Melatonin wins the Gold Cup at Santa Anita

Melatonin won the Gold Cup at Santa Anita going away. With this prestigious West Coast win, Melatonin earned a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Melatonin won the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita like the good horse he is. The David Hofmans-trained 5-year-old bided his time sitting behind the early leader Lieutenant Colonel. Around the far turn, Melatonin made his move under urging by jockey Joe Talamo. Down the homestretch he dug in, fending off a surprise challenge from Win the Space, who came in second. At the wire Melatonin was 1 ½ lengths in the lead, completing the 1 ¼ mile, two turn trip in 1:59.79.

As the favorite, Melatonin paid $5.60, $4.00 and $3.00. He added $300,000 to his earning, making a total of $1,218,552 career earnings. Long shot runner-up Win the Space paid $24.80 and $9.40. The 2015 winner of the Gold Cup, Hard Aces came in third, paying $5.00 to show.

As a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race, this win earned Melatonin a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic with all fees ($150,000) paid. Trainer David Hofmans won the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 1996 with Alphabet Soup, the 2003 Breeders’ Cup Distaff with Adoration and the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint with Desert Code for Tarabilla Farms – the same owner as Melatonin.

At a post-race press conference, Hofman’s reflected on Melatonin’s journey and the future:

"The emotions were pretty high. I’m normally low key but today I was really nervous. It was his big test today. I thought there were some quality horses in here that he had to beat in order to think about going on (to bigger things). The difference is that today he validated himself. Any horse can beat any horse, on any given day. But to do it again, and maybe even again, then you start thinking.He’s a very smart horse. You can see that Joe could do whatever he wanted with him. They’re perfect together.We were gunning for the Breeders’ Cup Classic anyway but to win this is quite a bonus!"

For more horse racing coverage, please visit our hub page.