Trainer Cerin Has a Chance to Strike Gold

Earlier this year at Santa Anita, trainer Vladimir Cerin had a chat about the future with Allen Tepper, one of the owners of Southern Image.

“I told Allen we would be meeting in the Hollywood Gold Cup,” he said, referring to Hollywood Park’s signature race, which will be run for the 65th time on Saturday.

Cerin was half right. Southern Image, a 4-year-old whose stakes victories include the Santa Anita Handicap and Pimlico Special, will miss the $750,000 Gold Cup because of hoof problems. Even The Score, a 6-year-old Unbridled’s Song horse Cerin trains for owner Ro Parra, will be a short-priced favorite to win his third stakes of the meet and become only the second horse to sweep the Mervyn LeRoy Handicap, Californian and Gold Cup at Hollywood Park. Eleven Stitches won all three in 1981.

For the Yugoslavian-born Cerin to be talking Gold Cup four months ago would have seemed premature. Even The Score, a Kentucky-bred gray, had won only seven of 25 racing in New York, Kentucky, Texas and Louisiana. He had not run since Sept. 13, and had yet to start for Cerin.

Formerly trained by Dallas Stewart, Even The Score was purchased for an undisclosed sum by Parra at the recommendation of Jerry Brown, the creator of the Thoro-Graph sheets, a popular handicapping tool.

“Ro was looking for a horse to turn into a stallion that could compete at a stakes level,” said Brown, who has purchased 66 horses that have won stakes for his clients, including 1998 Belmont Stakes winner Victory Gallop, 1996 Breeders’ Cup Mile hero Da Hoss, and Distorted Humor, who went on to sire 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide.

“The dirt divisions for 3-year-olds and older horses were thin in California and Even The Score was a good, hard-hitting horse in terms of our figures and that he’d be able to compete in graded stakes on both dirt and turf.

“In his first two wins in California, he basically got the same figures he was getting in the Midwest, but [in the Californian] he ran the best race he’s ever run in his life.”

Faxed the horse’s record and his Thoro-Graph numbers, Cerin was asked by Parra whether or not he thought Even The Score was worth buying.

“I told him absolutely, and it was at a very, very fair price,” he said.

Sent west last fall, Even The Score didn’t make it to the races until this spring because of problems with his hooves.

“There was a reason why they sold him at such a good price,” Cerin said. “He had some problems and we knew it was going to be a project.”

In his first race for his new connections, the San Bernardino Handicap on April 3 at Santa Anita, Even The Score finished third, beaten 6 1/2 lengths by Dynever. But Cerin was satisfied.

“He wasn’t quite fit to run,” he said. “He was a little antsy and it was time for him to run.

“I asked [jockey] David Flores not to abuse him, try and win it if he could, but not to kill him. I was quite pleased with that race.”

Five weeks later in the Mervyn LeRoy, Even The Score, at 5-1 odds, responded with a two-length victory over pacesetter Enders Shadow and six others. Then, as the 9-10 choice in the Californian, he drew away impressively, winning by 3 1/2 lengths against eight opponents.

“In the LeRoy he gave us more than we expected because he was only 90% fit,” Cerin said. “I thought the Californian was an awesome performance. He was three or four wide on both turns and to win it the way he did I was impressed.”

A Gold Cup win would be the second in five years for Cerin. Although it would be considered a major surprise if Even The Score doesn’t get the job done against a suspect field on Saturday, the circumstances were a lot different in 2000.

Early Pioneer, who had been claimed for $62,500 by owners David and Holly Wilson in 1998, went off at 24-1 odds when he upset General Challenge.

“Maybe I look at it through rosy eyes, but I thought Early Pioneer was a pretty good horse,” Cerin said. “I think this one is maybe a little better.”

Should Even The Score do the expected on Saturday, an engagement in the $1-million Pacific Classic on Aug. 22 at Del Mar would almost certainly be next. That could lead to a possible encounter with Southern Image and Pleasantly Perfect, who is scheduled to have his Classic prep in the San Diego Handicap on Aug. 1.

“If we get a great performance out of him in the Gold Cup and we’re able to win, we’d like to run in the Pacific Classic and then the Breeders’ Cup Classic” Oct. 30 at Lone Star Park, Cerin said.

Flores will be looking for his third Gold Cup win. His previous two have come aboard longshots. He and Marquetry went wire to wire at 27-1 in 1991, and five years later, Siphon used similar tactics to win at 9-1.

He is confident about his chances. “This horse is in a zone right now,” he said. “He gets better every time he runs and he loves this track.”