Vino Rosso Flows in Gold Cup

The Thoroughbred industry lost one of its most beloved horsemen earlier this week when Jimmy Crupi passed away in Maryland at the age of 79. Monday afternoon, a continent away, Vino Rosso (Curlin), a horse selected by Crupi at Keeneland September on behalf of his devoted clients Mike Repole and the St. Elias Stable of Vinnie Viola, overcame a tough trip and an equally tough opponent in the form of 'TDN Rising Star' Gift Box (Twirling Candy) to post a poignant and fitting victory in the GI Gold Cup at Santa Anita. Midwest raider Lone Sailor (Majestic Warrior) rallied from last in the field of seven to complete the trifecta.

Drawn widest of the septet, Vino Rosso and John Velazquez hit the ground running, but was consigned to a four-wide run around the clubhouse turn, as Blitzkrieg (War Front), Gift Box and Core Beliefs (Quality Road) all showed early speed inside of him. The latter was first to beat a retreat and began to drift back at the midway stage, and that allowed Velazquez to drop down into the three path as the field neared the entrance to the second turn. Joel Rosario gave Big 'Cap winner Gift Box his cue with three-eighths of a mile to race, but he was unable to put any space between him and Vino Rosso and the two were more or less on even terms at the quarter pole. The Pletcher trainee stuck his neck in front with a little more than a furlong to travel and was always holding Gift Box in the run to the line. The winner covered 26 feet (about three lengths) more than the runner-up, according to Trakus data. The sixth non-Breeders' Cup weekend starter in California for Pletcher since 2015, he is the conditioner's first local Grade I winner since Angela Renee (Bernardini) won the Chandelier S. in 2014.

Winner of last year's GII Wood Memorial to earn his Kentucky Derby berth, Vino Rosso was a mostly even ninth in the Run for the Roses and fourth in Justify (Scat Daddy)'s Triple Crown-clinching GI Belmont S. A closing third in the GII Jim Dandy S., Vino Rosso couldn't overcome a wide passage when fifth in the GI Travers S. and time was called on the season. He resumed with a tenacious tally in Aqueduct's Stymie S. over a one-turn mile and was stretching out markedly in trip off a fourth to World of Trouble (Kantharos) in an oddly run renewal of the GI Carter H. Apr. 6.

Pedigree Notes:

Vino Rosso is the ninth individual Grade I winner for Hill 'n' Dale's Curlin and the seventh top-level winner produced by a daughter of the late Street Cry (Ire). Bred, like the aforementioned Triple Crown hero by John Gunther, Vino Rosso is a half-brother to So Alive (Super Saver), third in this year's GIII Sam F. Davis S. and to the Irish-based juvenile Ramesses the Great (Pioneerof the Nile), a $350,000 Keeneland November weanling turned $575,000 Keeneland September yearling. Vino Rosso's dam Mythical Bride is a half-sister to MGSW and 2014 GI Belmont S. runner-up Commissioner (A.P. Indy) as well as GSW Laugh Track (Distorted Humor), second in the 2013 GI Breeders' Cup Sprint at Santa Anita. Dam of a yearling colt by Uncle Mo, Mythical Bride foaled a full-brother to Vino Rosso this year.

Monday, Santa Anita Park
GOLD CUP AT SANTA ANITA S.-GI, $500,702, Santa Anita, 5-27, 3yo/up, 1 1/4m, 2:03.00, ft.
1–VINO ROSSO, 121, c, 4, by Curlin">Curlin
1st Dam: Mythical Bride, by Street Cry (Ire)
2nd Dam: Flaming Heart, by Touch Gold
3rd Dam: Hot Lear, by Lear Fan
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($410,000 Ylg '16 KEESEP). O-Repole Stable
& St. Elias Stable; B-John D. Gunther (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher;
J-John R. Velazquez. $300,000. Lifetime Record: 12-5-0-2,
$1,253,125. Werk Nick Rating: A+.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Gift Box, 125, h, 6, Twirling Candy–Special Me, by Unbridled's
Song. 'TDN Rising Star' ($135,000 Wlg '13 FTKNOV). O-Hronis
Racing LLC; B-Machmer Hall, Carrie & Craig Brogden (KY);
T-John W. Sadler. $100,000.
3–Lone Sailor, 121, c, 4, Majestic Warrior–Ambitious, by Mr.
Greeley. ($120,000 Ylg '16 KEESEP). O-G M B Racing;
B-Alexander – Groves – Matz, LLC. (KY); T-Thomas M. Amoss.
$60,000.
Margins: 3/4, 5 1/4, 1. Odds: 4.10, 0.70, 5.70.
Also Ran: Mongolian Groom, Higher Power, Core Beliefs, Blitzkrieg. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.