I can still hear Hollywood Park track announcer Harry Henson in my head, telling me, “And here comes Quack in the middle of the track!”
The son of T.V. Lark still holds the record for the fastest Hollywood Gold Cup, winning the 1972 edition in 1:58 1/5 for the mile and a quarter. It’s also the fastest mile and a quarter on dirt ever run by a 3-year-old.
It’s Gold Cup week at Santa Anita, and we no longer have to put up with it being called the Gold Cup at Santa Anita. The Hollywood Gold Cup is back and here to stay, thanks to Santa Anita management.
“The Hollywood Gold Cup is one of the most storied races in all of American racing and we are right to remember it,” Aidan Butler, head of The Stronach Group’s California racing operations, said in a statement last week. “Beginning when Seabiscuit won the inaugural in 1938, it has attracted some of the finest older horses in the world. Even though Hollywood Park doesn’t exist anymore, this race does, and it deserves to be linked to its grand past.”
It will be run for the 81st time Saturday, the seventh time at Santa Anita after Hollywood Park closed in 2013, and it’s been won by some of the who’s who of racing.
Want a top 10 of Gold Cup winners? Here goes, although the order in which they’re listed is by no means a measure of their greatness:
Affirmed
The 1978 Triple Crown winner won the 1979 edition in front of 40,000-plus with Laffit Pincay Jr. in the saddle. He’s one of only two Triple Crown winners to win the race, joining Citation (1951). Pincay ended up winning a record nine Gold Cups.
Citation
Ridden by Steve Brooks, Citation won the Gold Cup three years after his Triple Crown. He won 16 consecutive races at one time and was the first horse to eclipse $1 million in earnings. He won 32 of 45 lifetime starts.
Ack Ack
Still the only horse to win the 5 1/2-furlong Express Handicap and the Gold Cup (1971) in the same year, winning the latter while carrying 134 pounds – the most ever carried in the race. He gave Bill Shoemaker his fourth of eight Gold Cup victories.
Seabiscuit
Thanks to the 2003 film, who hasn’t heard of the Biscuit? Perhaps his most famous victory came in 1938 when he beat 1937 Horse of the Year and Triple Crown winner War Admiral by four lengths in a much-ballyhooed match race at Pimlico.
Cigar
The 1995 Gold Cup winner tied Citation’s record for consecutive victories before he was stymied by Dare And Go in the 1996 Pacific Classic at Del Mar while trying to make the record his own. Trained by Bill Mott, he won 19 of 33 lifetime for earnings of just shy of $10 million.
Lava Man
Trained by Doug O’Neill, he had trouble winning when he shipped out of state, but when racing inside the friendly confines of Southern California, he was top notch. He joined Native Diver in 2007 as the only horses to win three consecutive Gold Cups.
Ancient Title
This Cal-bred was much like Ack Ack in that he had that rare ability to stretch his sprint speed over a distance of ground. He won the Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita in 1974 at 7 furlongs and the Gold Cup a year later. He was California Horse of the Year in 1974 and ’75.
Game On Dude
Joined Native Diver and Lava Man as the only horses to win consecutive Gold Cups when he found the winner’s circle in 2012 and ’13. Chantal Sutherland rode him in his first victory, becoming the only female jockey to win the race.
Swaps
Another Cal-bred who showed he could run with the blue bloods, winning the 1956 Gold Cup with Shoemaker aboard. He won the Kentucky Derby one year earlier and was named Horse of the Year in ’56.
Ferdinand
The 1986 Kentucky Derby winner gave Shoemaker his final Gold Cup victory in 1987 and won the Breeders’ Cup Classic that same year to take home Horse of the Year honors. He won eight of 29 starts for earnings of $3.7 million.
Maybe 20 or 30 years from now the history books will paint a rosy picture of Saturday’s renewal. But the Hollywood Gold Cup is back, and that’s all that really matters.
Follow Art Wilson on Twitter at @Sham73
"Hollywood" - Google News
June 05, 2020 at 06:33AM
https://ift.tt/3h5c4Nk
Hollywood Gold Cup’s storied legacy shaped by these 10 winning horses - OCRegister
"Hollywood" - Google News
https://ift.tt/38iWBEK
https://ift.tt/3fdiOHW
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Hollywood Gold Cup’s storied legacy shaped by these 10 winning horses - OCRegister"
Post a Comment