Skip Away Goes Fast and Loose

Two of the three favorites for Sunday’s $1-million Hollywood Gold Cup completed their final workouts Tuesday, with Skip Away turning another routine exercise into an adventure at Belmont Park in New York.

Scheduled to work five furlongs, Skip Away got away from his pony boy and took jockey Jerry Bailey on a six-furlong spin instead. The time for the workout was a fast 1:11 1/5.

The workout came four days after another horse cut in front of Skip Away and fell, causing trainer Sonny Hine’s colt to throw his exercise rider and run off. Skip Away was loose for 25 minutes before he was caught.

“He came back [from Tuesday’s workout] 100%,” Hine said. “There was no filling [swelling] in his [front] legs. So my wife and I can enjoy the rest of the week. The horse will fly out [to California] Thursday, with a stop in Kentucky to drop off some other horses that are on the plane.”

Last Saturday, the day after the riderless Skip Away ran off, there was soft-tissue swelling just beneath the knees, which gave Hine some concern. Carolyn Hine, the trainer’s wife, owns Skip Away.

“He’s ready to run,” Sonny Hine said Tuesday. “If I thought I was throwing him to the wolves, we wouldn’t come.”

At Santa Anita on Tuesday, Silver Charm worked with another of trainer Bob Baffert’s horses and was clocked in a quick :58 3/5 for five furlongs. Dana Barnes, his regular exercise rider, was aboard.

“He warmed up faster than he usually does,” Barnes said. “Then he went great. Whether a track is cuppy or dead, he never seems to care. He’s been training great all along. He trained so good at Churchill that I couldn’t believe he got beat in that last race.”

Silver Charm, last year’s champion 3-year-old male, lost to Awesome Again on June 13 in the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs. Skip Away, who’s on a six-race winning streak, was last year’s champion older male.

“We’re on course,” Baffert said Tuesday. “But if Skip Away gets an easy lead Sunday, he’ll be tough to run down. I won’t give [jockey Gary Stevens] any instructions. It’ll be up to him. When the gate opens, Gary will know what to do.”

Watching the workout at Santa Anita, Bob Lewis, co-owner of Silver Charm with his wife, Beverly, dispelled reports he had forced Baffert into running Silver Charm in the Gold Cup.

“Nothing could be farther from the truth,” Lewis said. “As I’ve said before, Bob drives the bus and I’m a passenger.”

Gentlemen, who beat Skip Away in last year’s Pimlico Special at Pimlico, finished his heavy work for the Gold Cup by breezing six furlongs Sunday in 1:13 2/5.