Heatseeker out of Hollywood Gold Cup

Heatseeker's setback opens the door for the remaining Gold Cup combatants (Benoit Photo) Santa Anita H. (G1) hero HEATSEEKER (Ire) (Giant's Causeway), the 7-5 favorite on the morning line for Saturday's $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup (G1), was scratched from the contest on Friday after developing a filling in his left front ankle. "It just filled and had some heat in it," trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said of the ankle issue, which was first detected in his barn on Thursday. "X-rays were negative. We're working on it with ice and hope it gets better soon. "I don't believe it's serious, but we're not going to take a chance with so many more big races this year," he added. "It would have made such a better day to have a horse like this running, and now he's not going to run. You've always got to do what's right for the horse." Hollendorfer went on to philosophize about his predicament.

"It's not fun when these things happen, but it's part of the game," the

trainer observed. "What are you going to do? We did our best every day."

Last Sunday, in his final major workout in advance of the Gold Cup, the

five-year-old chestnut had sizzled five furlongs in a bullet :57 4/5, posting

the fastest of 59 moves at the distance on Hollywood's Cushion Track.

Heatseeker was coming off a smashing, 5 1/4-length romp in the 1 1/8-mile

Californian S. (G2) on May 31, where he set a new Cushion Track record of 1:47.

His exploits earned him the top weight of 123 pounds in the Gold Cup.

In his absence, Gold Cup favoritism could descend upon multiple Grade 1

victor TIAGO (Pleasant Tap), who had narrowly outdueled Heatseeker in the

Oaklawn H. (G2) two starts back and was most recently second in the Californian,

or Grade 2 scorer GO BETWEEN (Point Given), who was runner-up to Heatseeker in

the Big 'Cap.