NY-Bred Millionaire Cross Border Returns to the Flat in G2 Belmont Gold Cup

June 6, 2023

Cross Border wins the 2020 Lubash Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. (Coglianese)

Saratoga Action In The Cards for Winchell Graded-stakes Winners

Belmont Park Notes

ELMONT, N.Y. – Three Diamonds Farm’s multiple graded-stakes winning New York-bred Cross Border has made his last three starts over jumps but will return to the flat in Friday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Belmont Gold Cup, a two-mile Widener turf test for older horses, at Belmont Park.

The 9-year-old English Channel ridgling made five starts for trainer Keri Brion dating to September, including his last three over hurdles led by a maiden score traveling 2 1/16-miles in March at Aiken ahead of a distant fourth last-out in a 2 1/2-mile handicap over soft ground on April 29 at Charlotte.

Cross Border recently rejoined the barn of Mike Maker, who conditioned the dark bay from 2019-August 2022, and has posted a trio of works over the Belmont dirt training track including a half-mile effort in 52 flat this morning.

“He’s the same old Cross Border. He’s a sound, hickory horse,” Maker said.

Bred in the Empire State by Berkshire Stud and B. D. Gibbs, Cross Border captured back-to-back editions of the 11-furlong Grade 2 Bowling Green in 2020-21. The ultra-consistent Cross Border sports a ledger of 49-12-8-6 for purse earnings in excess of $1.1 million.

He will be in search of his first win in 10 attempts over the Belmont green, having hit the board on four occasions.

“It looks like a tough spot to make his comeback, but we’ll see,” Maker said.

Irad Ortiz, Jr. will pilot Cross Border from post 12 as part of a stacked 13-horse field that includes European raiders Siskany and High Definition.

Saratoga Action In The Cards for Winchell Graded-stakes Winners

Gunite (#3) deprived Bango (#4 inside) of his third Aristides and 11th Churchill win. (JennyPhoto/Past The Wire) 

While the current main focus of owner Ron Winchell’s racing operation is Grade 1 Belmont Stakes contender Red Route One, the upcoming meet at Saratoga Race Course is in play for much of his graded stakes-winning Gun Runner progeny, including Gunite, who could target the Grade 1, $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap on July 29. 

Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Gunite was triumphant in Saturday’s listed Aristides at Churchill Downs, which he won by 1 3/4 lengths while hitting a career-best 108 Beyer Speed Figure. The effort came following on-the-board efforts in the Group 3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint [2nd] on February 25 at King Abdulaziz Racecourse and the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen [3rd] on March 25 at Meydan Racecourse. 

Gunite earned both of his graded wins at Saratoga, taking the 2021 Grade 1 Hopeful and last year’s Grade 2 Amsterdam at the Spa. 

Winchell Thoroughbreds’ racing and bloodstock advisor David Fiske said Gunite has matured throughout his 4-year-old year. 

“We were hoping if he came back and was as good or better, that he would show up at Saratoga this year, given how good he’s run there in the past,” Fiske said.

Gunite, a Kentucky homebred, is out of the stakes-winning Cowboy Cal mare Simple Surprise, who won the 2015 Bolton Landing at the Spa. A seven-time stakes winner overall, he boasts a productive record of 17-8-5-2 and $1,749,509 in earnings. 

Echo Zulu just crushed the Winning Colors (G3) at Churchill Downs. (Coady Photography)

Previous Saratoga graded stakes victresses Echo Zulu and Wicked Halo also are slated for Spa action over the summer. 

“I would suspect that they will all be on the Oklahoma training track before too long,” Fiske said. 

Echo Zulu, the 2021 Champion 2-Year-Old Filly, has not raced at the Spa since capturing the Grade 1 Spinaway during her champion-earning season. The Asmussen-trained 4-year-old bay filly was second in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in November at Keeneland and commenced her current season in style when capturing the Grade 3 Winning Colors on May 29 at Churchill Downs by 5 3/4 lengths. The effort produced a career-best 97 Beyer. She is owned by Winchell in partnership with L and N Racing – who campaigned her Grade 1-winning half-brother Echo Town. 

Wicked Halo taking the 2022 Prioress at Saratoga. (Adam Coglianese)

Wicked Halo, a millionaire, is unbeaten in two starts at Saratoga – both in graded events – for Asmussen. She scored in her graded stakes debut in the 2021 Grade 2 Adirondack and captured the Grade 2 Prioress in September. A winner of the Grade 2 Raven Run at Keeneland and third-place finisher of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, the gray filly defeated Matareya in the March 31 Matron in her seasonal debut at Oaklawn. She finished second last out to Matareya in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff on May 6 at Churchill Downs, where defending Champion Female Sprinter Goodnight Olive finished third following a victory in the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland. 

“That might be the toughest division anywhere,” Fiske commented. “When Goodnight Olive ran in her comeback race, she got a 98 Beyer. When Matareya won on Derby Day, she got a 97. Wicked Halo’s comeback race was a 94 and she ran a 95 on Derby Day. That’s a pretty tough trio right there.”

Events for elder female dirt sprinters at the Spa include the Grade 2, $200,000 Honorable Miss Handicap on July 26 at six furlongs and the Grade 1, $500,000 Ballerina Handicap on August 26 at seven furlongs. 

Fiske mentioned the seven-furlong Grade 2, $200,000 Bed o’ Roses on June 17 at Belmont Park as a possible Saratoga springboard for Wicked Halo. 

“We nominated Wicked Halo to the Bed o’ Roses and she’s still possible but we haven’t decided on anything yet,” Fiske said. 

Wicked Halo, a Kentucky homebred, is out of the graded stakes winning Tapit mare Just Wicked. 

Fiske mentioned that Disarm, who finished fourth in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby last out, will likely target the Grade 3 Matt Winn on June 11, which will be run at Ellis Park. 

“I enjoy the fresh take and straight shooting from Jonathan Stettin in his Past the Wire column.”

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