These Are Ties That May Not Bind

Real Quiet already has one thing in common with Alysheba and Sunday Silence.

Owner Mike Pegram and trainer Bob Baffert hope the 1998 Kentucky Derby doesn’t have another tie to the 1987 and ’89 winners of the world’s most famous race after the $1-million Sempra Energy Hollywood Gold Cup is official this afternoon.

Real Quiet, the 7-5 morning-line favorite against Budroyale, Malek and Puerto Madero in the Gold Cup, will try to become the first Kentucky Derby winner since Ferdinand 12 years ago to capture Hollywood Park’s most famous race.

Trying for a repeat in 1988, and joined in the field by Alysheba, Ferdinand and his fellow Derby winner were no match for Cutlass Reality, who won the Gold Cup by 6 1/2 lengths, the largest margin of victory in the 59 runnings of the race.

In the 1990 ‘Cup, Sunday Silence fell a head short of Criminal Type, who went on to be named Horse of the Year.

Perhaps, a win today will spur one of the Gold Cup participants on to great things the remainder of the year, but at this point, others look far more promising when discussing Horse of the Year candidates.

Since defeating Victory Gallop by more than two lengths in last year’s Preakness, Real Quiet has only won once in five starts, taking the Pimlico Special last month.

After not racing the remainder of 1998 after his loss by a nose in the Belmont Stakes cost him a Triple Crown, Real Quiet was second in the New Orleans Handicap and Texas Mile in his first two starts this year. Then, after his Pimlico Special victory, he was third behind Behrens and Running Stag in the Massachusetts Handicap at Suffolk Downs.

Now, Real Quiet is favored in his first start at Hollywood Park since he won the 1997 Futurity. He is unbeaten at the Gold Cup distance (1 1/4 miles) and is teamed with a jockey (Jerry Bailey) who has won this race three times in the last seven years.

“Real Quiet’s sitting on a big race,� Baffert said. “He’s going to like the mile and a quarter.

“I think in the Mass ‘Cap, [jockey] Gary [Stevens] didn’t have any choice and he had to go with [Running Stag and Behrens] and he got in a little bit of a speed duel between horses, probably the worst place for a horse like him to be. He’s the kind of horse who just wants to relax and make his run.�

While Baffert has never had a starter in the Gold Cup, Richard Mandella, who will send out Malek and Puerto Madero, has won two of the last three and six of the last 10 $1-million races run in Southern California.

Malek, who has earned $1.1 million this year without winning in three starts, will be running for the first time since he finished second in the Dubai World Cup in March.

Puerto Madero, meanwhile, will get blinkers, with Mandella hoping they will get him headed in the right direction after lackluster efforts in the Santa Anita Handicap and Californian.

“I couldn’t think of anything else to do, so I decided to try the blinkers,� Mandella said. “Hopefully . . . we’re ready for the real game.�

The probable pacesetter, Budroyale, is the only member of the field to have ever run in a claiming race--16 times, in fact, when including allowance/optional claiming races. The 6-year-old gelding also has the most wins in the field with 15.