It’s Anybody’s Gold Cup!

FLORENCE, KY . . . September 29, 2006 . . . It's No Joke has been scratched from the Kentucky Cup Classic (G2) Saturday at Turfway and will instead run in the Hawthorne Gold Cup (G2) the same day in Chicago.

"It was a difficult decision, but after looking at both races, I thought he would probably run very well at Hawthorne," said trainer Rebecca Maker.  "There were some defections of some California horses [from the Gold Cup] that set it up for him, so we decided to take that route.  But it was a tough decision."

Thursday, September 28, 2006

It’s Anybody’s Gold Cup!

Flamethrowintexan Renews His Rivalry With Papi Chullo; Pletcher Fires Dangerous Arrow

During the course of its 69 runnings, the Hawthorne Gold Cup has been won by several odds on favorites, and quite a few longshots.

This year’s champ will fall somewhere in between.

A wide open field of seven older handicap horses are entered to run in the $500,000 Grade II Hawthorne Gold Cup to be contested over ten furlongs at Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney, Illinois, on Saturday, September 30.

Grasshopper Stable’s Flamethrowintexan, the expected speed in the race, drew the extreme outside post for trainer Jim Penney and jockey Ricky Frazier. The 5-year-old gelded son of Way West held off Greg Norman’s Papi Chullo by a desperate neck in the Grade III Longacres Mile on August 19 at Emerald Downs, but morning-line odds maker Jim Miller has installed his beaten foe as the lukewarm 3-1 morning line favorite to turn the tables in the Gold Cup.

Following his narrow defeat in the Longacres Mile, Papi Chullo returned to finish a creditable fourth in the Grade I Woodward at Saratoga for trainer Buenaventura Vargas. He exits from post position number three with Robby Albarado astride.

Trainer Todd Pletcher has always a major player in graded stakes events held at Hawthorne Race Course. This decade alone, Pletcher has bagged two Grade II Illinois Derbies (2001 with Distilled and 2004 with Pollard’s Vision), a Grade III National Jockey Club Handicap (2005 with Pollard’s Vision) and back-to-back runnings of the Grade III Sixty Sails (2005 with Isola Piu Bella and 2006 with Fleet Indian).

Surprisingly, Pletcher has never run a horse in the Gold Cup, but that will change on Saturday when he sends the 4-year-old A. P. Indy colt A. P. Arrow to the post for the Allen E. Paulson Living Trust.

As a 3-year-old, A. P. Arrow was brimming with potential, but he only managed to get a maiden victory and a first-level allowance score out of a nine-race campaign. He took failed cracks at the Grade I Santa Anita Derby (ninth) and the Grade I Belmont Stakes (fifth) early in the year, but he did run a huge race to finish second in the Grade II Super Derby at Louisiana Downs in the fall.

Following off season knee surgery, A. P. Arrow was turned over to Pletcher in June. He won his only start this season, a second-level allowance race over nine furlongs at Saratoga. John Velazquez is named to pilot, and the team will leave from post four.

Jockey Mark Guidry has twice sipped from the storied Gold Cup, winning with Yourmissingthepoint in 1995 and Buck’s Boy in 1997. On Saturday he will hop aboard Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey’s Nolan’s Cat, who may be best known for his third place finish behind Afleet Alex in the Grade I Belmont Stakes in 2005. He was last seen finishing fourth behind Suave in the Grade II Washington Park Handicap at Arlington Park.

Niall O’Callaghan, the trainer of Greg Besinger’s Summer Book, is the only conditioner with a horse in Saturday’s race to have previously won the Gold Cup, capturing the 2002 edition with Hail the Chief. Earlier this spring, Summer Book finished a solid third over Hawthorne’s main track in the Grade III National Jockey Club Handicap. Jose Ferrer is slated to grab the reins.

Rounding out the Gold Cup field are (with trainer): Stan Fulton’s It’s No Joke (R. Maker), runner-up in the Grade III Turfway Fall Challenge last out; and Wexler Racing Stable’s Kid Grindstone (Campbell), winner of the Grade III Fifth Season at Oaklawn Park earlier this spring.

8th Race -- $500,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup Hcp. (G2)

1 ¼ miles, 3yo&up (Jim Miller’s morning line odds)

1

Summer Book

Ferrer

8-1

2

It’s No Joke

Razo Jr.

9-2

3

Papi Chullo

Albarado

3-1

4

A.P. Arrow

J. Velazquez

7-2

5

Kid Grindstone

Campbell

8-1

6

Nolan's Cat

Guidry

6-1

7

Flamethrowintexan

Frazier

4-1

The 2006 fall Thoroughbred meet at Hawthorne Race Course runs September 15 through January 1 with live racing five days per week – Wednesday through Sunday (except Nov. 23). The dark days are Monday and Tuesday (except Oct. 9 and Jan.1). Post time on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday is 1:10 p.m. Friday post time through November 17 is 3 p.m., at which time it will revert back to 1:10 p.m. for the remainder of the meet.

Hawthorne’s races can be seen live on Horse Racing Television (HRTV). HRTV provides full, in-depth coverage of the current Hawthorne Race Course meeting, with complete post parades, and expert analysis from the network's hosts.

Hawthorne’s spring 2007 Thoroughbred meet will run February 23 thru May 3. The summer 2007 Standardbred meet will be held June 22 thru August 5. The fall 2007 Thoroughbred meet will run September 17 thru December 31.

For more information visit www.hawthorneracecourse.com.