April 5, 1997
ARCADIA, Calif. -- Free House roared down the stretch to nose out Silver Charm and win the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby at Arcadia, California in one of the major prep races for the Kentucky Derby.
Ridden by Kent Desormeaux, Free House stayed in the middle of the pack throughout until the top of the stretch run, as favorite Sharp Cat, who dueled with Silver Charm through quick fractions, faded. Free House pushed ahead in the final eighth and held on down the stretch in a time of one minute, 47 and 3/5 seconds.
FREE HOUSE PAID $16.60 to win, $6.00 to place and $3.40 to show. Silver Charm, with Gary Stevens aboard, returned $3.60 and $2.80 while Hello, ridden by Chris McCarron, who returned after fracturing three ribs in a fall in last Saturday's Jim Beam Stakes at Turfway Park in Kentucky, took third and paid $3.40.
The time was more than two seconds off the record of 1:45.4 set by Star Spangled on March 24th, 1979. It was barely off the stakes record of 1:47 set by Lucky Devonnaire in 1965.
Sharp Cat, trained by D. Wayne Lukas, which was trying to become just the fourth filly to win the Santa Anita Derby, placed sixth. Steel Ruhlr finished fourth and Carmen's Baby finished fifth. King Crimson was scratched.
Sharp Cat, starting from the inside post, joined Silver Charm and Free House in a speed duel from the start and clocked a blistering 22 seconds in the first quarter-mile.
Silver Charm, trained by Bob Baffert, who conditioned Kentucky Derby runner-up Cavonnier last year, and Sharp Cat continued the fast pace and turned in a half-mile time of 45 seconds flat. The two horses continued to battle for position and made the three-quarters turn at 1:09 flat. Silver Charm took over around the final turn as Sharp Cat began to fade.
BY THE TOP OF THE CLUBHOUSE turn, Free House and Hello, riding just in back of and outside the leaders, began to gain ground on the front-running horses. Free House put a nose in front of Silver Charm and held on for his fourth career victory in nine races.
Free House, which is trained by Paco Gonzalez, more than doubled his earnings with the $450,000 first prize. Free House, which has four firsts and two seconds in nine starts, has earned $803,201 in his nine races. Bagshot, the other half of the Gonzalez-trained entry, finished eighth.
Silver Charm picked up $150,000 and recorded his third second-place finish in six career starts. Silver Charm has won his other three starts.
Hello finished in the money for the ninth time in 11 starts, with his second third-place finish. Sharp Cat lost for the first time in four starts this year and finished out of the money for only the third time in 11 lifetime races.
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