Rail Trip, the 2-5 favorite, could only finish second to 8-1 Awesome Gem in Saturday's Hollywood Gold Cup, a loss that jockey Rafael Bejarano blamed on a wide trip.
Rail Trip was three- or four-wide on the first turn, three-wide on the second turn and still made the lead briefly before finishing a half-length behind Awesome Gem. Bejarano said a slow pace set by Compari (25.82 and 50.95 seconds) led to a different sort of race than what he expected.
"After the first turn, (Cigar Man) just pushed me out," he said. "I was trying to follow the speed, but they were going so slow. I didn't want to rush him, so I waited for the half-mile. I don't think he ran his race because he was so wide on the first turn and the second turn."
The Gold Cup was Awesome Gem's first win in a Grade 1, and third career stakes win. There could be a rematch between the first two in the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 28.
