Rail Trip out to defend Hollywood Gold Cup

Horseracing Betting Lines

07/07/2010 - Inglewood, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rail Trip will take on six challengers on Saturday in defense of his title in the $500,000 Hollywood Gold Cup at Hollywood Park. The five-year-old gelding will carry highweight of 123 pounds in the 1 1/4-mile race.

Owned by Jay Em Ess Stable, Rail Trip will be ridden by Rafael Bejarano for the third straight start and the pair will break from post six. Jose Valdivia, Jr. was aboard the gelding last year in winning the Gold Cup.

Rail Trip, trained by Ron Ellis, is coming off victories this year in the Mervyn LeRoy Handicap and the Californian. No horse has swept those two races and the Gold Cup since Eleven Stitches in 1981.

"The nice thing about him is that he's almost turned into a mile and a quarter horse," noted Ellis. "He knows where the running starts and he's really strong down the lane. This year he's bigger, stronger and heavier. He's matured a lot. He's a real versatile horse and that's going to come in handy at some point.

"When he won the Gold Cup, he was at the end of a lot of races. This year, by purpose, we wanted to bring him in and point for the Breeders' Cup and have him ready for the second half of the year."

Rail Trip is within a few dollars of becoming a millionaire. The five-year-old has won eight of 11 career starts and earned $967,790.

A win on Saturday would make him just the third horse to claim the Gold Cup more than once. He would join Native Diver (1965-67) and Lava Man (2005-07), who each won the race three straight times.

Last year's runner-up, Tres Borrachos will try to get the best of Rail Trip for the third straight race. The five-year-old gelding was fourth in the Mervyn LeRoy and seventh in the Californian.

Trained by co-owner Beau Greely, Tres Borrachos will start from post six with Victor Espinoza again in the saddle.

"He's got ability, he's been training well, there's nothing wrong with him and he's got a good record at Hollywood Park," said Greely.

Winless since taking an allowance race at Hollywood in May of last year, the gelding has banked $602,682 while winning three of 26 lifetime starts.

Here is the full field for the Gold Cup in post position order: Cigar Man, Joe Talamo; Compari, Mike Smith; Awesome Gem, David Flores; Richard's Kid, Martin Garcia; Tres Borrachos, Victor Espinoza; Rail Trip, Rafael Bejarano and Tap It Light, Tyler Baze.

Post-time for the race is set for 7:35 p.m. (et).

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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