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Saturday to Be Training Day for O’Neill

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Times Staff Writer

Doug O’Neill may have broken the record for wins by a trainer at the Oak Tree meet, and the season at Santa Anita may have only four more days to run, but there are still a few more tall trees to fell for the 35-year-old conditioner.

When entries were taken Wednesday for the 10 California Cup races on Saturday, O’Neill dropped the names of 13 horses into the box, including Sky Jack, who is the 2-1 favorite in the $250,000 Classic, the richest race on the card. Later Wednesday, O’Neill saddled Long Gone Con to win the fifth race. The 5-year-old gelding, a 3 1/2-length winner, gave O’Neill his 22nd win of the meet, which broke the record that Bob Baffert set in 1998 and equaled in 1999.

O’Neill, who has been winning at a 33% clip at Oak Tree, will run three more horses today before wheeling out his baker’s dozen for seven of the 10 races on Cal Cup day. The 32-day meet ends Sunday.

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Besides Sky Jack, O’Neill will run Cee’s Elegance and Cyber Slew in the Matron; Aclevershadeofjade, Oneexcessivenite and Grant Marty A Wish in the Distaff; Highly Tempting in the Sprint; Seattle Sloop in the Juvenile Fillies; Sea To See, Menacing Dennis and Blairs General in the Mile; and Black Horse Money and Pleasure Honor in the Juvenile.

O’Neill’s first Cal Cup win came when he was victorious in the Classic in 2000 with Sky Jack. He also won last year’s Distaff with Lil Sister Stitch. Far ahead of the competition, O’Neill has the Oak Tree training title locked up. O’Neill’s previous Southern California titles came at Hollywood Park, where he won last fall and this past spring-summer.

Sky Jack, winner of the Hollywood Gold Cup in 2002, drew the No. 5 post in the Classic’s 10-horse field. This is the way they’ll line up in the gate, starting at the rail:

Calkins Road, who’ll be ridden by Julie Krone, at 8-1; Mr. Joe C, Jose Valdivia Jr., 15-1; Tizawinner, Tony Farina, 30-1; Commander’s Flag, Alex Solis, 12-1; Sky Jack, Russell Baze, 2-1; Red Warrior, Ryan Fogelsonger, 15-1; Tizbud, Victor Espinoza, 15-1; Hot Market, Pat Valenzuela, 5-2; Kedington, Tyler Baze, 20-1; and Grey Memo, Kent Desormeaux, 7-2.

Sky Jack will carry 123 pounds, three more than Grey Memo, who’s next in weight, and 11 more than Red Warrior and Mr. Joe C, who have the lightest imposts.

Sky Jack’s career has been interrupted by injuries -- and includes survival from a knee operation that almost cost him his life before he came back to win the Gold Cup. In June, he returned from a 9 1/2-month layoff, and after a sixth-place finish on the grass at Hollywood Park was back on dirt for a couple of wins. In his last start, at Emerald Downs near Seattle on Aug. 24, he won the Longacres Mile by 6 1/4 lengths.

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While Sky Jack hasn’t run 1 1/8 miles, the Classic distance, or farther in more than a year, Hot Market has run 1 1/8 miles only once in his 17-race career, when he reared as the gates opened and finished fifth in last year’s Classic. Craig Lewis, who trains Hot Market, was considering the Cal Cup Sprint as recently as a week ago, but then opted for the Classic. Hot Market, who has had problem knees, hasn’t run since finishing third in the San Pasqual Handicap at Santa Anita. One of the 5-year-old gelding’s wins last year was over Pleasantly Perfect, recent winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

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Long Gone Con, who was claimed for $80,000 by O’Neill on June 26 at Hollywood Park, was claimed again Wednesday. Trainer Art Sherman took him for $62,500.... Krone, who rode King Augustus when he was disqualified from first to second place in a race last Sunday, has received a three-day suspension from the stewards. The penalty covers the first three days of the Hollywood Park meet, which opens Tuesday.

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