Stein Trying to Strike Gold

Winning a Grade I race with a former claimer is no cinch, but trainer Roger Stein has done it before.

Southern Truce, who had once been claimed for $16,000, upset two-time Eclipse champion mare Paseana in the 1993 Santa Margarita Handicap at Santa Anita. Early the next year, she came back at 11-1 in the Santa Monica Handicap at the same track.

Stein will be trying to pull off an even bigger surprise Sunday when he sends out Macaneo in the $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup.

Claimed for $50,000 by Stein for owners Robert Alperson, Nate Friedman and Marshall Kadner in his U.S. debut on April 6, Macaneo will be the longest shot in the expected field of six in the 1 1/4-mile Gold Cup.

When the gates open Sunday afternoon, his owners already will be $20,000 in the hole. They supplemented the Argentine-bred for $12,500 and they will pay $3,750 more to enter and another $3,750 to start. This means the 5-year-old son of Payant will have to finish fourth to show a profit. The fifth-place finisher in the Gold Cup earns $15,000.

Whether or not Macaneo can beat two of his five rivals--probable favorite Milwaukee Brew, Dollar Bill, Out Of Mind, Momentum and Sky Jack--remains to be seen, but Stein is looking forward to Sunday. The trainer, who is also the longtime host of a weekend radio show on racing, is eager to try Macaneo on the main track.

Since being claimed out of a race where he finished seventh of 10, the chestnut has won two of four turf races. He ran wide but still won by a head against $50,000 foes on June 8, then returned 15 days later and edged L’effaceur by a neck in a $62,500 claimer.

“The way he trains, he appears to be a better horse on the dirt,” Stein said. “If we ran him for $80,000 on the dirt, I know he would get claimed because people have offered me more than $80,000 for him.

“[Jockey Corey] Nakatani worked him [Tuesday morning] and he went six furlongs in 1:10 4/5. I thought he worked very well and did it easily.

“Class-wise, I don’t know if he’s this good and I don’t know about the 1 1/4 miles, but this isn’t a field loaded with superstars, so maybe I can get lucky. I believe he’ll run better than anybody who looks at his form would expect him to run.”

A winner of eight of 15 in his career, Macaneo has three wins and a third in five previous races on dirt. His last main-track start was his final race in South America last Dec. 12. He won by three lengths over six opponents, covering the mile in 1:35 1/5.

This will be his first start in a graded stakes and his first beyond 1 1/16 miles. He will be ridden by Patrick Valenzuela, who long ago clinched the riding title for the meet, which ends July 21.

“I know Patrick’s going to go out there and not be concerned with the tote board and with what people are going to say,” Stein said. “He’ll just go out there and do his thing.

“I believe this horse will get 1 1/8 miles, but I don’t know about the 1 1/4 miles. He might get to the eighth pole and then give it up.

“This horse is crazy enough that right now he thinks he can beat anybody.... I’m not saying I wouldn’t mind trading places with Milwaukee Brew, but I don’t think [trainer] Bobby Frankel is going to swap horses. I think Dollar Bill [shipped in for this race from Churchill Downs] would just be a classified allowance horse if he was out here [all the time].

“The worst thing that can happen is that [Macaneo] runs sixth, which is where everybody thinks he will. If he happens to run third or better, then everybody’s going to say, ‘Wow!’ If he’s somehow able to win, well, I would be famous for a day. He’s going to be 20- or 30-1 and we both know 20- and 30-1 shots have won before.”

Since being claimed by Alperson, a retired steel executive; Friedman, a Beverly Hills attorney, and Kadner, a Beverly Hills doctor, Macaneo has earned $54,300. If he does shock the world on Sunday, he won’t be the first former claimer to have taken the Gold Cup in recent years.

In 2000, Early Pioneer, a 24-1 longshot who had been claimed for $62,500 by trainer Vladimir Cerin for owners David and Holly Wilson, beat favored General Challenge by a length.

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Caller One, a multiple-stakes winning sprinter, has been retired because of a sesamoid injury. Trained by Jim Chapman, the 5-year-old won 10 of 20 and earned $3,184,500.... Jockey Kent Desormeaux will begin a five-day suspension Friday, stemming from his disqualification aboard Dublino in Saturday’s inaugural American Oaks at Hollywood Park. He will be able to ride in the Hollywood Gold Cup, Swaps Stakes and A Gleam Handicap on Sunday, however, as all are designated races.