HOLLYWOOD PARK : Tinners Way Could End Up Gold-Plated

Bobby Frankel is confident, but the trainer isn’t making a bold prediction of victory for Tinners Way in the Hollywood Gold Cup on Sunday.

Fine. We’ll do it for him.

Three weeks after a solid third-place finish in The Californian, Tinners Way’s first start in nearly nine months, the 5-year-old son of Secretariat is primed to win the second $1-million race of his career and knock off Cigar and Concern, the nation’s top two handicap performers.

A 7-1 longshot when he won the Pacific Classic last summer at Del Mar, Tinners Way is almost certain to be the third betting choice Sunday, and there are many reasons why he can win for the sixth time in his 20th start.

For one, The Californian was a perfect tightener. Frankel and jockey Eddie Delahoussaye didn’t hide their happiness over the horse’s effort in the 1 1/8-mile race in which he was beaten by 3 1/4 lengths by Concern.

Tinners Way will be a fitter horse Sunday, and of course, he is a fresh horse. Frankel also thinks he is better than he was after having bone chips removed from a knee last fall.

Trying to give Juddmonte Farms its second Gold Cup victory in the last five years--Marquetry paid $56.80 when upsetting Farma Way in 1991--Tinners Way is also proven at 1 1/4 miles, has tactical speed that guarantees a good trip and he has Frankel, arguably the country’s finest trainer, and Delahoussaye, one of the best money riders of all time.

Of course, the Kentucky-bred has never beaten the likes of Concern, the 1994 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, or Cigar, who has blossomed into a superstar for trainer Bill Mott and is on an eight-race winning streak.

If those horses run their best races, Tinners Way won’t be able to handle them unless he reaches a new level. But, perhaps, neither will be at his peak.

Much has been made of Concern’s love of travel and how shipping doesn’t bother him. His last 11 starts have been made at 11 different tracks, but this will be the first time he has been shipped across the country twice in less than a month.

Remember, too, that Concern, even though he has been worse than third only twice in his 26-race career, has won two in a row only once. And those races were four months apart. After ending his 3-year-old year with the victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, he began 1995 with a victory in the New Orleans Handicap.

Cigar, meanwhile, has been perfect for more than eight months. The last time he lost was in a turf allowance race on Oct. 7 at Belmont Park. He finished a distant third behind Unaccounted For and Same Old Wish.

Moved to the dirt after that race, the 5-year-old has been dominant since.

He even won his only start on the Hollywood Park main track, breaking his maiden on May 9, 1993.

With all that having been said, he is vulnerable Sunday. The Gold Cup was not in Mott’s plans a few weeks ago. After beating a field of weaklings in the Massachusetts Handicap on June 3, the horse was going to be rested until the Whitney Handicap on Aug. 5 at Saratoga.

In other words, he wasn’t being pointed to this race, and if Mott, one of the sport’s best trainers, wanted to give him a rest, he must have felt it was necessary. Cigar has been going strong since January, having run at four different tracks.

Drawing the rail was also not in Cigar’s best interests. He may not get the same kind of comfortable, in-the-clear trip he has in some of his victories.

“I think [Cigar] is the best horse in the country, without a doubt,” said Frankel. “But I sort of think the trainer doesn’t feel he’s at his best right now and his last race wasn’t as good as some of his others.

“[Mott] is a very good trainer, but he didn’t want to run in this race. Trainers usually train by instinct, and he might have felt his horse reached his peak and was maybe going over the top and needed a little rest.

“Changing your plans usually doesn’t work for trainers. He’s got to give away a lot of weight this time and if he’s not at his best, we’ll have a little chance.”

Best Pal has done something no one else in the field has done--he has won a Gold Cup (1993)--but age finally may be catching up with the 7-year-old gelding. He has been fourth in his last two starts and he hung badly as the 3-2 favorite in The Californian.

Urgent Request showed high speed and a lot of determination in his Santa Anita Handicap victory but he’s going to have to prove that wasn’t a fluke. He was beaten badly in the Oaklawn Handicap, then was sick and missed The Californian.

Tossofthecoin should be commended for his consistency--he has been in the money in 25 of his 31 starts--but it is hard to imagine him beating everybody in this field. His last two victories came in an allowance race and in the Mervyn LeRoy, where he beat a couple of sprinters (Ferrara and Polar Route).

Del Mar Dennis continues to work well, but the simple fact is he can’t run 1 1/4 miles. He had a perfect trip in the Big ‘Cap, got in front of Urgent Request, but ran out of gas late. He also was well-placed in the Hollywood Turf Handicap but faded in the final furlong and finished fourth.

Blumin Affair was established as the longest shot in the field at 30-1, and for good reason. The 4-year-old Dynaformer colt has one victory in eight starts in the last 15 months and has never won a race around two turns.

*

Horse Racing Notes

Talloires is the 8-5 favorite against six opponents in the $100,000 Jim Murray Handicap at 1 1/2 miles on the turf today at Hollywood Park. . . . The card will also feature simulcasts from Belmont Park and Arlington International. The $150,000 Bowling Green Handicap from New York will be shown between the second and third races and the Pucker Up Stakes from Illinois will be run between the third and fourth races. . . . Today is the seventh Jockeys Across America Day, which benefits the Don MacBeth Memorial Jockey Fund. Jockeys at tracks around the country donate money to the fund, which helps injured and disabled riders.