Frankel: Race Is Rich, Surface Is Poor : Hollywood Park: He takes Gold Cup money and runs back to Santa Anita to train Marquetry.

The irony about the Hollywood Gold Cup is that the winning trainer in the $1-million stake has been one of the biggest critics of the track over which it was run.

Bobby Frankel, the trainer of Marquetry, the 27-1 shot who won Saturday’s $550,000 first-place purse by a head over Farma Way, is at the forefront of a group of horsemen who have complained about the hardness of Hollywood Park’s main racing surface this season. Frankel felt so strongly about the situation that recently he vanned all of his horses to Santa Anita to train.

“I had two horses--not of stakes caliber--that broke down at Hollywood,” Frankel said. “I’ve had a lot of horses who have had fillings (swellings) in their ankles. I have 40 horses, and while that might seem like a lot, it’s not that many compared to a lot of the other trainers around here.”

Hollywood Park officials say that the breakdown rate is about the same this season as last, but they concede that mistakes have been made with the dirt track and said they were waiting until after the Gold Cup to correct them.

“The track isn’t bad for their lack of trying,” Frankel said. “It’s just that they put some sand into it, and it wasn’t the right sand.”

Marquetry’s final pre-Gold Cup workout was at Santa Anita. Frankel took him to Hollywood Park on Thursday for schooling in the paddock and left him in a barn there until race day. Marquetry was back at Santa Anita Sunday, with Frankel reporting that the 4-year-old colt came out of the race in good condition.

A few years ago, Frankel was critical of Santa Anita’s track surface, and he took his horses to Hollywood Park.

“I’m just concerned about what’s best for the horse,” he said. “I’ll train my horses at whatever track is best for them.”

The first two finishers in the Gold Cup probably will meet again in another $1-million race, the Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug 10. Frankel said that Marquetry is definite for the race, and Wayne Lukas, who trains Farma Way, indicated that his horse will skip the New England Classic at Rockingham Park--the next stop in the American Championship Racing Series--and prepare for Del Mar.

There will be a drastic swing in the weights if a Del Mar rematch materializes. The Gold Cup was a handicap, and because of Farma Way’s superior record, he carried 122 pounds, 12 more than Marquetry. The Pacific Classic is a weight-for-age race, which would result in Marquetry and Farma Way both carrying 124 pounds. The race conditions call for 3-year-olds to carry 116 pounds and older horses 124.

Lukas still feels that he has the best horse. Farma Way has had a schedule that has taken him across the country twice. He has won five of eight starts this year, plus Saturday’s second and one third-place finish.

“He’s hauled and shipped and made every one of these (series) races except one,” Lukas said. “They are all tough, demanding races. For him to go out there and do what he did--give 12 pounds and not get beat by much--I thought he gave a super performance. We only lost the race, we didn’t lose anything else.”

With four races left in the 10-race series that offers a $750,000 bonus to the owner of the horse with the most points, Farma Way has 32, two more than Festin and 10 more than Jolie’s Halo.

Festin, who has beaten Farma Way twice and lost to him three times, will run in the New England Classic, trainer Ron McAnally confirmed Sunday. Festin, a late-running horse, was withheld from the Gold Cup because McAnally says that Hollywood’s main track favors front-runners.

Jolie’s Halo also is expected to run at Rockingham, but the plans for Summer Squall are unclear after his seventh-place finish as the second betting choice, behind Farma Way, in the Gold Cup.

A postrace examination of Summer Squall’s right foreleg showed why he ran so poorly. He suffered a painful crack, about 1 1/2 inches long, near the heel of his right-front hoof. Such cracks can be repaired by patching and other methods, but it can be a tricky procedure, depending on the specific injury.

Festin and Summer Squall were on the same plane that was headed East early Sunday.

“A crack can stop a horse from running,” McAnally said. “It can stop them faster than bleeding in a race does.”

Notes

Bobby Frankel’s Exbourne, the winner of the Hollywood Turf Handicap, will run Thursday in the $200,000 American Handicap at Hollywood Park. He will carry 122 pounds, one less than Tight Spot, who is also expected to run. . . . Lite Light, after working six furlongs Sunday in 1:12 1/5 at Golden Gate Fields, is scheduled to be flown to New York Tuesday for a rematch with Meadow Star in Saturday’s Coaching Club American Oaks at Belmont Park. . . . Apollo, making his first start on grass, won Sunday’s Baffle Handicap at Hollywood by a nose over Forest Glow, and his time of 1:01 2/5 for 5 1/2 furlongs broke the track and American record of 1:01 3/5 that was set by Duck And Dive earlier in the season. . . . Jockey Felipe Martinez suffered a broken bone in his left hand when his mount, Rezzonico, stumbled leaving the gate and unseated him.