CBS SportsLine wire reports
June 26, 1998

INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- Gentlemen enters Sunday's Hollywood Gold Cup as a mystery horse. He hasn't run since a last-place finish in early March, while rival Skip Away has been piling up victories.

It

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won't be an easy comeback for Gentlemen, who had a skin rash and bled after surprisingly running last in the March 7 Santa Anita Handicap. Skip Away, winner of six straight races, awaits him in the 1 1/4-mile race at Hollywood Park.

They'll start next to each other, with Skip Away in the No. 2 post and Gentlemen, last year's Gold Cup winner, in the No. 3 slot.

Skip Away, who arrived from New York Thursday, is the even-money favorite and Gentlemen is the 7-5 second choice, along with stablemate Puerto Madero. The eight starters will each carry 124 pounds.

THE ONLY OTHER TIME Skip Away and Gentlemen met was last year in the Pimlico Special, which Gentlemen won by a half-length. In 11 starts since, Skip Away has won eight.

"If Gentlemen runs his race, he can beat him," trainer Richard Mandella said. "I'm sure Sonny (Hine) feels he's got the best horse in Skip Away. That's what makes it such a great race."

Not that Hine, who trains Skip Away, isn't impressed with Gentlemen.

"I worry about him," Hine said. "He's a good horse.''

During Gentlemen's vacation, Mandella had several great races. Excluding the Breeders' Cup, he's won the last six $1 million races in Southern California. Mandella's been especially dominant in the Gold Cup, where he saddled the top three finishers last year -- Gentlemen, Siphon and Sandpit. He saddled five of the race's six starters.

Gentlemen is quite an enigma entering Sunday's Gold Cup. (AP)

"IT MIGHT BE THE MOST PRESSURE I've ever had as a trainer," he said. "But it was all self-induced. It would have been embarrassing had I not won the race. I considered just saddling 'em and leaving for the airport."

Mandella also has Puerto Madero in the Gold Cup, a Chilean-bred who finished second to Skip Away in the Massachusetts Handicap May 30. Skip Away set a track record of 1:47 1-5 while carrying 130 pounds, beating Puerto Madero by 4½ lengths.

"I don't know that he can beat Skip Away or Gentlemen," Mandella said of the horse who is co-owned by Hollywood Park chairman R.D. Hubbard.

But he said Gentlemen and Puerto Madero won't compromise each other "because Puerto Madero runs from farther back than Gentlemen."

"He'll be laying back in the weeds, making a late run at it," Mandella said of Puerto Madero. "If they let them all get carried away, hooked up together and fighting, he might come a long way and pick up the pieces. Who knows, this might be his day."

THE $1 MILLION RACE lost some of its luster when Silver Charm, last year's Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, dropped out Wednesday because of a fever, spoiling a rare appearance by three of racing's biggest stars in the same race.

"It would've been a lot of fun," Hine said. "We'll miss him.''