Sunday, September 17, 2000
Captain Steve wins Kentucky Cup Classic
By George Rorrer
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FLORENCE — Captain Steve kept his comeback from the low point of a spotty horse racing career alive Saturday at Turfway Park.
The horse beat favored Golden Missile by three-fourths of a length to win the $500,000 Kentucky Cup Classic, his third win in his last four races.
Captain Steve, the only 3-year-old in a field of six that included four Grade I stakes winners, is making amends for a disappointing Kentucky Derby, the worst race of his career.
At Churchill Downs on May 6, Captain Steve finished eighth, 13 3/4 lengths behind winner Fusaichi Pegasus. He did a little better in the Preakness, finishing fourth.
In Saturday's race, he beat not only Golden Missile, but Hollywood Gold Cup winner Early Pioneer and Cat Thief, the faltering champion of the 1999 Breeders' Cup Classic.
Trainer Bob Baffert, who won his third Kentucky Cup Classic, said he ran Captain Steve against older competition because, “I thought let's find out what he's really made of. He is training great. He has turned into a man. He's back to where he was as a 2-year-old.”
Jockey Shane Sellers said he thought for a moment he was going for second place. “I was on a 3-year-old running against older horses,” Sellers said. “Golden Missile put a neck on me and my horse dug in.
“I just kept riding and he kept digging deeper and deeper. He opened up on the horse, put his ears up and came home.”
Golden Missile trainer Joe Orseno said the track didn't suit his horse.
Cat Thief's loss was his 10th straight since he won the Breeders' Cup Classic at Gulfstream Park last November.
Rize, who won the Iselin Stakes by nine lengths last month, led early but was outrun.
“We were going pretty easy and I kept waiting for someone to come at me. All of a sudden there were two of them, and to my sorrow I couldn't stay with either one,” Rize jockey Jose Ferrer said.
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