Tonalist Gallops to Jockey Club Gold Cup Victory

Joel Rosario and Tonalist 3-3 With Jockey Club Gold Cup Victory

September 27, 2014 – Elmont, NY – After the late scratch of Prayer for Relief following a paddock incident just minutes before the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park, eleven horses walked out onto Belmont’s impressive “Big Sandy” dirt track and broke from the starting gate for a shot at winning the 1¼ mile race that would grant the victor a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Returning to his favorite track and removing the blinkers brought back the version of the colt we witnessed romp in the Peter Pan Stakes and spoiling California Chrome’s shot at immortality in the Belmont Stakes, as Tonalist surged on the stretch to win by 1¾ lengths.

It was a challenging ride for jockey Joel Rosario, who was riding the colt at the back of the pack when Wicked Strong was cut off in front and sent Rajiv Maragh down tumbling on the dirt. Rosario, along with the jockeys on horses behind Wicked Strong, quickly attempted to steer out of the fallen riders path to avoid further complications. Wicked Strong continued to run with no signs of serious injury and was later caught and lead to safety to be inspected. Maragh was said to be conscious and speaking on his way to the hospital. A post-race stewards inquiry  later disqualified Moreno for the way Junior Alvarado cut directly into Wicked Strong’s path which caused the accident.

But the events of the Jockey Club Gold Cup would not derail the Belmont winner’s plan to defend his beloved territory. At the top of the stretch Joel Rosario asked Tonalist to make his move and the colt moved from ninth to third, but ran into a little traffic down the lane. Quick to think, Rosario was able to spot an opening and boldly maneuvered the colt two wide to run clear past Zivo and Long River and win by 1¾ lengths.

Rosario, who spends most of his time riding at Belmont, is now three-for-three at Belmont on the three-year-old colt trained by Christophe Clement. A son of Tapit, Tonalist had shown a strong liking for the track in the past and the removal of his blinkers kept the colt aware as to where his rivals were lurking. Clement stated, “the blinkers had been added earlier in the year when he had not been running as well as we had hoped. He was younger then and putting them on helped keep him focused. Now that he’s more mature and experienced I knew that removing them would give him that extra competitive edge. It seemed like the right time to do it and it sure worked out well.” Tonalist stopped the clock at 2:02.12. Zivo followed in second behind by 1¾ lengths. Long River was third, behind by 2 lengths.

Final Results and payouts:

Order of Finish

8 – Tonalist
4 – Zivo
6 – Long River
11 – Moreno
9 – Stephanoatsee
10 – V.E. Day
2 – Last Gunfighter
12 – Big Casanova
7 – Speak Logistics
1 – Micromanage
3 – Wicked Strong