Gold Cup won’t have star attraction

A swollen left front ankle has spoiled a much-anticipated showdown between Heatseeker and Tiago in today’s $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup at Hollywood Park.

Heatseeker was scratched by trainer Jerry Hollendorfer on Friday morning.

“I’m very sorry about it, [particularly] with all the exposure we’ve had,” Hollendorfer said, adding that the injury is not believed to be serious.

“The X-rays were negative,” he said. “Hopefully it will calm down and we can resume training. We deal with these problems on a daily basis. It’s unfortunate we have to with a horse like Heatseeker.”

It may not compare to Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier or Lakers vs. Celtics, but Heatseeker and Tiago had developed a pretty good rivalry. They had met in three consecutive races, with Heatseeker winning twice and Tiago once.

Before Heatseeker was scratched, it appeared that a horse named Go Between might be all that stood in the way of another Heatseeker-Tiago classic duel.

Go Between, who will carry three pounds less than Tiago over the 1 1/4 -mile Gold Cup distance, will now probably become the favorite.

“We’d have liked to have been able to win the race and prove that we can beat everybody,” Bill Mott, Go Between’s trainer, said from New York. “But this is to our advantage. Heatseeker was one to beat.”

Heatseeker beat Go Between in the Santa Anita Handicap on March 1, but Go Between was closing at the end and finished only three-quarters of a length back in second place. And in that race, Go Between carried two more pounds than Heatseeker, 118 compared to 116. Tiago, who finished fourth, also carried 118.

In today’s race, Go Between will again carry 118 pounds, but Tiago has been assigned 121.

“We’ll take every little bit of help we can get,” Mott said.

Go Between has had only one race since the Big ‘Cap, finishing second as the 1-2 favorite in the Grade III, 1 1/8 -mile Ben Ali Stakes at Keeneland in Kentucky on April 20. That race was won by Sterwins.

Tiago nipped Heatseeker by a head in the Oaklawn Handicap in Arkansas on April 5 before losing to Heatseeker by 5 1/4 lengths in the Grade II, 1 1/8 -mile Californian at Hollywood Park on May 31.

Go Between, a 5-year-old, jogged once around Hollywood Park’s 1 1/8 -mile track Thursday morning and galloped 1 3/8 miles Friday morning. “Ideally, we would have liked to have had more time to train, but the horse is healthy,” Mott said.

Go Between has won seven of 24 starts and earned more than $2 million for owner-breeder Peter Vegso of Florida. A proven turf horse with a pair of graded stakes victories, Go Between did well after shifting to synthetic surfaces. He won the Grade III Fayette Stakes at Keeneland last October and in January won the Sunshine Millions Classic at Santa Anita.

Go Between, who will be ridden by Garrett Gomez, will start from post position No. 7.

Gomez will be seeking his first Gold Cup victory. He finished second with Budroyale in 1999, Momentum in 2002 and Borrego in 2005.

Go Between will not only have to contend with Tiago but seven others in a strong field.

Student Council, who arrived from Kentucky on Monday, won the Grade I Pimlico Special in his last start May 16 and won the Pacific Classic at Del Mar last summer.

McCann’s Mojave won the Berkeley Handicap in his last start at Golden Gate on May 26, and in January 2007 won the Sunshine Millions Classic at Gulfstream in Florida.

McCann’s Mojave is the only California-bred horse in the Gold Cup, though all but one has raced in the state. The only one who hasn’t is English import Spice Route, a mystery horse who arrived in Southern California two weeks ago.

The 4-year-old gelding worked at Santa Anita on Monday, going six furlongs in 1:13.80. “The distance should be no problem, but I’ll have to see about the company,” trainer Paddy Gallagher said.

larry.stewart@latimes.com

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Gold Cup field

Today at Hollywood Park. Purse: $750,000 -- 1 1/4 miles. 10th race, 4:43 p.m. approximate post time. Live on ESPN2.

*--* (PP) Horse Trainer Jockey ML 1. Mast Track Robert Frankel Tyler Baze 12-1 2. Perfect Drift Richard Mandella Victor Espinoza 8-1 -- Heatseeker Jerry Hollendorfer Rafael Bejarano SCR 3. Tiago John Shirreffs Mike Smith 3-1 4. Racketeer Barry Abrams Joel Rosario 8-1 5. Student Council Steve Asmussen Shaun Bridgmohan 9-2 6. Go Between Bill Mott Garrett Gomez 5-2 7. McCann’s Mojave Steve Specht Frank Alvarado 12-1 8. Big Booster Mike Mitchell Corey Nakatani 8-1 9. Spice Route Patrick Gallagher Alex Solis 15-1 *--*

Hollywood Park