Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (Grade 1)

BELMONT Park reopened last Friday after a three-year construction development and there was an international star taking centre stage.

Japanese globetrotting star Forever Young had little difficulty in taking the opening day feature, when he captured the $935,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes by three and a quarter lengths, having little challenge from his three rivals up the straight.

The commentator might have got a little carried away in calling him one of the greatest horses, but there’s no doubt he has had a unique career, from Japan to Dubai to America and with Keeneland in October the big aim again.

The Breeders’ Cup Classic, which he won last year, is his target with trainer Yoshito Yahagi saying he was 80% fit here. Fans noted the five-year-old did not switch leads up the straight. It was his first start since second in March’s Dubai World Cup.

Phileas Fogg led by about a length down the long backstretch, but midway on the turn, Forever Young pounced his run and Phileas Fogg had no answer.

“We are really glad to win the opening day Jockey Club Gold Cup on a special day. This achievement is great for us,” trainer Yoshito Yahagi said.

Bill Mott trained the second and third Stars And Stripes and Baeza here and will provide the main opposition in the Breeders’ Cup with Sovereignty.

Pennsylvania Derby (Grade 1)

THE Puma had started out on the Kentucky Derby trial last March, winning the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby and lost out by a nose to Commandment in the Grade 1 Florida Derby, but looked one of the leading colts of his division.

The Essential Quality colt, trained by Gustavo Delgado, then missed the Kentucky Derby and classic season with a leg abscess and did not reappear until the Grade 1 Haskell in mid-July, where he was fourth to Baby Vino and then fourth again in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes to Leading Change. The Derby winner Golden Tempo was just a length ahead of him.

The Puma now stepped forward in the three-year-old male division, when in first-time blinkers, he beat another well-regarded three-year-old in Further Ado in the Pennsylvania Derby.

He took charge entering the straight and then fended off a late bid by Further Ado, who started favourite, to notch a half-length victory in the $1 million contest for Javier Castellano. He was also providing his sire with a first Grade 1 winner.

Javier Castellano and The Puma were eighth in the early stages, and Castellano sent his mount to accelerate around his rivals, six-wide into the lead entering the stretch.

The Puma had plenty left to see off Further Ado, who was second by a length and a half over Sassmaster.

“When Javier made his move, I said, ‘He wins’. He went very fast,” Delgado said. Delgado added that The Puma’s target could be the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Bay’s Cotillion Stakes

In the Grade 1 Cotillion Stakes, the three-year-old filly Bodacious Bay hit the target for her new connections in beating Always A Runner and Measure in the $1 million race for three-year-old fillies.

Bodacious Bay gave trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. another Grade 1 win for the season and the fourth Grade 1 that Husbands and Joseph have won together this year.

Micah Husbands, riding Bodacious Bay for the first time, had the Not This Time filly in second for the first half of the race, with Bodacious Bay taking over at six furlongs and won by three and a quarter lengths.

Kentucky Oaks winner Always A Runner came clear of traffic to launch a bid under Jose Ortiz, and took second.

The best of the three-year-old filly division is a bit unclear, with Always A Runner winning the Kentucky Oaks, Counting Stars winning the Grade 1 Acorn and Coaching Club American Oaks, but then beaten by My Gun’s Loaded in the Alabama Stakes.