THE SIDELINES : Easy Goer Faces Tough Competition

Easy Goer takes a four-race winning streak into the $1,099,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup on Saturday against a seven-horse field that includes the only other horse to beat archrival Sunday Silence this year.

The 1 1/2-mile Gold Cup will be Easy Goer’s last race before once again confronting Sunday Silence in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 4 at Gulfstream Park. In all likelihood, Horse of the Year will be at stake.

First, however, Easy Goer must contend with a field, entered today, which includes the 3-year-old colt Prized, who beat Sunday Silence in the Swaps Stakes one start after Easy Goer beat him at the Belmont.

Easy Goer will be ridden by Pat Day. Eddie Delahoussaye gets the ride aboard Prized. Also in the field will be three horses Easy Goer already has beaten--Forever Silver, Cryptoclearance and Its Acedemic--along with Jack of Clubs and Impersonator.