HOLLYWOOD PARK STABLE NOTES

Monday, July 1, 1995

By Vince Bruun & Ed Golden

ALL QUIET ON HOLLYWOOD GOLD CUP FRONT;
CIGAR, CONCERN DUE TO ARRIVE SATURDAY

With post time for the 56th Hollywood Gold Cup some 24 hours away, all of the

participants were coming up to the $1-million Race of the Year in good order:

Tossofthecoin: After breezing four furlongs in :48 1/5 Friday, the 5-year-old

son of Magesterial walked Saturday morning and was scheduled to school in the paddock before either the first or fourth race Saturday.

Tinners Way galloped and was scheduled to school before the third race.

Best Pal galloped and was scheduled to school before the second race.

Del Mar Dennis galloped and was scheduled to school before the third race.

Urgent Request galloped and was scheduled to school before the third race.

Blumin Affair galloped and was scheduled to school before the first race.

The two favorites -- Cigar and Concern -- were due to arrive at Hollywood

Park Saturday. Cigar was due to arrive from New York early Saturday afternoon and would be bedded down at Bill Shoemaker's barn. Concern was coming in from Newark, N.J., Saturday evening, and was to stay at Charlie Whittingham's barn as he did for the Californian.

ESPN TO TELEVISE GOLD CUP

Sunday's $1-million Hollywood Gold Cup will be telecast live on ESPN, with Dave

Johnson, Bob Neumeier and Trevor Denman hosting the 60-minute program. The show airs from 3 to 4 p.m. (PDT) with post time for the Gold Cup -- the sixth race on the card -- scheduled at 3:40 p.m.

HOLIDAY SIMULCAST RACES SET

Hollywood Park will offer simulcast wagering on the $200,000-guaranteed

Arlington Classic (Gr. II) from Arlington Park on Monday, between the fourth and fifth live races. Post time is scheduled at 2:48 p.m.

Hollywood Park also will present simulcasts of the $75,000-guaranteed Stars and

Stripes Handicap (Gr. III) from Arlington and the $350,000-guaranteed Suburban Handicap (Gr. I) from Belmont Park on Tuesday, July 4.

The Suburban will be shown between the second at third races at 2 p.m., while

the Stars and Stripes will go between the fourth and fifth races, at 2:45 p.m.

FREE HOLLYWOOD GOLD CUPS AVAILABLE SUNDAY

In celebration of the 56th running of the $1-million Hollywood Gold Cup Monday,

Hollywood Park will give away free a set of commemorative Gold Cups to each paid admission, while supplies last.

Each set is decorated with last year's winner, Slew of Damascus, and 1938's

inaugural winner, Seabiscuit.

INJURY ENDS BLAZE O'BRIEN'S CAREER

Barry and Susan Isaacs' multiple stakes winner Blaze O'Brien, who earned nearly

$1 million as one of California's most popular Thoroughbreds, suffered a broken sesamoid in his right front during a workout Saturday morning and will be retired from racing, trainer Hector Palma said.

"He was out for his final breeze before running in the American Handicap

(on Tuesday)," Palma said. "It was just a half-mile and he was galloping very easy. But when he pulled up on the backstretch, he took a bad step. Surgery will be required and we're hoping for the best, but there'll be no more racing for him." Blaze O'Brien's time for the work was :47 2/5, handily, according to the official Hollywood Park work tab.

Surgery is scheduled for Monday at Alamo Pintado.

Blaze O'Brien, an 8-year-old California-bred by Interco-Irish O'Brien, raced 50

times in his storied career, winning 13 times, with 13 seconds, six thirds and earnings of $909,350.

The bay gelding won the Grade III Inglewood Handicap at Hollywood Park on May

6 for the first graded stakes win of his career. His final race was the Shoemaker Handicap (Gr. II) at Hollywood Park on June 10, in which he finished fifth, beaten five lengths by Unfinished Symph.

WHITTINGHAM: ACK ACK WAS BEST

It only makes sense that the two morning line favorites in Sunday's Gold Cup --

Eastern shippers Cigar (9-5) and Concern (5-2) -- were going to stay in the shedrows of Hall of Famers Bill Shoemaker and Charlie Whittingham, respectively.

As he did prior to his victory in the Californian, Concern was scheduled

to take residence in Whittingham's barn 70N while Cigar was scheduled to stay at Shoemaker's barn 50N.

Between them, Shoemaker and Whittingham have won a staggering 16 Gold

Cups, The Shoe getting eight wins as a jockey and the famed Bald Eagle notching his record eight wins as a trainer.

