Another Injury for Cavonnier

Cavonnier, the 9-5 morning-line favorite for Saturday’s $250,000 California Cup Classic at Santa Anita, was scratched Thursday because of an injury to his rear left leg.

The injury, which isn’t believed to be serious, became apparent to assistant trainer Eoin Harty after Cavonnier jogged Thursday. Cavonnier’s trainer, Bob Baffert, is back in Kentucky, preparing Silver Charm and other horses for the Breeders’ Cup races at Churchill Downs on Nov. 7.

The injury is not to the same leg that Cavonnier injured in the 1996 Belmont Stakes. Five weeks after he had been nosed out by Grindstone in the Kentucky Derby, Cavonnier suffered a tendon injury to his right foreleg in the Belmont. The Cal Cup was to have been Cavonnier’s first start since that Belmont, and over a track where he won the Santa Anita Derby.

“This is a tough blow,” said Bob Walter, who bred and races Cavonnier. “But the main thing is that he’s going to be all right.”

The loss of Cavonnier, who had won the Cal Cup Juvenile in 1995, reduces the the richest race on Cal Cup day to six state-breds. Three horses--Pacificbounty, Budroyale and Bagshot--are likely to vie for favoritism.

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After Gentlemen worked on the grass Thursday at Churchill Downs, trainer Richard Mandella was circumspect about whether his horse would run in the Breeders’ Cup Classic or the Mile.

“I’m in no hurry to make a decision,” Mandella said.

The $1-million Mile is on grass, a surface on which Gentlemen has won five of eight. But the $4-million Classic, a 1 1/4-mile dirt race, is loaded with tough horses, among them Skip Away and Silver Charm. Because Gentlemen wasn’t eligible for the Breeders’ Cup, his owners, one of whom is Hollywood Park chairman R.D. Hubbard, will pay a penalty of $800,000 to run in the Classic or $200,000 to run in the Mile.