Game On Dude in the Game for Gold Cup

It’s looking like Game on Dude will be game to try and defend his title in the Hollywood Gold Cup, set to go Saturday, July 6, 2013 at Betfair Hollywood Park. Although final entries won’t be drawn until Wednesday for the $500,000 Grade I event, all indications are the 2012 champ will be in the field, and has been assigned high weight of 127 lbs. for the 1 ¼ mile race, to be run over the Cushion Track . Veteran jockey Mike Smith will have the ride.

'Dude trying to make it two-for-three in HGC

Trained by Bob Baffert, the Gold Cup will be start number 26 for the outstanding Kentucky-bred son of Awesome Again. For his career he has a record of 13 wins, five seconds and a third. Included in that is a second place finish in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Classic, where he led all the way under Chantal Sutherland, only to be passed in the final strides by Drosselmeyer – ridden, as fate would have it, by Mike Smith.  This will also be Game On Dude’s third straight appearance in the Gold Cup Handicap, having finished second in 2011.

Approaching $5 million in career purses

Of his 13 victories, 11 have come in graded stakes races. He has won six of his last seven races, starting with the event named for his sire, the Awesome Again Stakes last September at Santa Anita. So far in 2013 Game On Dude is three-for-three, last making the winner’s circle in the Grade II Charles Town Classic in late April. Over his racing career, he has also captured the Santa Anita Stakes twice, and a victory Saturday in the Gold Cup will put his lifetime earnings at over $5 million.