Finding ‘Away to Win

Leaving the Hollywood Park tunnel for the post parade, jockey Jerry Bailey heard some boos. It wasn’t the first time. Cigar got the same treatment in the same place, the day Bailey rode him to victory in the 1995 Hollywood Gold Cup.

This time Bailey was riding Skip Away, and this time the boos again richocheted off both the horse and the jockey. In a Gold Cup laced with uncertainty--Skip Away was in, then he might be out, then he was in; Silver Charm was in, then he was out--the one thing about the 59th running was that the race lived up to its final billing: A battle royal between Skip Away and Gentlemen.

There was a cat-and-mouse game Sunday between Bailey and Gary Stevens, Gentlemen’s rider, for almost a mile. At no time did Bailey feel that Gentlemen could go by his horse. Then in the stretch, Skip Away put Gentlemen away. He had enough in reserve to withstand the late, on-the-rail run of Gentlemen’s stablemate as well, and at the wire it was Skip Away by 1 3/4 lengths over Puerto Madero, with Gentlemen third, 2 3/4 lengths from the winner.

Bailey pulled up his horse and returned to the bright sunshine that came from over the top of the grandstand. It seemed like half of the 32,505 in the house had squeezed themselves into one place, where they could see Skip Away up close. The booers were all booed out, and mild cheering increased incrementally with every stride that Skip Away made in the direction of the winner’s circle. Standing in front of the inner rail, facing the grandstand, Bailey took off his red cap and doffed it to the crowd. The needle on the applause meter swung all the way to the right.

“Except for two of Cigar’s races, I don’t think I’ve heard cheering like that until today,” Bailey said. “I would have been surprised if they had booed afterward, and they didn’t.”

For the second time in eight months, Skip Away had come to California and flourished. The 5-year-old gray’s November Breeders’ Cup Classic victory at Hollywood was a building block on a winning streak that stands at seven races. Bailey, who has been aboard for six of those seven wins, rode two-time horse-of-the-year Cigar in his last 19 races, and he was asked Sunday to compare the two.

“Well, the only time they met, Skip Away won,” Bailey said. “Maybe Skip Away is better.”

The question wasn’t worth asking Sonny Hine. He trains Skip Away, who is owned by Carolyn Hine, his wife. Somebody said that Skip Away is the son they never had, and that’s pretty close. They bought him for $22,500 as an unraced 2-year-old and now, with 16 wins, 10 seconds and five thirds in 34 starts--and $600,000 from Sunday--he’s up to $8,906,360. That’s $1,093,455 short of Cigar’s record, and about an hour after the Gold Cup was over, Sonny Hine indicated that Skip Away will run next year as well. Earlier he had said that breaking Cigar’s record would be enough.

“We could break the record just by winning the Breeders’ Cup [at Churchill Downs Nov. 7],” Hine said. “They’re smart out here, running these weight-for-age races. If they’d do that back East, I’d run him [in 1999]. I’ll do it for my wife.”

In winning the Massachusetts Handicap at Suffolk Downs in his previous start, Skip Away carried 130 pounds, but under the conditions of the Gold Cup, his impost was only 124, the same as the other seven starters. He ran the 1 1/4 miles in 2:00, over a dull track, and paid $2.80 to win, one of the six lowest payoffs in Gold Cup history.

Nine days before the Gold Cup, Skip Away needed some emergency blacksmith work at Belmont Park after he unseated his rider, scurried from a fallen horse and ran off before a scheduled morning gallop. Plastic patches were needed to hold the nails to his shoes in place. There was also swelling in both front legs, which didn’t go away completely until after he arrived in California on Thursday. He ran Sunday on bute, the anti-inflammatory drug, for only the second time in his career.

“The last Saturday in New York, there was no chance he’d come,” Hine said. “The Sunday, no chance. But he got better and we came. Now I’m not sure about the Pacific Classic [Aug. 15 at Del Mar]. It’s a possibility. He’ll go back to New York on Tuesday and we’ll try to give him 10 days to grow a little foot.”

