The late-blooming 5-year-old Midcourt (Midnight Lute) will look to record his first win at the highest level in Saturday's GI Hollywood Gold Cup.
The authoritative 2019 GIII Native Diver S. and 2020 GII San Pasqual S. winner was a close third as the 3-5 favorite when last seen going this same 1 1/4-mile distance in the GI Santa Anita H. Mar. 7. Trainer John Shirreffs takes off the blinkers for this.
Higher Power (Medaglia d'Oro), fifth in this race last year, broke through in a big way with a dominating 9-1 upset in last summer's GI TVG Pacific Classic S. at Del Mar. A well-beaten third in both the GI Awesome Again S. and GI Breeders' Cup Classic, he failed to fire as the 5-2 favorite finishing last of 10 in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. at Gulfstream last time Jan. 25.
Trainer John Sadler has won two out of the last five renewals of the Hollywood Gold Cup with Hard Aces (Hard Spun) in 2015 and Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky) in 2018.
GISW Improbable (City Zip), fifth in last year's GI Kentucky Derby and sixth in the GI Preakness S., both as the favorite, posted a bang-up second-place finish to Tom's d'Etat (Smart Strike) after leading in the stretch following a wide trip in the Oaklawn Mile S. last time Apr. 11.
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