Pletcher Goes for the Gold

Not many trainers win $750,000 races on successive weekends, but that’s what is on the table for Todd Pletcher when he runs Harlan’s Holiday on Sunday in the Hollywood Gold Cup.

Harlan’s Holiday is a mere 2-1 on Hollywood Park’s morning line, the second choice behind Congaree at 8-5. When the Belmont Park-based Pletcher shipped Balto Star to Monmouth Park in New Jersey to win Saturday’s United Nations Handicap, the 5-year-old gelding paid $76.

After Balto Star’s shocker, the hits just kept coming in smaller stakes for the Pletcher barn. Back home at Belmont on Sunday, Strong Hope won the Dwyer Handicap, handing Sky Mesa his first loss, and less than an hour later Pletcher also won the Bashford Manor Stakes with Limehouse at Churchill Downs. All that firepower moved Pletcher past Bob Baffert and into third place on the national trainers’ money list with $5.6 million in purses.

Baffert, who won the Gold Cup with Real Quiet in 1999, trains Congaree, who is running in California again after splitting a couple of starts in New York this spring. Congaree drew the No. 4 post when seven horses were entered on Thursday. The lineup starts with Rodion, a 30-1 longshot on the rail. The others, in order, are Golden Ticket, 15-1; Kudos, 3-1; Congaree, 8-5; Western Pride, 10-1; Harlan’s Holiday, 2-1; and Piensa Sonando, 8-1. They’ll all carry 124 pounds.

Known as a good shipper, Harlan’s Holiday was flown to Los Angeles from New York and arrived at his Hollywood Park barn Thursday morning. By now, the 4-year-old colt, who has nine wins, five seconds and one third in 20 starts, is used to the road. Hollywood Park will be the 11th track he has run over. Between his former trainer, Ken McPeek, and Pletcher, who took over in June of last year, Harlan’s Holiday has earned $3.4 million. The other millionaires in Sunday’s field are Congaree ($2.2 million), Western Pride ($1.2 million) and Kudos ($1.1 million).

Pletcher scratched Harlan’s Holiday from Saturday’s $500,000 Suburban Handicap at Belmont to run at Hollywood. Horses shipping from East to West are not high-percentage winners, but in the Gold Cup, Pletcher doesn’t have to beat Volponi, last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, and Mineshaft, the Suburban winner who has emerged as one of the best older horses in the country. In his only start at Hollywood Park, Congaree won last year’s Swaps, but he is considered beatable at the Gold Cup distance of 1 1/4 miles.

Pletcher, 36, has never started a horse in the Gold Cup, but before striking out on his own in 1996 he worked as an assistant for seven years for Wayne Lukas, who won the Hollywood Park race with Criminal Type in 1990.

Pletcher and his jockey, John Velazquez, who will be riding in his first Gold Cup, will hope for a better start than what Harlan’s Holiday had on June 14, when he finished fifth as the 2-1 favorite in the Brooklyn Handicap at Belmont.

“He turned his head just as they opened the gate,” Pletcher said. “That gave the others a five-length lead. There had been a downpour, it was a sloppy track and everybody was winning on the front end. It was the wrong setup for us.”

Two other stakes, the $400,000 Swaps for 3-year-olds and the $250,000 A Gleam Handicap for fillies and mares, also are on Sunday’s card.

The Swaps is headed by Ten Most Wanted, running for the first time since he outfinished Funny Cide and was a late-running second to Empire Maker in the Belmont Stakes.

Ten Most Wanted, who’ll be ridden by Pat Day, drew the inside post in a seven-horse field.

The other runners are Blazonry, Logician, Bullistic, During, Eye Of The Tiger and Outta Here. Because of an overlapping ownership, Ten Most Wanted and Logician will be coupled in the betting. Wally Dollase trains Ten Most Wanted and his son, Craig, trains Logician.

Ten Most Wanted will carry 122 pounds, four fewer than in the Belmont but between two and 10 pounds fewer than his rivals.

With the 4-year-old filly You, Bobby Frankel will try to win the A Gleam for the fourth time. His first victory in the stake came with Lt.’s Joy in 1974, when Frankel was new to California and running mostly a claiming stable. Frankel also won the A Gleam with Igotrhythm in 1996 and Honest Lady in 2000.

At 121 pounds, You will be the starting high weight in a six-horse field. Madame Pietra, who was also assigned 121 pounds, will miss the seven-furlong race because of a bruised foot.

The others running are Bear Fan, Brisquette, Cee’s Elegance, Affluent and Wild Tickle.

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Hollywood Gold Cup

*--* P Horse Jockey Trainer Odds 1 Rodion David Flores Darrell Vienna 30-1 2 Golden Ticket Pat Valenzuela Cliff Sise Jr 15-1 3 Kudos Alex Solis Richard Mandella 3-1 4 Congaree Jerry Bailey Bob Baffert 8-5 5 Western Pride Jose Valdivia Jim Chapman 10-1 6 Harlan’s Holiday John Velazquez Todd Pletcher 2-1 7 Piensa Sonando Gary Stevens Ron McAnally 8-1 Weights: All carry 124 pounds. Distance: 1 1/4 miles. When: Sunday. Post: 5:43 p.m. TV: ESPN2 (Coverage starts at 5)

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