Siphon Flows in Gold Cup

Before Sunday’s Hollywood Gold Cup, trainer Richard Mandella needed consoling. Not only had his sore-footed Soul Of The Matter been unable to run in the $1-million race, but another top horse in the barn, Afternoon Deelites, suffered a tendon injury and was a late scratch from a $189,100 race later on the Hollywood Park card and his career probably is over.

“By rights,” someone said to Mandella, “you ought to win the big race.”

“It doesn’t work that way,” he said.

Sunday it did. David Flores, showing that you can go to the front and come home again, rode Siphon much the way he rode Marquetry to victory in the 1991 Gold Cup. The favored Geri, Cigar’s stand-in, couldn’t catch Flores’ front-runner, and Mandella’s roller-coaster week ended with a one-length victory.

Shortly after Siphon’s $600,000 victory, Mandella stood trackside and looked to the sky. “Somebody’s testing me,” he said. “I just wish they’d lighten up a little.”

Siphon, a 5-year-old Brazilian-bred who races for Linneo Eduardo de Paula Machado, was on a three-race winning streak before Sunday, but he hadn’t run as far as 1 1/4 miles, the Gold Cup distance, since leaving South America in 1994. Hence Siphon’s $20.60 win price, as the fifth choice in the eight-horse field.

Geri, who had won six of his last seven racing in Cigar’s shadow, was an easy second as the Wally Dollase-trained entry of Helmsman and Nonproductiveasset finished third and fourth. Helmsman was beaten by 5 1/2 lengths, Nonproductiveasset by a neck more than that.

Dare And Go, also trained by Mandella, ran fifth. Tinners Way, the high weight at 121 pounds and second on the tote at 5-2, finished a dull sixth, and the other two starters, Santa Anita Handicap winner Mr Purple and Luthier Fever, were eased by their jockeys when they had no chance. Ron McAnally, Mr Purple’s trainer, said his horse’s breathing was impaired by a displaced epiglottis.

Mr Purple--who could have won a $2-million bonus by sweeping the Big ‘Cap, the Gold Cup and the Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 10--remains the leader for the MGM Grand’s secondary participation bonus, worth $500,000.

The three horses who have run in the first two races are eligible, and if they all run at Del Mar they will split the money in $266,667, $141,667 and $91,666 increments. Based on points for high finishes, Mr Purple has 10, followed by Helmsman with eight and Luthier Fever with seven.

Siphon, who carried 117 pounds, won in 2:00 2/5. His 10th victory in 18 starts increased his earnings to more than $1 million.

A mile workout in 1:37 on June 20 indicated to Mandella that Siphon was approaching the Gold Cup in good order. The same day, Soul Of The Matter and Dare And Go were clocked about three seconds slower.

“Siphon was meant to work slow, but he did it pretty strong,” Mandella said. “It looked like there was no end to him.”

Flores let Siphon roll leaving the gate, and with his stablemate, Dare And Go, the only horse close to him, they were able to coast through the first half-mile in :47 2/5. The timer showed 1:11 3/5 after six furlongs and 1:35 3/5 for the mile.

“He had such a rhythmic stride going down the backstretch,” Mandella said. “He looked like poetry. Geri made a hard run at him at the quarter pole, but it looked like David had some horse left.”

Since his victory with Marquetry, Flores has bounced in and out of drug rehabilitation, and early this year he was suspended for 60 days by the Santa Anita stewards after testing positive for cocaine.

“I had a beautiful trip,” Flores said. “It reminded me of Marquetry. I set the pace so easy that by the time they tried to come close, I started to pick it up. I had a lot of horse, plenty left in the stretch.”

Mandella gave Flores his first chance to ride Siphon when they teamed to win the Mervyn Leroy Handicap on May 4. Siphon was scratched from the Californian a month later because of a bruised foot.

“David is particularly good on a speed horse,” Mandella said. “It couldn’t feel better to help somebody like him, someone who has had a struggle in life and tried hard to overcome it. He’s winning the battle, and as long as he does that, I’ll back him all I can.”

Horse Racing Notes

The Pacific Classic is in Siphon’s future, but Richard Mandella left the door open for him to run against Cigar in the $1-million race at Arlington International on July 13. . . . Trainer Bill Mott, who saddled Geri for owner Allen Paulson, said Cigar worked six furlongs in 1:13 at Belmont Park on Saturday. . . . At the Curragh on Sunday, Paulson’s Zagreb scored a 20-1 upset in the Irish Derby, earning $529,700. . . . Letthebighossroll, the 8-year-old gelding, won for the 15th time in 48 starts, taking the $189,100 Triple Bend Breeders’ Cup Handicap. . . . In other stakes, Hesabull won the $101,750 Affirmed Handicap and Megan’s Interco, a 7-year-old gelding, ran for the first time in more than seven months and won the $71,750 Super Diamond by five lengths. . . . Northern Spur’s career appears to be over. The 1995 male grass champion has a fractured knee.