Pincay’s Win Is One for the Books

As his mounts for Sunday’s card began to multiply late last week, Laffit Pincay turned to his agent, Bob Meldahl, and said: “Not too many, now. I’ve got to save my strength for the Gold Cup.”

The 55-year-old Pincay might have had seven mounts Sunday, but the $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup was only the fifth race of the day, and Pincay, having ridden only two races beforehand, was at his sinewy best through a tortuous stretch run. Whipping left-handed and urging Sky Jack to the wire, Pincay and the 6-year-old gelding beat the younger Momentum by a nose, in a finish so close that the winning trainer, Doug O’Neill, wasn’t too sure.

“When I watched it live, I thought we had won,” O’Neill said. “Then when I saw the replay, I was worried.”

Pulling up Momentum past the wire, 30-year-old Garrett Gomez looked over at Pincay and said:

“Did you have the nod?”

“I think I did,” Pincay said.

It takes an enormous eraser to remove Bill Shoemaker’s name from page after page of the record book, but Pincay is the rubout artist for the deed. Sky Jack gave the ageless Pincay his ninth Gold Cup win, one more than Shoemaker, and it came over the same Hollywood Park strip where Pincay rode his 8,834th winner on Dec. 10, 1999, dropping Shoemaker to second place.

In the total-wins department, Pincay continues to put more distance between him and his many challengers; the Gold Cup was the 9,388th win in a career that began in the U.S. in 1966, two years before O’Neill was born.

“Laffit is amazing,” O’Neill said. “He still looks youthful to me. He doesn’t look like he could be my father.”

Pincay’s first Gold Cup win came with Pleasure Seeker in 1970. He had tied the Shoemaker record last year with help from the stewards, who disqualified Futural for interference and elevated Aptitude to the win spot.

“They’re more fun now,” Pincay said, “because I know that I don’t have that many years left. But I’m not thinking about that, and right now I’m having a good time.”

Momentum, trained by Craig Dollase, who ran the hard-luck Futural in the Gold Cup last year, finished three lengths ahead of Milwaukee Brew, the Santa Anita Handicap and Californian winner and 7-5 favorite. The rest of the order of finish was Dollar Bill, Dig For It and Macaneo, with Out Of Mind scratched because of a bruised foot.

Sky Jack, bred and owned by Rene and Margie Lambert, who own a farm near Temecula, completed 1 1/4 miles in 2:01 3/5, paying $5.80 as the second choice and earning $450,000. He was the 13th gate-to-wire winner of the Gold Cup and the fifth in the last nine years.

Milwaukee Brew usually runs from far back, but Sunday he broke not only last, but 12 1/2 lengths behind Sky Jack. Both his trainer, Bobby Frankel, and jockey, Kent Desormeaux, bore responsibility. Frankel, who won last year with Aptitude, said that he gave the wrong instructions, and Desormeaux said:

“I think I left him with too much to do. He really kicked on at the end. Unfortunately, the race didn’t set up like I thought it would. I thought they would go much faster early.”

With Pat Valenzuela riding Macaneo, a 30-1 shot, O’Neill had guessed correctly that the Argentine-bred might give Sky Jack some company up front.

Macaneo stayed with Sky Jack for the first three-quarters of a mile, under soft fractions of :23 2/5, :46 4/5 and 1:11 2/5.

On the turn for home, Momentum hooked up with Sky Jack and may have inched ahead for a stride with just over a sixteenth of a mile left.

“My horse won on courage,” Pincay said. “When the other horse came alongside, I thought I was in trouble. I thought we were beat, but my horse just kept holding on. This was the toughest [Gold Cup] I’ve ever won. From [2 1/2 furlongs] to the wire, I had to work real hard.”

Momentum had finished third the day Milwaukee Brew won the Californian.

“I wish that old man [Pincay] would retire,” Gomez said. “He’s tough, but I guess that’s why he’s a Hall of Famer. I got up there head and head with him a couple of times. But I just couldn’t get by that old gray horse. We brushed a couple of times, nothing big, but just enough to where the gray horse could feel me right there. My horse was trying his eyeballs out.”

Sky Jack, winning for the eighth time in 14 starts and the fifth time in as many tries at Hollywood, was deemed the best horse in the country by Pincay after a seven-length win in the Native Diver Handicap in December 2000. But he underwent two surgeries for bone chips on his right knee after that, and when intestinal complications set in after the second operation, his weight dropped drastically and he almost died.

“They thought they were going to lose him,” O’Neill said, “and when I went out to see him, it was just like skin hanging on his bones.”

Sky Jack recovered and ran second off a 14-month layoff in February, but then he was last in the Santa Anita Handicap. O’Neill, admitting later that he had over-reached, thanked Pincay that day for not beating up on a horse that lacked a chance. Sky Jack’s only other start before Sunday was a win in the Mervyn LeRoy Handicap at 1 1/16 miles May 12.

“He’s not a true mile-and-a-quarter horse,” O’Neill said. “And you won’t confuse him with any of the super-greats. But I will.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

*--* Gold Record Laffit Pincay’s wins in the Hollywood Gold Cup Year Horse Margin of Victory $2 Win Price 1970 Pleasure Seeker 3 1/2 lengths $6.20 1975 Ancient Title 4 1/2 lengths $4.80 1977 Crystal Water Neck $6.80 1979 Affirmed Three-quarters of a length $2.60 1982 Perrault 1 length $3.40 1985 Greinton 1 3/4 lengths $4.40 1986 Super Diamond 1 1/2 lengths $7.80 2001 Aptitude* NA $5.20 2002 Sky Jack Nose $5.80 *Aptitude finished second but was placed first after the disqualifi cation of Futural

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The Chart

Copyright 2002 by Equibase and Hollywood Park

*--* 7509 -FIFTH RACE. 1 1/4 miles. “Hollywood Gold Cup” (Grade I) Three year olds & up. Purse $750,000

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*--* Horse and Jockey PP 3/4 1 St r Fi n To $1 Sky Jack, Pincay 5 1 1/2 1 1/2 1 hd 1 no 1.90 Momentum, Gomez 2 2 1 2 3 1/2 2 4 1/2 2 3 3.70 Milwaukee Brew, 6 6 5 4 4 1/2 3 4 1.40 Dsrmex Dollar Bill, 3 5 7 4 2 1/2 3 hd 4 3 1/2 5.50 Guidry Dig For It, Solis 4 4 1/2 3 hd 5 10 5 16 21.50 Macaneo, 1 3 1/2 6 6 6 30.60 Valenzuela

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Scratched-Out Of Mind (Brz)

*--* 5-SKY JACK...5.80 4.00 2.20 2-MOMENTUM...4.20 2.40 6-MILWAUKEE BREW...2.10

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Time-23.41, 46.94, 1.11.42, 1.35.99, 2.01.73. Clear & Fast. Winner-gr.g.6 Jaklin Klugman-Sky Captive Trained by Doug O’Neill. Owned by Ren-Mar Thoroughbreds.

$2 DOUBLE (1/5) PAID $40.60

$1 EXACTA (5-2) PAID $13.30

$1 TRIFECTA (5-2-6) PAID $25.90

$1 PICK THREE (6/1/5) PAID $26.60

$2 QUINELLA (2-5) PAID $14.20