Festin Stays Closer to Pace in Gold Cup Victory

With only one front-runner in the field for Saturday’s $850,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park, trainer Ron McAnally decided Festin needed to be closer to the pace than usual in order to win. He was, and he did.

Festin never was more than six lengths off the lead and beat Chief Honcho by 1 1/4 lengths. The Argentine-bred 5-year-old, who was timed in 2:00 3/5 seconds for the 1 1/4 miles, scored his third victory in 10 starts this year and sent his career earnings past $2 million.

“He was close (to the pace) today,” McAnally said of Festin. “We tried to put some speed into his (workout). We wanted to see if he would stay close. The way the race shaped up, there was only one horse who had all the speed, and that was dangerous.”

That horse was Twilight Agenda, who led until the eighth pole. Eddie Delahoussaye sent Festin past Chief Honcho and into the lead with about a sixteenth of a mile to go.

Strike The Gold, the Kentucky Derby winner, finished a neck behind Chief Honcho and 1 3/4 lengths ahead of Twilight Agenda. Mountain Lore was last.

Asked if it was planned to have Festin closer to the pace than usual, Delahoussaye said: “Not really, but he broke sharp and I just let him stay where he was. He was relaxed.”

Festin, who earned $150,000 for his victory, carried 126 pounds and was timed in 2:00 3/5 seconds, and paid $7.40, $3.40 and $2.80. Chief Honcho, ridden by Mike Smith, returned $3.40 and $2.60. Strike The Gold, ridden by Pat Valenzuela, returned $2.80.