Summer Bird steps up in Jockey Club Gold Cup

by Jeff Lowe

Back at the site of his Belmont Stakes (G1) triumph, Summer Bird will take on older opponents for the first time on Saturday in the $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) with a chance to open up some daylight in the divisional championship race.

With his 3 1/2-length win in the Shadwell Travers Stakes (G1) on August 29 (video), Summer Bird joined Rachel Alexandra as the only multiple Grade 1 winners in route races on dirt this year. Of course, they are both three-year-olds, and several of the older males who finished behind Rachel Alexandra in the Woodward Stakes (G1) on September 5 (video) will be there to greet Summer Bird in the 1¼-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup.

“I think the way he's come out of the Travers and coming up into the race, I think he's ready for the step up,” trainer Tim Ice said. “He's almost four now, so I think he'll handle it. And he seems to have moved forward off the Travers. He's training super coming into the race. And I look forward to the test.

“Any Grade 1 race is important, but when you add onto it the historical significance of Easy Goer being the last three-year-old to win the Belmont, Travers, and Jockey Club Gold Cup in the same year, it’s very meaningful.”

In between the Belmont and Travers, Summer Bird finished second by six lengths to Rachel Alexandra in the Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) on August 2 on a sloppy track at Monmouth Park (video). Summer Bird drew off in the Travers on another sloppy surface.

A after the Travers, Macho Again came a head short of catching Rachel Alexandra in the Woodward. The four-year-old Macho Uno colt won the New Orleans (G2) (video) and Stephen Foster (G1) Handicaps (video) earlier this year, and he will get a chance to strengthen his Eclipse Award position in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

“He’s a top horse, championship caliber,” trainer Dallas Stewart said.

Woodward fourth-place finisher Asiatic Boy (Arg) also is in the field of seven, along with Suburban Handicap (G2) winner Dry Martini (video), who skipped the Woodward after finishing fifth in the Whitney Handicap (G1).

BlackBerry Florida Derby (G1) winner Quality Road (video) will get a second chance at Summer Bird after finishing third as the favorite in the Travers. Quality Road set a Saratoga track record in his only other start since the Florida Derby, completing 6½ furlongs in 1:13.74 in the Amsterdam Stakes (G2) on August 3 (video).

Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer

Jockey Club Gold Cup S.

For Equibase entries of Saturday's Belmont card, click here .