The $1 million Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup christens opening day at the brand-new Belmont Park facility. The 1,167-day wait since the July 9, 2023 reconstruction closure gets glossed by quickly with an elite group of horses at a mile and one-quarter.
Let’s meet the contenders for the Jockey Club Gold Cup (Race 5):
#1-BAEZA: Last year's Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby winner and Kentucky Derby / Belmont Stakes third-place finisher has yet to find the end zone in 3 starts as a 4-year-old. The Bill Mott trainee is one of two runners here for the barn that will be pinch-hitting for the reigning Horse of the Year, Sovereignty, who was forced to miss the race with a reported foot abscess. Junior Alvarado, regular rider for Sovereignty, picks up the mount; they were third together in May’s Alysheba at Churchill. Mott and Alvarado teamed to win this race in 2022 with Olympiad (among Mott’s 4 career JCGC victories). Baeza will race without blinkers for the first time since his 2024 debut.
#2-STARS AND STRIPES: If Baeza is Plan B for Bill Mott in the JCGC, then this 4-year-old winner of Saratoga’s listed Birdstone Stakes would be Plan C. He has won 3 of 5 starts this year against lesser competition, including Keeneland’s Grade 3 Ben Ali Stakes. No match for Friday return rival Phileas Fogg in the Suburban on July 4. John Velazquez takes the mount for the first time. He’s a 4-time Jockey Club Gold Cup winner, including last year aboard Antiquarian.
#3-CHUNK OF GOLD: The 2025 West Virginia Derby winner has earned just shy of $1 million with consistency his calling card, placing in 7 other stakes races. But he’s 0-3 this year for trainer Ethan West out of his Turfway Park home base, including a neck runner-up in the 1-1/16 miles Iselin at Monmouth. Jaime Torres rode him for the first time on the Jersey Shore and returns. Son of 2019 JCGC fourth-place finisher and beaten favorite Preservationist.
#4-PHILEAS FOGG: Last year’s pace-making third-place finisher looks to close the Jockey Club Gold Cup deal in his second chance. The mile and one-quarter trip has been within his grasp, winning 3 times at the classic distance in stakes company. The 6-year-old won Saratoga’s Grade 2 Suburban by 10 lengths most recently under returning rider Kendrick Carmouche. Gustavo Rodriguez trains the $55K bargain buy who has earned $1.1 million with 11 wins in 24 starts.
#5-BANISHING: Never one whose connections aren’t game for a challenge, the versatile campaigner visits his 11th track when he makes his Belmont debut. The $3.9 million earner has just 1 NYRA start (a 2024 Saratoga allowance) but has won stakes this year in Dubai and at Ellis Park. He exits a runner-up in the Charles Town Classic when narrowly missing a title defense in that race. David Jacobson tabs Joel Rosario, coming off a bounce-back summer at Del Mar and a 2-time JCGC winner, to ride for the first time.
#6-RENDER JUDGMENT: Four-year-old seeks his first stakes victory in start #15. The 2025 Kentucky Derby 17th-place finisher has a Churchill allowance win on his ledger from 6 starts this year. Son of 2010 Jockey Club Gold Cup runner-up / beaten favorite Blame. Manny Franco, Saratoga’s record-setting leading jockey this summer, has the first-time call for trainer Kenny McPeek. Franco orchestrated a JCGC stunner in 2018 with 45-1 shot Discreet Lover.
#7-FOREVER YOUNG (pictured): The $31,758,590 earner – don’t adjust your screen; it’s accurate – makes his fourth American sojourn from Japan and has a huge history stateside. He was a head third in the 2024 Kentucky Derby, third again in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic and got over the top in winning the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Classic. The 5-year-old seemed as good as ever when he reappeared this spring. Forever Young out-finished the fleet American Nysos in a February showdown in the 1-turn Saudi Cup and followed up with a runner-up to American hope Magnitude in the Dubai World Cup over this JCGC distance when last seen in March. Regular rider Ryusei Sakai will be in his familiar perch for trainer Yoshito Yahagi. The plan is to use the Jockey Club Gold Cup and Belmont’s synthetic training surface to prepare for a Breeders’ Cup title defense at Keeneland.
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