Inside Horse Racing

By Neil Milbert, Chicago Tribune, July 22, 2000

Saturday Special: Saturday’s main event will be the Arlington meeting’s top dirt race for older horses, the Grade II $250,000 Washington Park Handicap.

The field of eight includes horses from California, Florida, Kentucky and Iowa, plus Tucuman, a member of the South American Thoroughbred Inc. stable that trainer Tom Tribolet has brought to Arlington for the summer from Argentina.

Mula Gula, a rags to riches son of 1992 Kentucky Derby winner Lil E. Tee from the barn of Northern California trainer Jerry Hollendorger, is projected as the 3-1 favorite.

Owner Steve Gula unintentionally bought the 4-year-old colt as a weanling for $6,000. He has gone on to earn $434,070, and Gula recently was offered $1.6 million for him.

“This will be essentially a prep race,” Gula said. “If he wins or runs an enormous race, he’s coming back Aug. 19 for the big race on the grass, the (Grade I $2 million) Arlington Million. If he doesn’t run up to his capabilities, he will go back to my home in Seattle and run Aug. 20 in the Grade II Longacres Mile.”