Reality Hits Alysheba, Ferdinand : Their Race Is for 2nd as Cutlass Reality Wins Hollywood Gold Cup

Perhaps because Bob Hope was on hand Sunday afternoon to present the trophy to the winner of the $500,000 Hollywood Gold Cup, the race had a funny ending.

Thanks for the memories, Ferdinand and Alysheba.

The two Kentucky Derby winners, who had provided storybook finishes in their first three encounters and who were expected to do so again, made a race of it, all right, but it was for second place. By the time they got to the wire, the winner was practically back in the barn.

Once again, Cutlass Reality had the last laugh.

Sent off as the third choice by the crowd of 33,227, the 6-year-old, trained by Craig Lewis and ridden by Gary Stevens, won the 49th running of the Grade I event with apparent ease.

He covered the 1 miles on a fast main track in 1:59 2/5, one second slower than the track-record time set by Greinton in 1985, but 1 1/5 seconds faster than Ferdinand’s winning time a year ago.

Cutlass Reality finished an astonishing 6 1/2 lengths ahead of Alysheba, ridden by Chris McCarron, and it was another 5 1/2 lengths back to Bill Shoemaker on Ferdinand. Rounding out the field of six were, in order, Masterful Advocate, Lemmon Juice and Simply Majestic.

Three weeks ago, Cutlass Reality was little more than just another chestnut horse. True, he had won a half-million dollars, but it had taken him 57 races to do so. And he had won only eight of those.

Then came the June 12 Californian, a $300,000 Grade I race that Cutlass Reality won convincingly for his New York investment banker owners, Howard Crash and Jim Hankoff, who purchased him on Dec. 20 for an undisclosed amount.

Even they were astounded by Cutlass Reality’s performance Sunday.

“I thought if we could run third to the two champions, that would be fine,” Hankoff said. “This is just unbelievable. This means we have one of the top horses in the country.”

Stevens, who scored his first Gold Cup victory, is inclined to agree.

“I felt he could win this race, just off the way he ran the other day,” the jockey said. “A lot of people thought the race the other day was a fluke, but I knew he was going to be very powerful today.”

As expected, Simply Majestic, ridden by Russell Baze, was the pace-setter, breaking fast from the inside post position and going straight to the lead. Masterful Advocate, with Aaron Gryder in the irons, went with him, as did Cutlass Reality. The two Derby winners, meanwhile, were content to bide their time.

Cutlass Reality took the lead from a tiring Simply Majestic approaching the far turn. When Alysheba and Ferdinand made their moves at the top of the stretch, neither had enough run left in them to catch Cutlass Reality, who won drawing away.

“He didn’t really keep on firing for me,” McCarron said of Alysheba’s effort. Sunday marked the sixth time in the last seven years that McCarron has finished second in the Gold Cup. On the other occasion, he finished third.

“My horse didn’t have any finish,” said Shoemaker, who had come in fourth on Ferdinand in The Californian. “I don’t know why. The last few races he hasn’t finished good at all.”

The same could not be said for Cutlass Reality, who rewarded his backers with payoffs of $11.40, $3.60 and $2.20. Alysheba paid $2.80 and $2.10, while Ferdinand’s show price was $2.20.

Lewis, who before the race had described the Gold Cup as “just another race, for a little more money,” said Cutlass Reality has been nominated for the Arlington Million, the Laurel International and the $500,000 Hawthorne Handicap.

“He’s not nominated for the Breeders’ Cup,” Lewis said, “but money is no object.”

Especially not after Cutlass Reality picked up another $275,000 Sunday to bring his earnings to $995,430.

As for Alysheba, trainer Jack Van Berg said the 1987 Derby and Preakness winner would be given a rest until the fall.

“He’s not invincible,” Van Berg said. “You will get beat now and then if you keep going back often enough. He beat the rest of ‘em easy, but the other horse (Cutlass Reality) accelerated when they turned for home.

“He ran a big race, you can’t take anything away from that horse. Ten pounds was a lot of weight to give him.”

Alysheba was top-weighted at 126 pounds, Ferdinand carried 125 and Cutlass Reality 116.

Sunday’s race was not the first time two Kentucky Derby winners had met in the Gold Cup, nor was it the first time they had been beaten. In the 1950 Gold Cup, Ponder, the 1949 Derby winner, finished fourth, while Assault, who won the Derby in 1946, ended up seventh.

At least, Alysheba and Ferdinand did better than that, but in the end the day still belonged to Cutlass Reality.

The second Grade I race on Sunday’s card, the $165,700 Beverly Hills Handicap, proved doubly satisfying to trainer Charlie Whittingham, who sent Fitzwilliam Place and Ladanum to the post in the field of six.

Fitzwilliam Place, scratched by the stewards on the advice of the track veterinarian immediately before the June 5 Gamely Handicap much to Whittingham’s displeasure, won the Beverly Hills with a fine, wire-to-wire effort.

Ridden by Gryder, Fitzwilliam Place covered the 1 1/8 miles on a firm turf course in 1:47 1/5 to win by a nose from stablemate Ladanum, with Chapel Of Dreams third, another half-length behind. The 4-year-old Irish-bred daughter of Thatching and Panetona paid $11.00, $5.80 and $3.40 as the fourth betting choice at 9-2.

“I didn’t alter her training at all,” said Whittingham, who maintains that Fitzwilliam Place was perfectly sound before the Gamely. “There’s nothing wrong with her. I just told him (Gryder) to put her on the lead and let her go.”

Gryder did just that, and Fitzwilliam Place, after setting all the early fractions, was able to hold of the twin challenges of McCarron aboard Chapel Of Dreams on the rail and Stevens on Ladanum on the outside.

“I’ve been working her in the mornings, and she doesn’t let a horse pass her once she gets out front,” Gryder said.

It was the 18-year-old Gryder’s 41st win of of the meeting and his third stakes victory. Earlier, he won both the Debonair Stakes and a division of the Spotlight Handicap.

Stevens said Ladanum’s lack of a closing kick cost the filly the race.

“She just plods along at the same pace,” he said. “She was laying close, laying comfortably, but she just didn’t have that real quick acceleration.”

As for Chapel Of Dreams, on whom Stevens won the Wilshire Handicap, McCarron said the closely bunched field did not help her get a clear run.

“Seventy yards from the wire, I finally had room (to get through),” he said, “but I couldn’t really ride my filly hard until that point. By that time, the race was over.”

Pen Bal Lady, another pre-race favorite after winning the Gamely, “just didn’t fire,” according to Eddie Delahoussaye, who also experienced traffic problems during the crowded stretch run.

The victory by Fitzwilliam Place was her fifth in 12 career starts and was worth $98,200, increasing her earnings to $257,546.