First Is Second in Hine’s Sight

Sonny Hine’s Skip Away won $2,288,000 for running away with the Classic, but the veteran trainer still tops his personal list with another race.

“My greatest thrill was the day Skip Away beat Cigar,” Hine said.

That was in the 1996 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park, and it was a defeat that didn’t prevent Cigar from locking up his second horse-of-the-year title.

Skip Away’s six-length win Saturday over Deputy Commander was run in 1:59, a record time for the 1 1/4-mile Classic. The previous record belonged to Cigar.

Hine and his wife, Caroyln, who owns Skip Away, dedicated the win to Jim Bolus and Sonny Hine’s father.

“Jim Bolus was a very good friend of mine,” Sonny Hine said. “He was a great friend of racing. My father was a big influence. When I was a boy, he taught me to have respect for a horse.”

Bolus, who wrote several books about the Kentucky Derby and was curator of the Kentucky Derby Museum at Churchill Downs, died several days after this year’s Derby.

“Skip Away always takes some beating,” Hine said. “The last time he finished off the board was the Derby [a 12th-place finish in 1996].”

Although Deputy Commander finished second, the other contending 3-year-olds in the Classic ran poorly. Behrens finished seventh and Touch Gold was last.

“He broke a little slow, got bounced around by the inside and outside horses and then got completely shut off in the turn,” said David Hofmans, who trains Touch Gold. “Down the backside, he was running well, but then all of a sudden Chris [McCarron] had no horse. He was trying to get out a little bit. Maybe the track was stinging his foot. We’re going to go and find out.”

Touch Gold’s left front hoof has been patched and re-patched all year. Although Touch Gold is stabled at Hollywood Park, the Classic was his first race on the track.

Jim Bond, trainer of Behrens, the Pegasus Handicap winner and second-place finisher in the Travers, said he was disappointed in his horse’s performance. “He never fired. He never picked it up,” Bond said.

Pat Day rode Whiskey Wisdom, who was disqualified from third to fourth place by the stewards.

“It was a good call,” Day said. “He took a step out [near the eighth pole] and interfered [with Dowty, who was moved up to third]. “I thought I had the third-best horse, and I’m sorry I cost the owner and trainer third money.”

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PAST WINNERS

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Year Horse Jockey Margin Payoff 1984 Wild Again P. Day Head $64.60 1985 Proud Truth J. Velasquez Head $16.80 1986 Skywalker L. Pincay 1 1/4 lengths $22.20 1987 Ferdinand B. Shoemaer Nose $4.00 1988 Alysheba C. McCarron 1/2 length $5.00 1989 Sunday Silence C. McCarron Neck $6.00 1990 Unbridled P. Day 1 length $15.20 1991 Black Tie Affair J. Baile 1 1.4 lengths $10.00 1992 A.P. Indy E. Delahoussaye 2 lengths $6.20 1993 Arcangues J. Bailey 2 lengths $269.20 1994 Concern J. Bailey Neck $17.00 1995 Cigar J. Bailey 2 1/2 lengths $3.40 1996 Alphabet Soup C. McCarron Npse $41.70 1997 Skip Away M. Smith 6 lengths $5.60

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