Five-time Grade 1 winner Game On Dude has been
assigned 127 pounds for his title defense in Saturday’s Grade 1 Hollywood
Gold Cup, eight pounds more than his nearest rivals Clubhouse Ride and Liaison
at 119.
Only two other contenders were listed as probable as of Sunday — Kettle Corn
(116) and Oilisblackgold (115) — setting the stage for a potentially short
field of five when entries are taken Wednesday for the 1 1/4-mile test.
Game On Dude, who successfully carried 124 pounds in last year’s Hollywood
Gold Cup, toted 125 pounds when romping by a record 7 3/4 lengths in the Santa
Anita Handicap on March 2.
This will mark his first impost beyond 126 pounds, his assignment when fourth
in the 2010 Belmont Stakes, runner-up in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Classic, 12th in
the 2012 Dubai World Cup and seventh in last November’s Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Game On Dude brings a four-race winning streak into the Gold Cup. The Bob
Baffert charge rebounded from his Breeders’ Cup flop by wiring the Native Diver
at Hollywood, then captured the San Antonio in a rout for the second straight
year. He regained his Big ‘Cap crown, first earned in a hard-fought photo in
2011, in resounding fashion. The Awesome Again gelding had to work harder to
prevail in the April 20 Charles Town Classic last time out, on a surface he
wasn’t handling particularly well.
Clubhouse Ride, distant runner-up to Game On Dude in the San Antonio and the
Santa Anita Handicap, was beaten only a half-length at Charles Town. The Craig
Lewis trainee has since come back to capture the June 1 Californian at
Hollywood, defeating Gold Cup opponents Liaison, Oilisblackgold and Kettle Corn.
Clubhouse Ride has been getting significant weight concessions from Game On Dude
already, most notably a 10-pound pull in the Big ‘Cap.
Liaison, Game On Dude’s stablemate from the Baffert barn, has historically
done his best at Hollywood. Hero of the 2011 CashCall Futurity and Real Quiet
here as a juvenile, the son of Indian Charlie took the May 4 Mervyn LeRoy before
playing second fiddle to Clubhouse Ride in the Californian.
Kettle Corn, whose only career stakes victory came in the 2011 Native Diver,
was a well-beaten third to Game On Dude in the 2012 Gold Cup and Native Diver.
The John Sadler veteran has raced twice so far this campaign, finishing second
to Liaison in the Mervyn LeRoy and fourth to Clubhouse Ride in the Californian.
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