The Florida-bred son of Lost Soldier figured to be a star on Aqueduct's Wood Memorial Day card. He came in undefeated from four starts, he had crushed the field in Gulfstream's Grade 2 Swale Stakes in his previous start and he forced the New York Racing Association's decision to not allow show wagering on the Bay Shore.
With the track playing to speed in the previous five races, Lost in the Fog broke from the rail under jockey Russell Baze and quickly took to the front. Big Top Cat, a winner only once in five previous starts, gave chase under jockey Victor Espinoza through an opening quarter mile of :22 3/5 and a half of :45. Two things soon became apparent, however: Big Top Cat wasn't going to keep up and no one else was going to be close.
"This horse can go real fast, and he does it real handily," Baze said. "Like I told Greg (Gilchrist, trainer), if Victor didn't try to hook me from the gate - he did take a premature punch at me on the turn - I would just ask my horse to go with him. Pretty soon, his horse got discouraged and that was it. He ran as good, if not better, than he has run in the past today."
Lost in the Fog, who carried top weight of 123 pounds and conceded seven pounds to each of his five rivals, sailed through six furlongs in 1:08 4/5 and hit the wire in 1:21 1/5. White Sox got up to get the place by a length over Big Top Cat. Lieutenant Danz, Benjamin Baby and Soldiers Charge trailed. Attila's Storm was scratched.
"How could you be unhappy with that?," said trainer Greg Gilchrist. "I was a little concerned about drawing the 1-hole when the entries came out. We've been trying to get him to relax a little bit, and today, we didn't have a chance to do that. I think he was just the best horse in the race today. To take back today would have been suicide. He just doesn't turn in bad performances. I was a little more concerned with him today. He didn't seem quite as sharp today. But the horse is a real professional.
"He'll go back [to Golden Gate] on Tuesday. The next race he runs in will be at Golden Gate on May 14th. If I don't think about stretching him out, a lot of people will remind me. When it comes up that there is not a sprint offered and he needs a race, that's when I'll run him in a route. We're not shying away from a route, but who would want to not keep doing this? The Riva Ridge is kind of on the schedule right now (Grade 2, $200,000, three-year-olds, even furlongs, Belmont Stakes Day, Saturday, June 11th, Belmont Park]."
