Hawthorne Gold Cup Is Won by Evanescent

Evanescent surged along the inside to defeat odds-on favorite Marquetry by a neck and win the $400,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup at Hawthorne Race Course on Saturday.

Valley Crossing was a nose farther back in the 1 1/4-mile race.

Marquetry, ridden by Mike Smith, tracked 21-to-1 shot Northern Trend for about a mile. He took a 1 1/4-length lead in mid-stretch, but couldn’t hang on.

Evanescent, ridden by Aaron Gryder and owned by Mark Levey of Chicago, paid $10.60, $3.60 and $2.20 and was timed in 2:02.

Marquetry returned $2.60 and $2.20, while Valley Crossing paid $2.40.

“I knew if he made his usual stretch run, we could win,” Gryder said.

“He likes to run on his own for quite a while. When I called on him in the stretch, he responded.”

Evanescent won three graded stakes at Arlington International Racecourse, including the Arlington Handicap, and finished second to Star Of Cozzene in the Arlington Million on turf.

The $240,000 purse increased Evanescent’s earnings to $972,015.