Thunder Snow was beaten just a neck into second in the Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes at Belmont Park, as Mendelssohn also did his Breeders' Cup claims no harm.
Saeed bin Suroor's Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow was bouncing back from a low-key prep run in the Juddmonte International Stakes at York, and only went down to a late surge from the 46/1 chance Discreet Lover, owned and trained by Uriah St Lewis.
Thunder Snow had picked up the running from Mendelssohn passing the furlong pole, Aidan O'Brien's charge having helped set a searching gallop alongside market leader Diversify, which included an opening quarter-mile split of 22.72 seconds.
The front pair still held sway until well into the home stretch of the 1m2f Grade One event, but the early exertions eventually took their toll as Christophe Soumillon swept by on 13/2 shot Thunder Snow.
But the Manuel Franco-ridden Discreet Lover - well beaten in all six outings since making a winning start to the year at Aqueduct in April - came home best to score narrowly, much to the delight of St Lewis, who was claiming a first top-level triumph and displayed a handful of winning betting slips on his outsider in the aftermath of the race.
Sky Bet reacted by cutting Thunder Snow to 12/1 in their NRNB market for the Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs on November 3, while easing Mendelssohn slightly to 14/1 from 12s.
Bin Suroor told www.godolphin.com: "He has run a huge race - I am very happy with the performance. He needed it and we will now go for the Breeders' Cup Classic."
Diversify’s jockey Irad Ortiz said: "The track was fast and I had to go harder than usual because Mendelssohn was very quick out of there, and I needed to make the lead. I had to use a lot to make the lead. We just went a little fast."
🏇ICYMI: Thunder Snow beaten a neck into second behind Discreet Lover in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park.
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) September 30, 2018
3⃣ Mendellsohn finished a fine third after helping set a ferocious gallop up front!
Looks like all three will meet again @BreedersCup pic.twitter.com/b1jE22FVx7
Also heading to Churchill Downs on November 3 is the Jamie Osborne-trained Toast Of New York, who stayed on to be second to Mind Your Biscuits in the Lukas Classic at the Kentucky track.
An agonisingly close second to Bayern in the 2014 Breeders' Cup Classic, Osborne's stable star was having his first run since the Pegasus World Cup in January, since when he has been gelded.
The Lambourn handler tweeted: "Great run by Toast to finish 2nd to The Biscuit. Fantastic team effort to get him back."
