Leland Cook's Gold Nugget will face stiff competition from horses trained by two Hall of Famers when he seeks a repeat victory in Saturday's $300,000 Dallas Turf Cup at Lone Star Park. Trained by Randy Mayfield, the 6-year-old Gold Legend gelding won the race last year at 17-1 odds.
Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott has shipped multiple graded stakes winner Del Mar Show to Texas from New York. The son of Thetrical breezed a half-mile Wednesday at Saratoga Race Course in :50.06. Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel will be represented in the race by El Gran Papa, a stakes winner in Europe before returning to the U.S. last fall.
The turf race will be the first network-televised race from a Texas racetrack. CBS Sports will showcase the lucrative contest as part of its new 1 1/2-hour live broadcast, "NTRA Champions on CBS" series. The program will also feature the $750,000 Stephen Foster Handicap from Churchill Downs. The show will air from 3:30-5:00 p.m. CDT.
The field, in post position order, consists of:
1--Royal Spy, A. J. Lovato
2--Del Mar Show, R. G. Davis
3--Nat's Big Party, C. J. Lanerie
4--Vergennes, F. Lovato Jr.
5--Gold Nugget, B. J. Walker Jr.
6--Candid Glen, E. J. Perrodin
7--Dignitas Dancer, T. D. Gondron
8--El Gran Papa, G. K. Gomez
9--Kerrygold, D. R. Flores
