Bernardini, Lava Man ready for Classic preps on Saturday

With multiple Grade 1 winner Invasor (Arg) out of Saturday's Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park, the connections of Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Bernardini are not sure from where their top competition will come.
Four-year-old Invasor, who boasts three straight Grade 1 wins in North America this year, was pulled from consideration for the race after he spiked a fever on Thursday. Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said the Candy Stripes colt would be trained up to the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) on November 4 at Churchill Downs.
As Bernardini prepares for his first start against older horses, trainer Tom Albertrani said the A.P. Indy colt appears ready to deliver his best. After losing his maiden debut, Bernardini has rolled to five straight victories including a 5 ¼-length rout in the Preakness. He enters off a 7 ½-length romp in the Travers Stakes (G1) on August 26 at Saratoga Race Course.
"He's doing as well now as he was before the Travers," Albertrani said. "I think with every race he has matured."
Albertrani said beating Invasor could have earned Bernardini more stature but without that challenge they still expect to face accomplished rivals such as Irish classic winner Dylan Thomas or, possibly, Grade 2 winners Sun King or Wanderin Boy from Nick Zito's stable.
McLaughlin described Invasor's setback as minor.
"He spiked a 103-degree fever on Thursday and he had a high white cell count," McLaughlin said. "He's doing a lot better and we plan to gallop him on Wednesday. If this had happened two weeks before the race, we would have made the Jockey Club Gold Cup. It just happened at an inopportune time."
Also on Saturday, Lava Man will start in the Goodwood Breeders' Cup Handicap (G2) at Santa Anita Park in his final prep for the Breeders' Cup Classic. Lava Man has won six stakes in his six starts this season, all in Southern California. While the six-year-old Slew City Slew gelding has failed to hit the board in his only three starts outside of California, assistant trainer Dennis O'Neill thinks Lava Man is capable of delivering a top effort at Churchill Downs this year.
"As he's gotten older, he's become a much different horse—even compared to just a year ago," O'Neill said. "If he's good enough, he'll do what he has to do."
In other Breeders' Cup Classic news, McLaughlin confirmed that Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Jazil is too far behind in his training to make the Breeders' Cup Classic but that the Seeking the Gold colt will be pointed to the Dubai World Cup (UAE-G1) in March.
In preparing for a start in the Travers, Jazil suffered a bruised right hind cannon bone.