1997 Massachusetts Handicap : ESPN Broadcast

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• published: 10 Apr 2015
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The pressure was building. Ever since Carolyn and Sonny Hine's Skip Away had beaten two-time Horse of the Year Cigar last fall, the expectations on the Florida-bred colt were huge. Skip Away was to pick up where the retired Cigar had left off. Skip Away was supposed to be thoroughbred racing's new star. But after skip Away's frustrating winter at Gulfstream Park and four consecutive losses to begin his 4-year-old season, some were wondering if Skip Away's best races were behind him. "I was kind of nervous about it," jockey Shane Sellers said. "The horse keeps getting beat and everybody expects the horse to be Horse of the Year. You know, everybody keeps puts putting pressure on Sonny and, naturally, it just trickles down." But here at Suffolk Downs just outside Boston Saturday afternoon, Skip Away reverted to the form that carried him to an Eclipse Award last season as he held off a furious drive by Donn Handicap winner Formal Gold to win the Massachusetts Handicap by a head. Last year's Travers Stakes winner Will's Way finished third. Skip Away, the 3-5 favorite and carrying 119 pounds, covered the mile-and-an-eighth in 1:47 4/5, a tick off the track record set in 1985 by Bounding Basque carrying only 110 pounds. Because of a bonus arrangement Suffolk has set up, Skip Away's victory was worth $500,000. For Hine, it was his second Mass Cap win. He saddled Skip Away's sire, Skip Trial, to victory in 1986. "I wanted to win this one not for Shane Sellers, but for Skip Away," a relieved Sellers said. http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1997-06-01/sports/9705310255_1_formal-gold-shane-sellers-hollywood-gold-cup