Five times Shoemaker and Whittingham combined to win the Gold Cup --

Ferdinand, 1987; Exceller, 1978; Tree of Knowledge, 1974; Kennedy Road, 1973, and Ack Ack, 1971. Of those, Charlie said Ack Ack might have been the best.

"It seems so long ago now, but there really wasn't anything that sonofagun

couldn't do," he said. "That year (1971) he was Sprinter of the Year, Handicap Horse of the Year and Horse of the Year. Other than that, he didn't do much."

Whittingham, incidentally, will present the Gold Cup to the winning owner Sunday.

EAGLE EYED TUNES UP FOR TUESDAY'S $150,000-ADDED AMERICAN

Juddmonte Farms' Eagle Eyed worked four furlongs in :49 4/5 on a firm turf

course Saturday in his final serious move prior to Tuesday's $150,000-added American Handicap.

A field of eight is likely for the Grade II event at nine furlongs on turf, with

Brazilian-bred Romarin to tote high weight of 120 pounds.

A winner of four of 15 starts and $344,678, Eagle Eyed came off a seven-month vacation to

finish fourth to Unfinished Symph in the Grade II Shoemaker Handicap on June 10. Trainer Bobby Frankel figures to have the 1994 Arlington Classic winner ready for a top try in the American, a race he won with the filly Toussaud in 1994 and Al Mamoon in 1986.

Probables for the 56th running of the American Handicap: Romarin, Corey

Nakatani, 120; Silver Wizard, Gary Stevens, 118; Savinio, Chris McCarron, 118; Eagle Eyed, Eddie Delahoussaye, 117; Johann Quatz, Alex Solis, 116; Lord Shirldor, Chris Antley, 115; Red Earth, Kent Desormeaux, 114, and Cocooning, no rider, 111.

ABAGINONE HEADED TO NEW YORK

Ron Charles and Clear Valley Stables' Abaginone will ship to Belmont Park for the

$100,000-added True North Handicap (Gr. II) on July 16. Agent Ron Anderson said Gary Stevens will travel to New York for the mount.

A winner of four of five career starts, Abaginone's long-range plans include the

$1-million Breeders' Cup at Belmont Park on Oct. 28. In his most recent start, a $51,000 allowance event on June 17, the exceptionally fast son of Devil's Bag zipped 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:14 4/5 en route to a five-length victory.

FINISH LINES: Trainer Craig Lewis reports Santa Anita Derby winner Larry The Legend

is walking twice daily at Santa Anita as he recovers from April knee surgery. "What we're hoping for is (to make) the Strub series. That's probably going to be our ultimate goal," Lewis said. "I just don't want to get ahead of myself, and I'll be more than satisfied if we make that." . . . Monday marks the the third anniversary of Kent Desormeaux's six-win day at Hollywood Park in 1992 . . . Martin Pedroza, who rode Dragster in Thursday's first race, has been suspended five days (July 3-8) "for failure to make the proper effort to maintain a straight course in the stretch, which resulted in the disqualification of his mount from first to second . . . " . . . Jockey Joy Scott hop-scotched back and forth from Hollywood Park and Los Alamitos Friday night. She rode Newell in Hollywood Park's second race, left for Los Alamitos to ride Magic For Me to victory in the fifth race, then returned to Hollywood to ride Dianes Valentin in the ninth.

Bobby Frankel will be a busy trainer Sunday. He is scheduled to send out seven horses on

Hollywood Park's Gold Cup Day program. They are: Berillon in the third race; Salivorix in the fifth; Tinners Way in the Gold Cup (sixth race); En Cascade in the seventh; Hidden Source in the Affirmed Handicap (eighth race), and Wandesta and Possibly Perfect in the Beverly Hills Handicap (ninth race). He also entered Tabac in the fifth race, but the horse didn't draw in from the also-eligible list. Eight horses in one day would have been a personal high for Frankel. Frankel said You And I is a possible starter in the $125,000-added Bel Air Handicap on July 16 . . . Jerry Dutton reports undefeated Distinguish Forum is being pointed to next Saturday's $100,000-added Landaluce Stakes for 2-year-old fillies. Distinguish Forum defeated the boys in the $72,400 Westchester Stakes on June 4. Confirmed for the Grade II Landaluce at six furlongs: Cara Rafaela, Corey Nakatani; Distinguish Forum, Eddie Delahoussaye; Liberty Nite, Laffit Pincay, and Raw Gold, Alex Solis . . . Gary Stevens will be at Woodbine July 9 to ride Langfuhr for trainer Mike Keogh in the $400,000 Queen's Plate.

Go To Main Menu