By ED GOLDEN

Gentlemen, Silver Charm and Skip Away.

Gentlemen and Silver Charm.

Silver Charm.

To Big �Cap or not to Big �Cap, that is the question.

Whether it is nobler for Skip Away to journey from the east for the Santa Anita Handicap on March 7, or remain in Florida for the Gulfstream Park Handicap on Feb. 28, is not the only puzzle to be answered.

After Gentlemen won the San Antonio Handicap with a devastating turn of foot, and Silver Charm decisively beat his "Sham" in the form of Mud Route in the Strub Stakes, it was assumed that both Silver Charm and Gentlemen would move on to a $1 million showdown in the Santa Anita Handicap. That is not merely a given.

Silver Charm�s trainer, Bob Baffert, sounding like he was leaving the door open for other options, said he "would only run the horse if he�s doing great. That�s what I told Bob Lewis (who owns Silver Charm with his wife, Beverly). That�s why I told Gary (Stevens) not to rush his decision (on whether to ride Gentlemen or Silver Charm). There�s no use making a commitment right now, because strange things happen in this game. He doesn�t want to give up Gentlemen this early. (Besides) everybody has a backup rider, so there�s no problem."

And couldn�t Gentlemen, whose soundness is not his strong suit, pass the Big �Cap and ship directly to Dubai for the $4 million-guaranteed Dubai World Cup on March 28? After that, he would be pointed to the $1 million Hollywood Gold Cup three months later, on a track at which his owner, R.D. Hubbard, calls the shots. Hubbard recently bought out his three South American partners and now is sole owner of the Argentine-bred wonder horse.

I mean, there�s no logic in running for a $600,000 Big �Cap winner�s share against a tiger like Silver Charm, who�s never been worse than second, risking whatever ailment can befall a fragile thoroughbred, then schlepping 8,845 air miles to the United Arab Emirates to run three weeks later, when Gentlemen could forget the Santa Anita Handicap altogether and go as a fresh horse against what figures to be softer competition for three times the money, a winner�s pot of $2.4 million.

On Sunday, Stevens was to have announced which horse he would ride in the Big �Cap, Gentlemen or Silver Charm, but he put it off. If he knew Gentlemen might pass the race, all the more reason for Stevens to delay his announcement. Ultimately, the decision would be made for him.

"There are all kinds of possibilities," trainer Dick Mandella allowed when asked if Gentlemen would skip the Big �Cap for Dubai. "But right now, we�re aiming at the Handicap. The horse is doing great and came out of the race real good."

Mandella, informed that Gentlemen versus Silver Charm would give the Big �Cap its greatest appeal since Best Pal won in 1992, not to mention providing the PR and marketing departments a slam-dunk promotion, wasn�t impressed. "It wasn�t too bad last year," he grinned. Mandella saddled Siphon, Sandpit and Gentlemen to finish 1-2-3.

THE HOMESTRETCH: Don�t invite Santa Anita management and members of the Thoroughbred Owners of California purse committee to the same party. Not after the TOC unexpectedly distributed a press release refusing Santa Anita�s request that the TOC put up $600,000 of its purse revenues for a bonus to the winner of the Santa Anita Handicap, provided Gentlemen, Silver Charm and Skip Away all ran. It wasn�t so much that the TOC nixed the track�s bid, but that the TOC issued the release while negotiations between it and Santa Anita were ongoing, and did not communicate its intent to the track�s brass. In an impromptu press conference, Santa Anita president Cliff Goodrich and Director of Racing Tom Robbins were a little to the right of Attila the Hun in their aggression towards the TOC. Some acerbic excerpts: "This release represents not only a lack of respect for the game and the race, but for Santa Anita and its management team," Goodrich said. "Even though we thought there was going to be several more meetings, the TOC purse committee decided to issue this release. I don�t understand why it wanted to make this public. We talked to (TOC chairman and president emeritus) Ed Friendly on the phone just before the release was distributed and asked him to please not issue it. We�re not even through talking yet. We had agreed that there would be further discussion, and Ed says, �Well, that�s not what we heard.� And I told him he heard wrong. I asked him to hold the release until at least we were on the same page. He said, "Well, I understand it�s gone so it�s too late anyway.� . . . I�m disgusted by the actions of the TOC�s purse committee. I think it is unforgivable." The TOC�s release said, in part: "TOC believes that the present $1 million . . . is substantial and very generous . . . but if Santa Anita disagrees, TOC encourages Santa Anita to provide the bonus out of its own funds. Santa Anita will be the primary beneficiary if all three horses run, as a result of increased admissions, parking, concessions and other revenues which owners do not participate in. TOC also notes it strongly urged all three Southern California tracks . . . to fund the insurance program necessary to continue the (MGM) Classic series . . . which would have provided $4.8 million for the horse that won all three classic races. The tracks rejected that request. At present, the final purse revenue projections for the Santa Anita meet indicate an under payment of purses from $700,000 to $2 million. TOC believes that any under payment of purses should be used to increase purses for all races other than stakes races." And with that unabashed, intra-organizational name-calling, finger-pointing and back-stabbing between only two entities at a single facility, good luck to the NTRA in its effort to unify a multitude of tracks nationally in a spirit of camaraderie for the common good. Oh, baby, oh! . . . Corey Nakatani on Prosperous Bid�s two-length win, the second straight for the touted 3-year-old half-brother of Best Pal: "I never hit him with the stick. You don�t need to. He�s a special horse. He�s done everything we�ve asked him to do, but he�s still a little green around the gate. He hesitated a bit, but we�ll spend some time with him in the mornings in the gate so he doesn�t get so nervous." Added trainer Wally Dollase: "He got some dirt in his face and he rated nice. That was the main thing. That�s all I can ask right now. He doesn�t really know what he�s even doing out there yet. We�ll probably have to go in the San Felipe (versus Artax and others at 1 1/16 miles on March 14)." . . . Baffert on Favorite Trick being named Horse of the Year: "In my heart, I think Silver Charm should have won. By the response of the people at the Eclipse Awards, it sounded like he was the most popular, but the voters forgot about him. He came very close to winning the Triple Crown. Favorite Trick is very deserving, but Silver Charm got a bigger cheer than any of them. Most of the votes are carried by the turf writers, and a lot of them forget, or don�t know what�s going on. They go by the last race. It�s a case of what have you done for me lately?"