Field of 11 Is Expected for Big ‘Cap

Like last year, the Santa Anita Handicap apparently will have 11 starters when the Grade I race is run for the 60th time on Sunday.

Gentlemen, the probable favorite, arrived at Santa Anita Wednesday afternoon, joined by stablemates Siphon and Sandpit, who are expected to be the second and third betting choices and give trainer Richard Mandella a strong hand in the Big ‘Cap.

Formal Gold, the only horse who didn’t make his last start in California, will arrive on Friday and seek to become the first shipper from the East to win the Big ‘Cap since Broad Brush in 1987.

A winner of five of eight for owner John Murphy and trainer William Perry, Formal Gold, under jockey Joe Bravo, upset Skip Away in the Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park earlier this month and is the horse Mandella fears most.

“So far, so good,” said Perry after Formal Gold worked five furlongs in 59 1/5 seconds Tuesday morning at Hialeah. “I hope he fits with the horses out there. We like him. I think he came out of the [Donn] great, and he’s training as well as he was for his last race. I figure we’re bringing a horse that’s ready to run.

“From what I’ve read about Gentlemen, everyone feels he is the horse to beat. I was impressed with Siphon the day he ran against Cigar [in the Pacific Classic last August]. Sandpit is basically a turf horse, but he’s a quality horse, a horse to watch from behind, especially if there is a quick pace.”

With entries to be drawn Friday morning, the other projected participants in the Big ‘Cap are Chequer, Editor’s Note, Just Java, Kingdom Found, Marlin, The Barking Shark and Zanferrier.

Horse Racing Notes

With Mud Route out for a minimum of three months because of shin problems, trainer Ron McAnally will substitute Hello for him in Sunday’s $200,000 San Rafael Stakes, a major prep for the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 5. . . . Funeral services for former jockey Gordon Glisson will held Saturday in Ojai. Glisson, who won the first George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in 1950, died Sunday at the Sherman Oaks Burn Center, where he had been hospitalized after being injured in an accident at his home. He was 66. . . . One-time Kentucky Derby hopeful Boston Harbor, the Breeder’s Cup juvenile winner, underwent successful surgery on his broken left front leg and is expected to recover in about four months.