Cleveland Gold Cup wide open

The $100,000 Cleveland Gold Cup has drawn a full field of 14 Ohio-bred 3-year-olds, including two fillies, and promises to be one of the most competitive races of the season at Thistledown. All of the entrants will be trying the 1 1/8-mile distance for the first time, and there is no clear-cut favorite.

Type A Personality won the 1 1/16-mile Green Carpet Stakes on the River Downs grass in his last start on May 31, and before that won a mile allowance there May 18. He was third in the six-furlong H.B. Noonan Stakes at Beulah Park on April 26 behind Marble Cliff, one of the main contenders in the Gold Cup. Type A Personality, trained by Eric Reed, is much more effective over a middle distance and should be the one to beat. Julio Felix gets a return saddle call.

Marble Cliff's lone defeat in his four-race career came in the Green Carpet, where he was steadily gaining ground to be third, beaten one length by Type A Personality. He won his other three starts by a combined margin of 26 lengths, including the Noonan. Marble Cliff, trained by William Cowans, has the speed to set the pace and may be able to wire this field. Luis Martinez Jr. will ride.

O'Rian is the lone double stakes winner in the field, having won middle-distance stakes as a 2-year-old at Beulah Park. In the one-mile Ohio Freshman, he beat runner-up Type A Personality by six lengths. A return to that form would make him a factor. Victor Urieta rides for trainer Ivan Vazquez.

Perfectly Played is a talented Fast Play gelding whose lone start this year was a victory in a six-furlong allowance at Presque Isle on June 14. He has made five starts and won his maiden in his career debut in the six-furlong Cleveland Kindergarten Stakes here last year. Scott Spieth has the mount for trainer Jeff Radosevich.

Pyrite Gem, a filly, is one of three hopefuls owned by Pyrite Stables and trained by Miguel Feliciano. She was unplaced in her lone start this year, but she tried the boys in the

1 1/16-mile Ohio Juvenile in October and led until deep stretch before finishing a close third.

Her stablemate Formal Arrange-ment, also a filly, won the 1 1/16-mile Tomboy Stakes at River Downs in her last start on May 17.

All of the males will carry 119 pounds in the race, and the fillies will carry 114.