HOLLYWOOD PARK : Ruhlmann’s Owner After Gold Cup

Jerry Moss was having a bad attack of owner’s euphoria as Ruhlmann’s date in the $1-million Hollywood Gold Cup approached.

“I’ve been looking forward to this one for a long time,” said Moss, co-founder of A&M; records. “I think Ruhlmann is the kind of horse they all have to respect.”

They include Sunday Silence, Criminal Type and Opening Verse, making Sunday’s 1 1/4-mile Gold Cup easily the best race of the 1990 season to date. The only major older star missing is Easy Goer, who is supposed to run next in the Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park on July 4.

But after his lackadaisical race behind Criminal Type and the 3-year-old Housbuster in the Metropolitan Handicap late last month, Easy Goer might be hard-pressed to hit the board in the Gold Cup. Not since Exceller beat Text, Vigors and J.O. Tobin in 1978 has the race been so thick at the top with world-class performers.

Moss, the man who marketed “Sixteen Candles” to get his start in the record business, is champing at the bit to prove Ruhlmann is more than just a super-sub around trainer Charlie Whittingham’s barn. Sunday Silence, the reigning horse of the year, is the consensus stable star, boasting both a record and a personality that demand center stage. But Ruhlmann, with earnings of $1.7 million and two track records to his credit, is no shrinking violet.

In fact, were it not for a combination of bad luck, injuries and a salty attitude early in his career, Ruhlmann might have become the grand champion Sunday Silence is today. Instead, Ruhlmann must be regarded as a superior, though one-dimensional speed horse whose antecedents include Native Diver, Dr. Fager and, more recently, Lost Code.

After a cluster of brilliant races at the beginning of last year, Ruhlmann was so stressed out that he eventually aggravated a weak spot on a lung that caused considerable respiratory trouble.

“He was his own worst enemy,” said Whittingham, who took over Ruhlmann from Bobby Frankel in late 1988. “He’s calmer now. It shows in the way he carries his speed.”

It is Whittingham’s contention that thoroughbred racehorses do not fully mature until they are at least 5, and more often 6 or 7. Midway through his 5-year-old season, Ruhlmann may be a perfect example, and Moss has noticed the evolution.

“The difference in the horse from this time last year is incredible,” Moss said. “His bleeding is under control. Physically, he’s stronger, and Charlie has done a great job getting him to relax.”

Moss will be the nervous one this Sunday when Ruhlmann tries to give the owner his second victory in a million-dollar race. The first one came last March when Ruhlmann went wire to wire to win the Santa Anita Handicap at odds of 23-1.

“That would be something, wouldn’t it?” Moss mused. “To win the Santa Anita Handicap and Hollywood Gold Cup in the same year. I wonder how many horses have ever done it?”

Five, as a matter of fact, beginning with Seabiscuit’s famous stablemate, Kayak II, in 1939. Noor did it in 1950, and then came Ack Ack in 1971, Crystal Water in 1977 and Affirmed in 1979. Perrault finished first in both but was disqualified after beating John Henry by a nose in the 1982 Santa Anita Handicap. Seabiscuit in 1938, Kennedy Road in 1973 and Ferdinand in 1987 lost the Santa Anita Handicap by a nose, then later won the Gold Cup.

The common thread running through most of those names is the training touch of Whittingham. His horses have won the Gold Cup eight times, finishing 1-2 twice and 1-2-3 in 1973. Whittingham’s patrons must live with the reality that their own trainer might beat them for the big money.

“You get used to it after a while,” said Moss, who also has horses in training with John Sadler and Mel Stute. “And I’ve been on both ends of it. Last year, Ruhlmann was beating Charlie’s other horse, Lively One. Before that, I had to watch my mare, Galunpe, keep finishing second to Claire Marine.

“It’s nice and cozy, though, when you get Charlie all to yourself, like we did for the Pimlico Special. I’ve never felt like Ruhlmann was treated as a second-stringer. Oh sure, if your horse isn’t good enough for the big local race, Charlie will start shipping him around, looking for easier spots. But when Ruhlmann flies, Charlie is on the plane.”

The Gold Cup principals were taking potshots at racing secretary Eual Wyatt’s Gold Cup weight assignments before the ink was dry on the paper.

“How can our horse stay at 124 pounds when he just lost carrying that weight?” Moss asked. “And are you telling me that Sunday Silence doesn’t pick up any weight at all after winning his last race?”

Sunday Silence will carry the same 126 pounds he packed to a three-quarter length victory in the Californian Stakes on June 3. Wyatt admitted that the hardest spread to nail down was Ruhlmann at 124 pounds and Criminal Type at 121. The two horses have split four decisions this year, with Ruhlmann giving weight every time.

In their last encounter, Ruhlmann spotted Criminal Type seven pounds and lost the $1-million Pimlico Special by a scant neck.

“Yes, Ruhlmann lost,” Wyatt said. “But it was a good performance, and rather than drop him off that kind of quality effort, I felt we should bring Criminal Type up.”

At the same time, Criminal Type continues to reap the benefits of his generous 114-pound starting weight, which he carried while winning the San Pasqual Handicap at Santa Anita in January. The weights have yet to catch up with his record, which by now includes four major stakes wins this year and more than $1.5 million in earnings. Even his trainer, Wayne Lukas, was braced for at least a 122-pound Gold Cup impost.

Sunday Silence’s 126-pound impost is in line with the current promotional philosophy of weighting the best horses to attract them, rather than penalize their superiority to give inferior runners a chance. Neither option holds much moral water.

Gone are the days when Walter Vosburgh, John B. Campbell or Jimmy Kilroe would heap on the weight, then cackle with glee as trainers writhed and moaned.

“Back then, they had no place else to run for big purses,” Wyatt said. “Horses like Kelso, Forego--where did they run if they didn’t run in New York? Today, nearly every track can put up some kind of healthy purse to attract top horses. They are all in competition for the same stars.”

So, are racing secretaries constantly looking over their shoulders, fearful of scaring away a solid gate draw?

“It has become a consideration, but not the only one,” Wyatt said. “I thought the weight for Sunday Silence was pretty self-evident. You don’t weight a horse off just one race. His competition in the Gold Cup will be much stronger (than in the Californian), even though he certainly figures to improve off that race.”

Horse Racing Notes

Sunday Silence worked five furlongs in :58 1/5, and Ruhlmann breezed the same distance in :59 1/5 Wednesday morning to complete their major Gold Cup preparations. . . . Oaklawn Handicap winner Opening Verse, who spent three weeks at Allen Paulson’s Bonsall farm after his dull Pimlico Special effort, is scheduled to work at Hollywood this morning. . . . Trainer Ron McAnally reports that Arkansas Derby winner Silver Ending is on top of his game for Saturday’s $300,000 St. Paul Derby at Canterbury Downs, near Minneapolis.