Gold Cup Features Cigar and Concern, but That’s Not All

Ask for an opinion on which horse is going to win the Hollywood Gold Cup, which will be run for the 56th time today at Hollywood Park, and the answer will probably be Cigar or Concern.

Votes might also be cast for Tinners Way and some sentimentalists would take Best Pal.

Nobody is talking seriously about Urgent Request, but considering the way 1995 has gone, it doesn’t seem right to discount the gray son of Rainbow Quest.

Gary Stevens is his jockey and all he has done this year is win every big race he has ridden.

Or, at least, it seems that way--and not always with horses he was supposed to ride.

Stevens’ success began with Urgent Request in the Santa Anita Handicap. He took a break from his business in Hong Kong to ride the 5-year-old for trainer Rodney Rash and owner Stewart Aitken and came up with his third victory in Santa Anita’s richest race.

He made a return visit about a month later, inheriting Larry The Legend from Kent Desormeaux for the Santa Anita Derby. In a thrilling stretch battle, Stevens beat Desormeaux and Afternoon Deelites.

Then, came the Triple Crown. After an injury sidelined Larry The Legend, Stevens picked up Thunder Gulch when Mike Smith chose to ride Talkin Man. Thunder Gulch won the Kentucky Derby at 24-1, finished third in the Preakness, then won the Belmont Stakes when Preakness winner Timber Country had to be scratched.

This has been a year to remember for Stevens and he wouldn’t mind adding another Grade I to his resume. Success in the Gold Cup also isn’t foreign to him.

He won with 8-1 shot Slew Of Damascus last year and beat Alysheba and Ferdinand with Cutlass Reality in 1988.

Slew Of Damascus led every step of the way in his Gold Cup triumph and Urgent Request will use that tactic today.

“He will have the lead,” Rash guaranteed the other day. “I don’t know for how far, but he will be in front.”

Bred in Ireland, Urgent Request certainly earned his victory in the Big ‘Cap. Pressed every step of the way through fast fractions--45 flat for the half-mile, 1:09 1/5 for six furlongs and 1:33 4/5 for the mile--he surrendered the lead to Del Mar Dennis, but then found more and was able to hold off Best Pal and win by a head.

He paid only $8.40 that day, primarily because his owner, Aitken, had bet $90,000 to win, shrinking the odds considerably. Aitken, who also bet $30,000 to place that day, arrived in town Thursday from his home in Falkirk, Scotland, and how much he will bet this time remains to be seen.

“With all the security at the airport, I don’t know if they’ll let him through with that much cash,” Rash joked Thursday morning. “You have to remember, [the Santa Anita Handicap] was his first time betting here and he was thinking he was going to get 8-1 when he put his money down.”

Since the Big ‘Cap, Urgent Request has run only once. He finished sixth in the Oaklawn Handicap, 27 1/2 lengths behind winning Cigar. He was sick after that race and Rash has trained him up to the Gold Cup.

“As far as strategy goes, there is no secret about what we’ve got to do with him,” Stevens said. “He likes to rock and roll on the lead, so you let him do his own thing. He goes to the front and then I do a lot of praying the last half-mile, hoping he can stick.”

About the time Stevens is seeking help from above, Chris McCarron will be asking Best Pal for his run. The 7-year-old California bred, who ranks third behind Alysheba and John Henry on the all-time earnings list, hasn’t given the proper response in his last two performances.

He was fourth, 7 1/2 lengths behind Cigar, in the Oaklawn Handicap, then was fourth again, 4 1/4 lengths behind Concern in last month’s Californian.

The question is whether Best Pal is still capable of beating top competition. He did win the San Antonio Handicap earlier this year, but hasn’t won a Grade I race since the 1993 Gold Cup.

“I wouldn’t ever recommend writing Best Pal off,” trainer Richard Mandella said. “He may have needed his last race and I think he’ll improve off that race.”

McCarron, who has nine seconds and a third, but no victories in 13 previous tries in the Gold Cup, also figures the veteran will move forward.

But, it won’t be enough if Concern runs the way he did in the Californian and Cigar performs as he has for the last eight months.

“It’s going to take an awfully tough horse to beat [Concern] if he runs the Californian back,” McCarron said. “The way he ran [June 11] indicates to me that he loved this racing surface. He was just so happy out there.”

He may not be so delighted this time because Cigar is here and the 5-year-old Palace Music horse has thrashed Concern in their two meetings.

If owner Allen Paulson’s Maryland-bred wins again today, he will earn even more respect.

“If he continues on the roll he’s on now, he would have to rank with the best horses of my time,” Stevens said. “Like Spectacular Bid, Seattle Slew and Affirmed. This is going to be a great race and I’m looking forward to riding in it.”

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Horse Racing Notes

Possibly Perfect, who would be heavily favored in the $300,000 Beverly Hills Handicap today, is expected to scratch and wait for the Ramona Handicap next month at Del Mar. Trainer Bobby Frankel will still have the filly to beat if she doesn’t go. Wandesta won a pair of stakes at Santa Anita before finishing eighth against males in the Hollywood Turf Handicap on May 29.

The Beverly Hills is one of the two supporting features on the Gold Cup program. It will be run as the ninth race, and the $125,000 Affirmed Handicap will go as the eighth. Mr Purple will be seeking his first victory around two turns in the 1 1/16-mile race, which also attracted Hidden Source, On Target, Oncefortheroad, Pumpkin House, To Be Khaled, Da Hoss and Chocolate Threads.