Hollywood Gold Cup : Once Again, Whittingham Will Be Offering a Triple Threat

Is trainer Charlie Whittingham anticipating another 1-2-3 finish in the Hollywood Gold Cup, similar to the one he achieved in 1973 with Kennedy Road, Quack and Cougar II?

The 74-year-old Whittingham isn’t predicting as much, but a trainer can’t run 1-2-3 unless he enters three horses, and Whittingham has Ferdinand, Judge Angelucci and Thrill Show lined up for today’s 48th renewal, which is worth $500,000.

Short of saying that his trio will sweep the first three positions in the 1-mile race, Whittingham is extremely confident about winning.

“If my horses can stay out of trouble, we’ll be all right,” Whittingham said.

There are eight other horses in today’s race, and trouble can be a factor in the Gold Cup, whether the field is small or large.

In 1981, with a 10-horse field, Caterman’s narrow victory was negated by the stewards after he interfered with Eleven Stitches in the stretch. That’s been the only time a Gold Cup winner has been disqualified. Whittingham started three horses that year, but his best finish was sixth.

In 1967, Native Diver was going for his third straight Gold Cup win in a field of five, but Pretense was a 3-10 favorite. Native Diver won the race with Pretense being bothered much of the way by O’Hara, a loose horse who had unseated his jockey, Milo Valenzuela, leaving the gate.

Ferdinand, who is carrying top weight of 124 pounds this year, has won only one race since his Kentucky Derby victory in 1986 and is 0 for 6 this year. There have been suggestions that he’s going in the direction of Gato Del Sol, who took the 1982 Derby and then won only 3 of 26 starts before he was retired in 1985.

Whittingham never says, “Wait a minute,” but his voice had that wait-a-minute tone as he discussed Ferdinand.

“He got beat by a couple of noses this year at Santa Anita,” Whittingham said. “Then we tried him twice on the grass and he didn’t like it. Then in The Californian he stumbled early, and nobody comes from way behind and wins on the dirt here. So I don’t think he’s doing that bad.”

Whittingham, winner of a record seven Gold Cups, has started the high-weighted horse in the race six times, winning with Perrault at 127 in 1982 and with Ack Ack in 1971. Ack Ack carried 134 pounds.

While Whittingham’s other high weights didn’t win, he still won three of the races with more lightly considered horses.

Quack ran seventh in 1974 while Tree of Knowledge won; Cougar II was third in ‘73, the year of the Whittingham sweep headed by Kennedy Road; and Kennedy Road was 10th the year before as Quack won with less weight. The only year that Whittingham didn’t win one way or the other while starting the high weight was 1983, when Erins Isle finished fifth.

Whittingham’s other Gold Cup winners were Greinton in 1985 and Exceller in 1978.

Despite his one-length win in The Californian, while Ferdinand was running fourth, Judge Angelucci will be carrying the same weight, 118 pounds. Ferdinand drops two pounds. Thrill Show, who is being tried on dirt for the second time because Hollywood Park’s turf course hasn’t agreed with him, has been assigned 120 pounds, which is second to Ferdinand.

The top impost has won only 14 times out of 47 Gold Cup races, the last being Perrault in 1982.

GOLD CUP FIELD 1 MILES ON DIRT. 4-YEAR-OLDS AND UP. PURSE $500,000

POST HORSE JOCKEY WGT ODDS 1 Slyly Gifted Rafael Meza 114 8-1 2 Captain Vigors Pat Day 112 15-1 3 Schiller Dave Patton 114 20-1 4 Fobby Forbes Antonio Castanon 112 20-1 5 a-Ferdinand Bill Shoemaker 124 4-5 6 a-Thrill Show Eddie Delahoussaye 120 4-5 7 Stop The Fighting Pat Valenzuela 112 12-1 8 Red Attack Gary Stevens 114 10-1 9 Late Request Alex Solis 112 12-1 10 a-Judge Angelucci Gary Baze 118 4-5 11 Tasso Chris McCarron 115 9-2

a-Charlie Whittingham-trained entry