Gentlemen, who had beaten Skip Away in the Pimlico Special 13 months ago and won the Gold Cup last year, was biting off a lot Sunday, running for the first time in almost four months because he had bled internally in the Santa Anita Handicap. Trainer Richard Mandella, whose steak of $1-million wins in California ended at six, had hoped that Budroyale, a 24-1 shot, would go for the early lead, giving Bailey something to think about, but Skip Away found alone up front.

Through fractions of :23, :46 2/5 and 1:09 3/5, Stevens and Genttlemen shadowed Skip Away. Midway down the backstretch, they were within a neck on the outside, then they slipped back to a length away. They were within a half-length on the far turn, and nearing the quarter pole they were only noses apart.

Bailey was riding confidently. “I didn’t want that scenario,” he said, “but it’s nice to sit on a horse as great as this one. I was never scared to pull the trigger.”

Mandella had forgotten his binoculars, but by the eighth pole he knew his best chance was the come-from-behind Puerto Madero, who had been a distant second to Skip Away at Suffolk.

“Skip Away ran an awesome race,” Mandella said. “Gentlemen was right there, and then he came up empty. I’d like to think he got tired, but maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he just got outrun.”

Bailey only hit Skip Away once, with the left hand about 60 yards from the wire.

Skip Away missed out on horse of the year in 1997, losing to the 2-year-old Favorite Trick, partly because many voters theorized that most of the top horses missed the Breeders’ Cup.

“I guess they’ll keep saying we don’t beat anybody, but who’s left?” Hine said.

Maybe Silver Charm, if they both run in the Pacific Classic. Silver Charm was withdrawn from the Gold Cup last Wednesday because of a 102-degree fever. R.D. Hubbard, chairman of Hollywood Park and principal owner of Gentlemen and Puerto Madero, said another 10,000 might have come Sunday to see all three horses battle.

“I don’t have to talk about that horse [Silver Charm] at any time,” Hine said. “[Trainer Bob Baffert] knows where I’m going. I’m tired of talking about him.”

He’ll talk about Skip Away all night.

“The pace didn’t mean anything [Sunday],” Hine said. “Skippy works that fast. He ran his heart out again. We love him and we know he’s a great horse.”

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Race at a Glance

The Finish

1. 3--SKIP AWAY

Win: $2.80

Place: $2.10

Show: $2.10

2. 1A--PUERTO MADERO**

Place: $2.20

Show: $2.10

3. 1--GENTLEMEN**

* Place: $2.20

* Show: $2.10

** Entry

Time: 2:00

Earnings: $600,000

Career Earnings: $8,906,360

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Gold Cup Winners

Year: Horse

1998: Skip Away

1997: Gentlemen

1996: Siphon

1995: Cigar

1994: Slew of Damascus

1993: Best Pal

1992: Sultry Song

1991: Marquetry

1990: Criminal Type

1989: Blushing John

1988: Cutlass Reality

1987: Ferdinand

1986: Super Diamond

1985: Greinton

1984: Desert Wine

1983: Island Whirl

1982: Perrault

1981: Eleven Stitches

1980: Go West Young Man

1979: Affirmed

1978: Exceller

1977: Crystal Water

1976: Pay Tribute

1975: Ancient Title

1974: Tree of Knowledge

1973: Kennedy Road

1972: Quack

1971: Ack Ack

1970: Pleasure Seeker

1969: Figonero

1968: Princessneslan

1967: Native Diver

1966: Native Diver

1965: Native Diver

1964: Colorado King

1963: Cadiz

1962: Prove It

1961: Prince Blessed

1960: Dotted Swiss

1959: Hillsdale

1958: Gallant Man

1957: Round Table

1956: Swaps

1955: Rejected

1954: Correspondent

1953: Royal Serenade

1952: Two Lea

1951: Citation

1950: Noor

1949: Solidarity

1948: Shannon II

1947: Cover Up

1946: Triplicate

1945: Challenge Me

1944: Happy Issue

1943: NO RACE--WAR

1942: NO RACE--WAR

1941: Big Pebble

1940: Challedon

1939: Kayak II

1938: Seabiscuit