GOLDEN GLIMPSES #29 GOLDEN GLIMPSES #29 TOP 10 REASONS WHY CIGAR DIDN'T RUN IN THE GOLD CUP
10 -- Owner/breeder Allen Paulson was a member of
Hollywood Park's Board of Directors last year; this year,
he's not.
9 -- Last year, the track offered to pay Cigar's transportation expenses.
8 -- Paulson wants to break Citation's record at "home" in the $1-million Pacific Classic, a weight-for-age race in which all older horses carry 124 pounds. The Aug. 10 race is run at Del Mar, near Paulson's Del Mar Country Club.
7 -- Despite exemplary sportsmanship during Cigar's 15-race victory streak, now that the horse is within one of equaling Citation's 46-year-old record, Team Paulson is playing it close to the vest. Why risk the record on a cross-country trip in a race he'd spot seven pounds and more to the toughest horses in the handicap division when he has a slam-dunk at Arlington Park?
6 -- Paulson twisted trainer Bill Mott's arm to alter Cigar's schedule and run in the Gold Cup last year. Mott, an outstanding trainer in his own right, has now won Paulson's confidence to the point that he has much more influence over where and when Cigar runs.
5 -- If Cigar runs at Arlington Park, there's no chance handicap heavyweights such as Soul of the Matter, Tinners Way and Helmsman will leave the warm confines of California to challenge him.
4 -- Hollywood Park promoted Cigar without the Paulsons' blessings.
3 -- The Gimme a C Factor. Paulson's wife, Madeleine, is not enamored with the avant garde atmosphere that prevails at Hollywood Park, where additions such as Miss Hollywood Park and cheerleaders in tantalizing togs are not exactly shades of Saratoga.
2 -- Even though Hollywood Park Chairman of the Board and CEO R. D. Hubbard and Paulson have puttered around the links together, the Paulsons' noses are out of joint because no one from the Track of the Lakes and Flowers visited Suffolk Downs to glad-hand them when Cigar won the Massachusetts Handicap. (When Santa Anita was courting Holy Bull for the 1995 Big 'Cap, executives from the track went to Gulfstream to schmooze with owner/trainer Jimmy Croll).
And the No.1 reason Cigar didn't run in the Gold Cup -- Madeleine Paulson's hat is too big for the winners' circle.
GENTLEMEN PREFERS FAME
Trainer Richard Mandella tells the following tale of Juan Jose Varci, one of the owners of Argentine import Gentlemen, who finished last in his United States debut:
"I told him his horse was going to run a week ago, and he flew in from Argentina, a 15-hour trip, but the race didn't go. I never even knew Mr. Varci before, and only met him the morning he came in.
"I explained that the race didn't go, was sorry he made a long trip, and we met later in the Turf Club for lunch, which he was good enough to buy.
"During our conversation at lunch, he expressed puzzlement over his horse's recognition. 'I'm surprised this horse is so famous here already, Mr. Mandella. I can't believe it,' he tells me.
"I asked him what he meant by that and he said, 'Well, everywhere I go, I see his name -- in the grandstand, in the clubhouse -- in the bathroom, right above the door.'"
DEAREST PLACE -- First-time starter pressed the pace at long odds, held well before fading to fourth. Price won't be as tempting next time, but David LaCroix-trained filly should improve enough to win.
DUSTY GIRL -- New Zealand-bred mare is on a roll, and last turf victory was as impressive as previous two. Should continue fondness for Inglewood grass.
TOASTOFTHECOAST -- Prompted win machine and odds-on favorite Imallzealedup from the start despite breaking from rail, and continued gamely to the wire, beaten only three lengths. Better post, absence of Imallzealedup up should make difference vs. $40,000 sprinters.
The Running Horse (http://www.isd1.com/alauck)
