AND THE WINNER IS ... DISQUALIFICATION GIVES APTITUDE GOLD CUP.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

INGLEWOOD - Owners, trainers and spectators grew increasingly anxious during the nine-minute wait for the official results of Sunday's Hollywood Gold Cup, but Laffit Pincay's confidence soared as the stewards' inquiry dragged on.

Pincay believed the longer the Hollywood Park stewards looked at the videotape, the more likely they would be to judge a bump initiated by Futural in the stretch significant enough to warrant a disqualification, and that's how it turned out. Aptitude, who had finished second with Pincay aboard, was named the winner of the 62nd running of the 1 1/4-mile race after the stewards dropped Futural down to third.

``I'll take it any way I can,'' said Pincay, who tied Bill Shoemaker with his eighth Gold Cup victory and gave trainer Bobby Frankel his first Gold Cup win since 1991 - and, oddly, his second Grade 1 victory via disqualification of the day. ``When I saw they were taking a long time to look at it, I was thinking that I had a good chance to win.

``The first time I saw the rerun I didn't think (the bump) was that much. But the more I looked at it, the worse it looked. The bump was so hard that I thought (the stewards) would take some action.''

Pincay, 52, celebrated the 31st anniversary of his first Gold Cup victory with his first win in the race since 1986, and cost Chris McCarron, Futural's jockey, his first Gold Cup victory in 18 attempts.

Futural came into the stretch three wide, but dipped to his left with a little more than one-eighth of a mile to go and made contact with Skimming, who then veered left and bumped the inside-running Captain Steve.

Futural quickly bounced back outside and pulled away for an apparent victory. Aptitude, fourth at the time of the incident, closed strongly to finish second, followed by Skimming, heavy favorite Captain Steve and longshot Power Wing. Skimming moved to second after the disqualification.

It was only the second disqualification in Gold Cup history. In 1981, Eleven Stiches and jockey Sandy Hawley moved up to first when Caterman and Darrell McHargue were taken down by stewards.

``I was surprised by the decision,'' said McCarron, whose horse finished in 2 minutes, 1.79 seconds. ``I thought the contact was incidental and didn't have any bearing on the outcome of the race. It's a shame they had to penalize the owner and trainer. They could have penalized me afterward.''

In a statement released by the track, steward Thomas Ward said the bump affected the progress of Skimming and jockey Garrett Gomez and cost the horse third place.

``Chris continued on in after the contact for a jump (and) Gomez's momentum was seriously compromised,'' Ward said. ``Interference was significant. That was our position on it. It was unfortunate, because Chris was obviously on the best horse.''

Frankel acknowledged that the disqualification victory won't help Aptitude's image among the sport's followers. An impressive second to Fusaichi Pegasus in last year's Kentucky Derby, Aptitude came into the Gold Cup off an eight-place finish in the Clark Handicap in November, a sixth in the Dubai World Cup in March and a third, behind Skimming and Futural, in the Californian three weeks ago.

Aptitude's only two previous wins came at the maiden and allowance levels, but the horse's best efforts are yet to come if you believe Frankel, who also won the Grade 1 United Nations Handicap at Monmouth Park by disqualification when Senure replaced With Anticipation at the top of the board less than a half-hour before the Gold Cup.

``We'll just have to get a Grade 1 win,'' Frankel said of Aptitude. ``We'll be OK. I think once I get him back to the East Coast he will show his true form.''

Frankel was far less pleased with the results from Skimming, his other horse, who set the early pace with Power Wing for the first three-quarters of a mile but didn't take charge under Gomez.

``(Gomez) should have put (Power Wing) away right away,'' Frankel said. ``Just make believe that horse isn't even in the race. But at least (Gomez) makes me a winner because he was in position to get a good bump.''

Lost in the controversy was the poor effort of Captain Steve, who with a victory would have become the third horse to top $7 million in career earnings and vaulted himself into American Horse of the Year consideration.

Captain Steve, who won the Dubai World Cup in March and finished second in the Stephen Foster Handicap two weeks ago, took the lead briefly at the one-mile mark but never challenged in the stretch.

``I knew 1 1/4 miles was going to be tough on him,'' trainer Bob Baffert said. ``He only had two weeks' rest and he just emptied out. We'll just freshen him up for Del Mar.''

Frankel, fresh off one of the strangest days of his training career, vowed to take it easy on the stewards in future questionable situations.

``I'll be quiet for the rest of the year,'' Frankel said. ``I'll be a good boy.''

PINCAY'S GOLD CUPS

Jockey Laffit Pincay, 54, won the Hollywood Gold Cup for the eighth time Sunday, matching Bill Shoemaker's record. Pincay has made 22 starts in the race.

YEAR HORSE PAID

1970 Pleasure Seeker $6.20

1975 Ancient Title $4.80

1977 Crystal Water $6.80

1979 Affirmed $2.60

1982 Perrault $3.40

1985 Greinton $4.20

1986 Super Diamond --

2001 Aptitude* $7.80

* - Finished second; winner by disqualification.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

Aptitude, with Laffit Pincay Jr. on board, is led to the winner's circle after being declared the victor in Sunday's Hollywood Gold Cup.

Chris Pizzello/Associated Press

Box: PINCAY'S GOLD CUPS (see text)