Ken and Sarah Ramsey had a nice day on Saturday capped by a
fine Grade 2 score in the 75th running of the Grade 2, $500,000
Hawthorne Gold Cup. The race, contested
at 1 ¼ miles on a fast Hawthorne track initially appeared to be a matchup
between Rule and Giant Oak, but wide trips compromised both of those
runners. In the end, it was the Ramsey’s
Headache that emerged on top with a strong closing move.
Breaking sharply from the gate, longshot Cherokee Lord
cruised out to the lead, setting early fractions of :24 and :48 3/5 for the half. Slowing things down into the turn, the field
bunched up after three-quarters in 1:13 3/5.
As horses looked to find position, favored Giant Oak swung 6 wide while
Cease and Where’s Sterling
split horses to take the lead into the stretch.
Following those two, jockey Paco Lopez made his move and angled out in
the stretch to wear both down, winning by a half length while stopping the
clock at 2:04 3/5. Where’s Sterling just
held off Cease for second while Mister Marti Gras closed sharply for fourth,
followed by Giant Oak, Maristar, Rule, Moe Man, Worldly and Cherokee Lord.
Sent off at 5-1,
Headache returned $12.60, $6.00 and $4.40.
Where’s Sterling
returned $7.40 and $5.80 while Cease came back $4.40. The Gold Cup was the second Graded Stakes
victory for Headache as he won the Grade 3 Cornhusker in June at Prairie
Meadows.
Jockey Paco Lopez had just enough aboard Headache to hold
off his foes in the end, “I had a little trouble
around the five-eighths. I had to wait a little. I also saw a couple of horses
waiting on the inside. But, once we got clear around four and a half furlongs
out, I went after it. I saw the number 8 (Where’s Sterling)
and the 10 (Giant Oak) coming along with Cease but I was able to hold them off.”
Jockey E. T. Baird was aboard
Where’s Sterling,
“He broke good but then we were hung wide on the first turn. Other than that it was a good trip but he
just got outrun.”
Miguel Mena was aboard up and
coming star Cease, “I wish he would have relaxed a little better, if he had he
would have won. He has a really nice way
of going.”
Beaten favorite Giant Oak’s jockey
Jesus Castanon just didn’t get the trip today, “They went so slow early. I got pushed pretty good on the first turn
and that got my horse upset. He wanted
to go after them. I got him settled down
on the backside and then he went fine.
He made a move but they went away from him.”