Hollywood Gold Cup: What you need to know

Facts and figures regarding Monday's $400,000 Grade I Hollywood Gold

Cup, the centerpiece of

Santa Anita's Memorial Day weekend of racing:

• The Gold Cup was Hollywood Park's signature race, beginning when the legendary Seabiscuit won the inaugural running in 1938 with George Woolf aboard until Game On Dude's victory in the race's final edition in Inglewood in 2013.

• The purse for the first Gold Cup was $50,000, and it was not run in 1942 or

'43 because Hollywood Park was closed and used as an airplane parts storage depot during World War II.

• The 1949 Gold Cup, and the entire Hollywood Park meet, was run at Santa Anita after a fire at Hollywood Park on May 5 of that year. The Hollypark grandstand was rebuilt and the track reopened in time for a split 1950 season.

• The fastest Gold Cup was turned in by Quack in 1972. The Charlie Whittingham-trained stakes standout ran the mile and a quarter in a track and world record of 1:58 1/5. The jockey? Donald Pierce.

• Quack's victory was the second of four consecutive victories in the race by Whittingham, who won the stake a record eight times, tied with Bob Baffert for most all-time. Baffert won three consecutive with First Dude (2011) and Game On Dude (2012-13).

• Doug O'Neill and Buster

Millerick are the only other trainers to win the Gold Cup at least three consecutive years. O'Neill accomplished the hat trick with Lava Man in 2005-07 and Millerick turned the trick with Native Diver in 1965-67. Jerry Lambert rode Native Diver in all three races.

• Laffit Pincay Jr. leads all jockeys with nine Gold Cup victories, beginning with his first aboard Pleasure Seeker in 1970 and culminating with Sky Jack in 2002 for O'Neill. Shoemaker won the race eight times, the final one coming in 1987 aboard Ferdinand, the 1986 Kentucky Derby winner.

• Nine horses have won the Gold Cup and Santa Anita Handicap in the same year, most recently Accelerate in 2018. Lava Man is the only one to have accomplished the feat twice, in 2006-07, with Corey Nakatani aboard.

• Affirmed in 1979 and Citation in 1951 are the only Triple Crown champions to win the Gold Cup. Pincay rode Affirmed to a gate-towire victory. Citation, who became racing's first millionaire with his four-length victory under Steve Brooks, was retired after the race.

• Beginning with Santa Anita's first Gold Cup after Hollywood Park closed in 2013, the race was known as the Gold Cup at Santa Anita its first six years until Santa Anita management restored the original name in 2020.

• “The Hollywood Gold Cup is one of the most storied races in all of American racing and we are right to remember it,” Aidan Butler, COO for The Stronach Group, said after the name was restored. “Beginning when Seabiscuit won the inaugural in 1938, it has attracted some of the finest older horses in the world. Even though Hollywood

Park doesn't exist anymore, this race does, and it deserves to be linked to its grand past.”

• Butler was right. Some of the biggest names in racing have won the Gold Cup. In addition to the aforementioned Seabiscuit, Affirmed and Citation, other prominent winners include 1998 Kentucky Derby winner Real Quiet (1999), Skip Away (1998), Cigar (1995), Ancient Title (1975), Ack Ack (1971), Round Table (1957) and Swaps (1956).

• Last year's winner, Country Grammer, has gone on to do some special things since outfinishing Royal

Ship by a head with Flavien Prat aboard last May. The 5-year-old son of Tonalist finished second in the $20 million Saudi Cup after being away from the races for nine months and then rallied to win the $12 million Dubai World Cup in March over Hot Rod Charlie.

• Only three fillies or mares have won the Gold Cup, and none since Princessnesian found the winner's circle in 1968. Life Is Sweet finished third in 2009 and Cascapedia was runnerup behind Crystal Water in 1977.

• Two female trainers have saddled Gold Cup winners, Mary Lou Tuck in 1980 with Go West Young Man (Eddie Delahoussaye) and Laura de Seroux in 2004 with Total Impact (Mike Smith). and mares, 3-year-olds and up, 11⁄8 miles (turf)

DOWN THE STRETCH

• On Monday, SportsBetting.ag released odds for the 154th Belmont Stakes on June 11. There are 11 horses listed on the board: Mo Donegal, 5-2; We The People, 3-1; Rich Strike, 7-1; Nest, 8-1; Creative Minister, 10-1; Ethereal Road, 10-1; Barber Road, 12-1; Skippylongstocking, 16-1; Golden Glider, 20-1; Un Ojo, 20-1; and Western River, 20-1. Odds and horses will change as the Belmont draws closer. You can access current prices at sportsbetting.ag/

• Santa Anita announced details for its Ship and Win program during its fall meet that begins Oct. 1. To be eligible for program bonuses, a horse must have made its most recent start outside of California and not raced in the state within the past 12months. Horses that qualified for Del Mar’s summer program retain eligibility for one start at Santa Anita providing they don’t start at any other track between the end of Del Mar and the beginning of Santa Anita. Eligible horses are guaranteed a $5,000 bonus and, in overnight races, a 35% bonus of regular purse money earned will be paid for finishing first through fifth.

• The streaking Brickyard Ride, fresh off a victory in the Grade III Kona Gold Stakes at Santa Anita on April 30, will try for his fifth consecutive victory in Sunday’s $200,000 Grade II Triple Bend Stakes, part of the track’s Memorial Day weekend of racing. The Triple Bend, the fourth race, will go postward at 2:30 p.m. and drew a field of six. “We just hope he stays good and keeps delivering, but winning five in a row is no easy task,” trainer Craig Lewis told Ed Golden of Santa Anita publicity. “You can’t even do that with cheap horses. We’re asking a lot. Hopefully he can deliver.”