Lady Eli, Cupid score at Santa Anita
After heartbreaking losses in her last two starts — by a nose in the BC Filly and Mare Turf (G1) and by a head in the Jenny Wiley (G1) — Lady Eli resumed her winning ways Saturday in Santa Anita’s Gamely Stakes (G1). The 5-yearold mare, making her second start of the year, held off a late bid from longshot Goodyearforroses in prevailing by a halflength. The running time for 1 1/8 miles over firm turf was a swift 1:45.29.
Lady Eli has never been worse than second in 11 career starts, winning eight of them.
The three narrow defeats were by a total of approximately a length. With the Gamely win, the daughter of Divine Park becomes only the sixth horse in the past quarter-century to win Grade 1 races in at least four different years. The others were Beholder, Court Vision, Game On Dude, Wise Dan and Stephanie’s Kitten. Beholder did the others one better by winning Grade 1s in five different years.
The field for the Gold Cup at Santa Anita, the second half of Saturday’s Grade 1 double, was a mix of hardnosed older campaigners (Midnight Storm, Hard Aces and Big John B) and promising younger runners (American Freedom, Cupid and Follow Me Crev) looking to make their mark in the handicap division. American Freedom and Midnight Storm took most of the money at 3-2 and 5-2, respec- tively. They were followed by Follow Me Crev (7-2) and Cupid (71), who was making his first start in eight months. American Freedom, pressed by Midnight Storm, led the way through three-quarters in 1:10.62. Midnight Storm took over at the quarter-pole, but was soon passed by Cupid, who had enjoyed an ideal stalking trip in fourth. The three-time Grade 2 winner proceeded to open up on the field, passing under the wire 3 ¼ lengths clear of Follow Me
Crev.
With his decisive Grade 1 victory at 1 ¼ miles, Cupid earns a spot among the leaders in the handicap division. The Tapit colt missed most of the big races last year, but after his comeback performance Saturday his connections may feel their horse’s best is yet to come.
A visit to Saratoga this summer has been mentioned as a possibility, which would mean starts in the Whitney and/or Woodward. Let it be so.
Lubash, King Kreesa and Kharafa at it again
These days, horses only have to run against each other two or three times before they are said to have established a rivalry. If this is true, how do we define the enduring competition among Lubash, King Kreesa and Kharafa? During the past four years, there have been an astounding 23 races (most of them stakes) in which either two (17 races) or all three (7 races) of these iron horses have appeared.
Going into Monday, the three veteran statebreds (Lubash is 10, King Kreesa and Kharafa are a relatively youthful eight) had combined to make 128 starts, winning 41 of them and placing in 43 others.
The victories included 29 stakes, five of them graded, with the others mostly statebred events. Their combined earnings approached $4 million.
On Monday, King Kreesa, Kharafa and Lubash faced off in the $125,000 Kingston Stakes for the fourth time. The three filled out the trifecta in 2013 and 2015, with Kharafa and then Lubash finishing first; last year, they ran second, third and fourth, respectively.
The wins for the trio have been fewer and farther between the past couple of years, and in Monday’s Kingston, Offering Plan, a relative youngster at five, was sent off as the 2-1 favorite.
As is his wont, King Kreesa led most of the way over the yielding Belmont course, but was passed late by the favorite, who went on to win by a length. Lubash and Kharafa easily took third and fourth behind King Kreesa, proving — in case anyone was in doubt — that these guys still have it.