Not many geldings win the Hollywood Gold Cup, especially geldings that haven't run in three months.
But trainer Bob Baffert, who won the $1-million race last year with Real Quiet, is enthusiastic about General Challenge's training for Sunday's 1 1/4-mile race at Hollywood Park.
"He's a really great horse, and he's the best horse in the race," Baffert said. "Now he's got to get around there."
General Challenge is in position to become only the second horse to sweep the Strub Stakes, the Santa Anita Handicap and the Hollywood Gold Cup in the same year. In 1979, the year after he swept the Triple Crown, Affirmed won the two Santa Anita fixtures and the Gold Cup.
The Strub is limited to 4-year-olds, and after beating that group Feb. 5, General Challenge moved to open company on March 4 and won the Big 'Cap by 1 1/4 lengths.
That win vaulted General Challenge to the top of the older-horse division, but he teetered badly on April 9, finishing third as the 1-5 favorite in the San Bernardino Handicap at Santa Anita. He hasn't run since.
"There's only one word to describe that race: disaster," Baffert said.
It turned out that General Challenge had a legitimate excuse.
"He never ran, so we scoped him [for bleeding] right away and didn't find anything," Baffert said. "Then the next day they found that he had entrapped his epiglottis. He had trouble getting air, and there was a lot of inflammation."
Two days later, General Challenge underwent surgery to correct the problem. It was about a month before he was able to resume training.
"He lost a lot of time, but he's also filled out," Baffert said. "He looks a lot better now."
General Challenge, who will be entered today for the 61st Gold Cup along with eight or nine other horses, is listed as the 9-5 favorite on the preliminary morning line.
This is not a robust field. Only one other probable--Chester House--is listed among the Daily Racing Form's divisional top 10, and the shippers from the East Coast--Pleasant Breeze and David--are underachievers. Other than General Challenge and Cat Thief, there's not a Grade I winner running.
The last gelding to win the Gold Cup was Slew Of Damascus, who upset odds-on favorite The Wicked North in 1994. Slew Of Damascus was only the fourth gelding to win the stake since the inimitable Native Diver captured three consecutive Gold Cups from 1965-67.
