Jockey Club Gold Cup (Grade 1)

HAPPY Saver, a three-year-old homebred by Wertheimer and Frere skipped through on the rail entering the Belmont straight and battled on well to hold off Mystic Guide and win the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup on only his fourth start.

The son of Super Saver, trained by Todd Pletcher, is also still unbeaten as Irad Ortiz Jr. drove him to a three-quarter-length win, covering the mile and a quarter in 2m 1.77secs.

The odds-on favourite Tacitus, still seeking his first Grade 1 win in six attempts, put in another disappointing effort, the blinkered grey settling for third after setting a soft pace for the first mile.

Pletcher was winning the Gold Cup for the first time after Vino Rosso had crossed the wire first last year but was disqualified and placed second for interference to Code Of Honor.

“Not only had we not won it, we’d suffered some really close defeats, and then throw in a disqualification on top of that and it’s been a frustrating one over the years. This one was fun. It’s one of the races that has been hard on us. It was very fulfilling to win it,” Pletcher said afterwards.

A disappointing field of five lined up and Happy Saver broke to lead but Ortiz was more than happy to relinquish it to Tacitus. They went through a steady 24.93secs opening quarter-mile and a still slow 1m 13.61sec for six furlongs.

Mystic Guide made his move on the outside on the turn as Happy Saver got a clear run on the inside of Tacitus.

Mystic Guide at first looked the possible winner as Tacitus put up little resistance but Happy Saver proved much stronger up the final furlong and a half. Tacitus was over six lengths further back and seems to be regressing from his three-year-old form.

“To his credit, that was a pretty game performance to come up the inside there in his fourth start and first time against older horses going a mile and a quarter,” Pletcher said.

“He has a big heart, like I told Todd in the paddock. He’s a fighter. Every time he has a horse in front of him and when you ask him to go, he passes the horse and then he puts his ears up,” Ortiz told the media afterwards.

Happy Saver only made his debut less than fourth months ago, breaking his maiden on Belmont Stakes Day going seven furlongs. He won an allowance race in Saratoga in July before winning his first stakes race in the Federico Tesio Stakes at Laurel Park.

“The Wertheimers have been loyal supporters for many years, and I’m appreciative of that. It’s great to get a Grade 1 win for them,” Pletcher added.