He won his first race in 1988 and hasn’t changed his hands-on approach, hopping in the van to head from Parx to Belmont Park for the Jockey Club Gold Cup. The family – and the horse – were back at Parx by 9.30 that night.

“We watched the replay five times last night and it’s just unbelievable,” said St Lewis. “Every time, we’re asking, ‘Did he really do that? Did he really do that?’ ”

All St Lewis had to do was check his pocket for the wad of cash to answer that.