Creme Fraiche Wins the Jockey Club Gold Cup

Creme Fraiche rebounded from the worst race of his career to win the $850,500 Jockey Club Gold Cup by a head at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., Saturday and put a crimp in Turkoman’s bid for Horse of the Year.

The victory over Turkoman, the 1-2 favorite, and stablemate Danzig Connection (in third place) was Creme Fraiche’s first since February and followed an 11th-place finish in the Aug. 31 Arlington Million. It was also the first Gold Cup victory for his 73-year-old Hall of Fame trainer, Woody Stephens.

Creme Fraiche, the 1985 Belmont Stakes winner, ran the 1 1/2 miles in 2:28, four seconds off the track record set by Secretariat in 1973. He earned $510,300, pushing his lifetime earnings to $2.153 million.