Columnist Ralph Siraco: Big Cap is a Big Bust as Gentlemen finishes last

Ralph Siraco

Monday, March 9, 1998 | 9:19 a.m.

In the time it took the UNLV Runnin' Rebels to go from also-rans to the WAC champions, thoroughbred racing's handicap star Gentlemen went from champion to an also-ran.

While the WAC went wild at the Thomas & Mack, the Big Cap became the Big Bust at Santa Anita.

As the horses entered the starting gate for Saturday's Grade I Santa Anita Handicap, Gentlemen was as sure as taxes and death to pick up the winner's share of the $1 million purse.

The field for America's premiere handicap had already shrunk to fewer starters than the match-ups in the WAC tournament by Thursday's entry time, but the two No. 1 seeds in the equine division were still on a collision course that the track, racing fans and the entire industry had hy[ped as the Big Cap Showdown, with Silver Charm poised to provide another memorable racing moment.

With the Kentucky Derby and Preakness hero, geared up on a pair of Strub Series victories, to test Gentlemen in their first-ever confrontation, any other entrant was considered a race-off for the bottom end of the trifecta. But, hours before Utah was sent packing by UNLV in WAC competition, the presence of the two titans, that the track billed as the Showdown, sent most Southern California horsemen packing for Louisiana to Sunday's New Orleans Handicap or just packing it in, turning any trifecta possibilities into an upset exacta proposition.

Trainer Richard Mandella may have had thoughts of at lease a one-two sweep, having swept the 1997 Big Cap with Siphon, Sandpit and Gentlemen in a record one-two-three finish, when he added the Chilean import Malek to the lineup, joining stablemate Gentlemen this year. Bagshot, who finished a half-dozen lengths behind Silver Charm in the recent Strub Stakes while beating three others, and Don't Blame Rio, winless of 10 starts in 1997 and risking half of last year's total earnings to start, completed the smallest Big Cap field since four raced in 1988.

By Friday, the WAC had whittled down to four and, unfortunately, so did the Santa Anita Handicap. UNLV was putting all the pieces together for the Tark showdown, while the Big Cap was falling apart with a no-show for its showdown when trainer Bob Baffert officially scratched Silver Charm from the race. After his Friday morning jaunt to the track, Silver Charm was diagnosed with a bruised right front forefoot. This condition was thought to be a result of a misplaced nail from a new set of shoes applied earlier in the week. Although not career ending, the recovery time would necessitate bench time instead of court time and an expected easy time for Gentlemen.

Jockey Gary Stevens must have felt as if he were doing hard time from Friday until Saturday's race. Stevens would join Silver Charm on the bench while his previous partner, Gentlemen, would carry the necessary package of Pat Day while outclassing three in the jet stream for a cool million.

It got worse.

On Saturday, the only thing that Santa Anita had escaped was El Nino, and, as it turned out, Nino may have been the most welcomed sight.

Ever since Silver Charm and Gentlemen coasted to powerful victories at Santa Anita in separate races and Skip Away returned victorious at Gulfstream, the Great Race Place was trying to put together a great race at the place. The Thoroughbred Owners of California rejected a request from Santa Anita to offer incentive monies in an effort to attract Skip Away from the Gulfstream Handicap to Southern California, then Silver Charm defected after extensive marketing and advertising by the track for the remaining two.

So, the 61st running of the 1 1/4-mile classic would not be a showdown but rather a showcase for a superstar.

Sent off as the shortest-priced favorite in Santa Anita Handicap history -- that included winners Seabiscut in 1940, Round Table in 1958 and Spectacular Bid in 1980 -- Gentlemen was odds of 1 to 20 at post time.

As they say in racing, he was money in the bank, chicken on the farm and cattle on the ranch.

When the starting gates flew open, the bank closed. In a matter of a few strides, Gentlemen looked as if he were uncomfortable, although traveling with stablemate Malek as they passed the stands for the first time. Down the backstretch, Gentlemen couldn't shake loose. The chickens were fleeing the farm. As they raced into the final turn for home, Bagshot was sent to join the leaders and Gentlemen was surrounded and starting to struggle between his foes. The cattle had been corralled.

The Santa Anita Handicap had gotten its showdown. Two were battling stride for stride through the homestretch. And one was a Richard Mandella trainee.

But it wasn't Gentlemen. It was Malek and a most unlikely challenger in Bagshot. Malet would prevail, Bagshot would complete the exacta and Don't Blame Rio put the final nail in the coffin to rally past Gentlemen in the final stages for third, as the favorite was laboring badly in obvious distress.

It was later discovered that Gentlemen had blend through his Lasix bleeder medication that resulted in the shocking upset in Big Cap '98.

Upon reflecting on the weekend's events, we were reminded of an early-week comment by an unidentified race and sports book patron who declared, "Gentlemen has as much of a chance at losing the Big Cap as UNLV has at winning the WAC championship."

Well, congratulations to UNLV in a March that has certainly started in Madness.

RALPH SIRACO is turf editor of the SUN. His column appears Mondays and his Southern California selections run Tuesday-Friday.

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