THE Gold Cup at Santa Anita. It doesn’t roll off the tongue, nothing like its five-syllable, three-word predecessor – the Hollywood Gold Cup, the iconic stakes left behind after Hollywood Park was bulldozed for the progress of man. The Hollywood Gold Cup became the the Gold Cup at Santa Anita in 2014.

Shorten it to three words and it’s still the Gold Cup.

Hall of Fame trainer, Bob Baffert, knows how to say it. And win it.

“The Gold Cup has always been a very important race,” Baffert said, after Cupid upset the 78th running last Saturday.

Returning for his first race since October, the four-year-old son of Tapit rallied from fourth to earn a three and a quarter-length win over Follow Me Crev and Hard Aces. Rafael Bejarano, switching from favourite American Freedom, guided the winner.

Owned by Michael Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier and Derrick Smith, Cupid picked up his first Grade 1 stakes score after racking up three Grade 2 triumphs last year.

“Off that long layoff, his class showed up and he’s been working so well,” Baffert said.

“I switched up the riders around a little. I told Bejarano that he was going to ride Cupid. He liked American Freedom but I wanted to do it differently. He felt so much better when he came back. He told me I was right. I’m happy for Bejarano.”

Baffert owed him one after he kept Bejarano on American Freedom and put Mike Smith on Arrogate in last year’s Travers. You know how that turned out.

As for Cupid and Bejarano, they experienced Americana, winning the Indiana Derby and West Virginia Derby last year, part of a $1.33 million season.

“We took the back roads with Cupid last year and made over a million dollars. Coolmore has been great and they kept him in training. They asked me if I thought he’d get better and I thought he should,” Baffert said. “We freshened him up and here we are. I got an important Grade 1 which is very important for a horse like him.”

Baffert picked up his sixth Gold Cup, two behind the late great Charlie Whittingham.

“I was stabled next to him in his last few years and he never complained, about anything,” Baffert said. “If he had a good horse, he got every ounce of run out of them.

“That’s the way I feel. If you have a good horse, you don’t slow em down.

“He made sure they were fit and ready. I learned a lot from him about bringing them off a layoff. If they’re good enough, they can take it. You saw a little Charlie Whittingham today.”

A little.