A.C. and Clare Asbury’s
Gleam of Hope rallied from last place in the field of nine to
upset the field in scoring a half-length victory over Psychic Income in
the 35th running of the
$112,300 Jefferson Cup (GIII) for 3-year-olds on Saturday afternoon at
Churchill Downs.
Ridden by E.T. Baird and
trained by Tony Reinstedler, Gleam of Hope ran the 1 1/16 miles on a
Matt Winn Turf Course rated as “good” in 1:45.61. The victory was worth $66,841
and raised Gleam of Hope’s bankroll to $258,219 with a record of 11-4-1-1.
Gleam of Hope is a homebred son
of City Zip out of the Vice Regent mare Victorious Vice.
Lost Aptitude, ridden by Garrett
Gomez, led the field through fractions of :24.77 and :50.19. On the far
turn, Formulaforsuccess and Corey Nakatani moved to the lead
while Baird still had Gleam of Hope last but in the clear.
Turning for home, Baird swung
Gleam of Hope eight-wide and swept past the field to secure his first stakes
victory at Churchill Downs and the second stakes score for Gleam of Hope, who
took the Cradle at River Downs last September.
Gleam of Hope returned $20, $9.60
and $5.80. Psychic Income, ridden by Corey Lanerie, returned
$20.20 and $9.40 with favored Asphalt finishing three-quarters of a
length back in third under Jose Lezcano and paying $3.60 to show.
Completing the field in order were Our Douglas, Lost Aptitude, Guys
Reward, Don’t Tell Kitten, Formulaforsuccess, Scottkeith’skitten.
The Jefferson Cup trophy was
presented by Hall of Fame jockey Steve Cauthen, who rode the most recent
Triple Crown winner, Affirmed, in 1978.
JEFFERSON
CUP QUOTES
E.T.
BAIRD (jockey, GLEAM OF HOPE, winner):
“We put blinkers on him this time and it made him focus a little more and a
little more aggressive. The plan was to lay him a little closer today, but the
way the race worked out we got pinched back a little bit. He was being
aggressive and I didn’t want to fight him the whole way, so I thought the best
thing was to lay back and it made him relax.”
TONY
REINSTEDLER (trainer, GLEAM OF
HOPE, winner): “Before the blinkers he was so far out of his races and he
had way more to do. He’s always been a solid horse and he’s shown that. If you
look at the past performances he has run against the best and he’s better on
the grass than the dirt. I’m real proud of him. He’s responded to what we
wanted to do with a turf schedule for this year, and so far it’s working out
for us. The Mid-America Triple at Arlington
Park will probably be
next for him.”
COREY
LANERIE (jockey, PSYCHIC INCOME, second):
“I had a great trip. I was just stalking on the outside and moved when I was
ready. It looked like I was going to run them down.”
JOSE
LEZCANO (jockey, ASPHALT, third): “He
had good position but I just don’t think he liked the grass.”