No Quantity, Just Quality in Gold Cup

Even though it won’t be run until Sunday afternoon, the 60th Hollywood Gold Cup has already found its way into Hollywood Park’s record book.

With only four starters, the main event of the spring-summer season in Inglewood has the smallest field in the history of the race. Three times previously, the Gold Cup attracted only five, most recently, when Slew Of Damascus won in 1994.

Although compact, the lineup for the Grade I, which has a $1-million purse, is not without quality and a case can be made for all four.

Budroyale, one of the best $50,000 claims ever, has won two of three at the meet for owner Jeffrey Sengara and is the likely pacesetter. He is the 5-2 third choice on Russ Hudak’s morning line.

Malek, the race longshot at 7-2, will be looking for his first win since the 1998 Santa Anita Handicap and will be making his first start since finishing second in the Dubai World Cup on March 28. He will try to give trainer Richard Mandella his third win in the last four Gold Cups.

Mandella’s other entrant, Puerto Madero, would have been favored had this race been earlier this year, but he is trying to rebound from sub-par efforts in the Big ‘Cap and Californian. The 5-year-old, Chilean-bred will race for the first time in blinkers and it could get him headed in the right direction.

The favorite on Hudak’s morning line at 7-5 is Real Quiet, who will be racing at Hollywood Park for the first time since he beat Artax and nine others in the Hollywood Futurity on Dec. 14, 1997.

Trained by Bob Baffert for owner Mike Pegram, the 1998 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner is only one for five since his Preakness score and will be ridden for the first time by Jerry Bailey. The jockey will be aiming for his fourth Gold Cup victory this decade, having won with Sultry Song in 1992, Cigar three years later and Skip Away 12 months ago.

Although post position will play no role in the outcome of this race, here’s the way the field will line up from the inside out: Malek, Real Quiet, Budroyale and Puerto Madero.

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Entries were also taken for the $200,000 A Gleam Handicap and $300,000 Triple Bend Breeders’ Cup Invitational Handicap, the two other stakes that will be run on Sunday.

Reraise, who won the 1998 Breeders’ Cup Sprint, is the 7-5 favorite in the Triple Bend as he goes for his third victory in as many starts this year. The seven-furlong race will be his first in Southern California as he has picked up wins as the heavy favorite at Oaklawn Park and Golden Gate Fields.

In the A Gleam, the entry of A.P. Assay and Snowberg, who are trained by Paco Gonzalez and owned by John Toffan and Trudy McCaffery, is the 7-5 choice.

Horse Racing Notes

There were 140 years of experience in the winner’s circle after favored Badgett’s Promise won the sixth race on Thursday. The 3-year-old gelding was ridden by Laffit Pincay, 52, and is trained by Noble Threewitt, 88. . . . Jockeys Danny Sorenson and Martin Pedroza each won twice Thursday. . . . Post time for the Gold Cup will be 2:40 p.m. and it will be the fifth of 10 races. . . . Idealistic Cause is the 5-2 favorite in the $125,000 Fran’s Valentine Stakes tonight at Hollywood Park and Penny Marie is the 6-5 choice in the $69,000 Arbor Vitae Stakes.