HOLLYWOOD PARK : Sunday Silence Gets 126 Pounds for Gold Cup

Sunday Silence has been assigned the high weight of 126 pounds for Sunday’s $1-million Hollywood Gold Cup, the same weight he carried while winning the Californian at Hollywood Park on June 3.

Of the other horses weighted for the 1 1/4-mile stake, six are expected to start: Criminal Type and Ruhlmann, Sunday Silence’s stablemate, both at 124 pounds; Opening Verse, 119; Mi Selecto, 114; Stylish Winner, 113; and Santangelo, 110.

Sunday Silence, last year’s Kentucky Derby winner and horse of the year, returned after November knee surgery and won the Californian by three-quarters of a length over Stylish Winner in a three-horse field. Weights for the Californian were determined by money earned; weights for the Gold Cup have been assigned by Eual Wyatt, Hollywood Park’s racing secretary.

The high-weighted horse has won only one of the last seven Gold Cups, Ferdinand taking the race under 124 pounds in 1987. Since 1983, Erins Isle, John Henry, Precisionist (twice), Alysheba and Nasr el Arab were high-weighted and failed to win.