Frankel Favorites in Split Decision

Trainer Bobby Frankel’s powerful stable ran favorites at opposite ends of the country with mixed results Saturday.

At Belmont Park, Squirtle Squirt, a 3-year-old running against older horses, was upset by Left Bank in the $300,000 Vosburgh Stakes, but later Super Quercus, winless since 1999, salvaged Frankel’s day with a victory in the $200,000 Bay Meadows Breeders’ Cup Handicap.

Left Bank, who paid $9.50 to win under John Velazquez, was running on his home track, where he had won three of four previous starts. Squirtle Squirt, a winner in seven of 12 races, made his first start outside California last month at Saratoga, where he was the rousing winner of the King’s Bishop, the same seven-furlong distance as the Vosburgh. A 7-10 favorite with Jerry Bailey aboard, Squirtle Squirt lost by a half-length.

Horses that run in--but don’t necessarily win--the Vosburgh frequently do better in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, which will be Oct. 27 at Belmont. In the 1990s, four Vosburgh horses--Artax, Cherokee Run, Housebuster and Gulch--won the Sprint, which is an eighth of a mile shorter.

A couple of other Sprint candidates made for a rousing finish Saturday at Turfway Park, where Snow Ridge, ridden by Pat Day, lost the lead inside the sixteenth pole but came back to beat the 3-5 favorite, City Zip, by a neck in the Kentucky Cup Sprint.

Super Quercus, ridden by Russell Baze, hadn’t won since his victory in the Hollywood Derby in November 1999.

The 5-year-old French-bred horse lost six consecutive races since then.

In the richest race of the day at Turfway, Guided Tour and jockey Larry Melancon stalked Balto Star all the way, then edged ahead in the last 40 yards to win by a neck in the $400,000 Kentucky Cup Classic.

Guided Tour has won three in a row, but before the victory, his trainer, Niall O’Callaghan, said that even a win wouldn’t punch the horse’s ticket for the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Belmont.

“Sometimes when we jump him up a notch or two, he doesn’t perform that well,” O’Callaghan said.

Guided Tour ran 12th, beating only one horse, in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Running 1 1/8 miles in 1:47 4/5, Guided Tour paid $5 as the second choice, behind Balto Star. A Fleets Dancer ran third, more than eight lengths.

In other results on Kentucky Cup day at Turfway, Trip won the $200,000 Turfway Breeders’ Cup Stakes and Spain, last year’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner, finished third; Report won the $100,000 Juvenile; and Playing ‘n Gold captured the Juvenile Fillies.

In other stakes at Belmont, Express Tour won the $150,000 Jerome Handicap by 5 1/2 lengths, with Burning Roma, the 6-5 favorite, third; and Tugger won the $113,000 Noble Dancer Handicap. Todd Pletcher, who trains Tugger, saddled Left Bank for owner Michael Tabor in the Vosburgh.

Express Tour, out of the Dubai-based Godolphin Stable of Sheik Mohammed, was making his second start since an eighth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. The 3-year-old colt and Left Bank gave Velazquez two winners for the day.