Racing
Belmont Gold Cup to provide Golden ticket
A golden ticket into the Lexus Melbourne Cup is up for grabs at Saratoga on Friday.
The Grade 2 Belmont Gold Cup (3219m) is one of eight ballot exemption races for the Lexus Melbourne Cup on November 4.
This year's edition will be run at 5:08pm local time, which is 7:08am on Saturday morning in AEST, with Victorian race caller Matt Hill set to call the race for the second year running.
It's one of just two races outside Australia to hold that title, alongside with the Ebor Handicap at York, and in recent years the race has provided a pointer to horses who will end up down under.
Initially run in 2014, the Belmont Gold Cup was upgraded to a Grade 3 in 2017 and then a Grade 2 in 2018.
Four winners of the race since 2017 have made their way to Australia, with Baron Samedi, Loft, Amade and Red Cardinal all thrown up as Melbourne Cup hopefuls.
Having won the Belmont Gold Cup with aTimeform
rating of 115 in 2017, Red Cardinal started $16 in that year's Melbourne Cup, finishing 11th to Rekindling, returning in 2018 but struggling.The recently retired Amade has arguably been the most successful Belmont Gold Cup winner on Australian shores but never quite made it to the Melbourne Cup. Running a Timeform rating of 116 in 2019, he won thrice for Phillip Stokes, including the Group 3 Geelong Cup (2400m) in 2023.
A 3-1/4 length winner and also boasting a Timeform rating of 116, Loft was well fancied for the 2022 Melbourne Cup but was unfortunately ruled out due to injury.
He's found a new lease on life as one of the most promising hurdlers in the country for Shane Jackson and was last seen running fourth in the Listed Andrew Ramsden Stakes (2800m) at Flemington.
Baron Samedi posted a very strong Timeform rating of 119 when winning at Belmont, which at the time was his seventh win in a row. Form around some of the top stayers in Europe, including 2020 Melbourne Cup winner Twilight Payment, demonstrated that his Belmont Gold Cup form certainly measured up on a global scale.
As we look ahead to the 2025 edition, which will be the second year the winner is granted ballot exemption to the Melbourne Cup, we should hopefully see the relationship between the NYRA and the VRC strengthen, with more trainers and connections willing to target both races.
13 will line up in this year's race with a competitive edition, including Anglophile, trained by Brian Lynch who grew up in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales.
Boasting a peak Timeform rating of 113, Anglophile hasn't won for some time but has placed in his past two at Keeneland and Aqueduct.
Arguably the horse to beat however is six-year-old gelding Flatten The Curve who has struck a purple patch of form, winning his past four starts in France and Germany.
A well-seasoned stayer who took 13 starts to win his maiden, and went 17 starts winless prior to October last year, he's since transferred to the care of German trainer Henk Grewe who has improved him rapidly in four starts for four wins.
He was last seen winning the Group 2 Oleander-Rennen (3200m) at Hoppegarten and posting a new peak Timeform figure of 114 in the process.
Racing And Sports' records will show that both Red Cardinal and Loft won the Oleander-Rennen prior to taking the Belmont Gold Cup, and Flatten The Curve has out-rated them both to do so.
His 114 edges Red Cardinal and Loft by one and two pounds respectively, with that pair then improving slightly to win in America.
If Flatten The Curve is to (counteractively to his name) improve again, he'll take a power of beating at Saratoga on Saturday morning and could well stamp his passport for the Lexus Melbourne Cup.
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