Silver Charm came within a length of being the 12th triple crown winner, the first since 1978, and six records were either tied or broken in the seven Breeders' Cup events. Those were just two of the many highlights that comprised the 1997 horse racing campaign.

Coming into 1997, horse racing's biggest challange was how to fill the void left by Cigar, the 1995 and 1996 Horse of the Year.

THREE-YEAR-OLDS SILVER

Favorite Trick raced in and won eight races in 1997. (Reuters)

CHARM and Touch Gold and 2-year-olds Favorite Trick and Countess Diana rose to the challenge, as did former 3-year-old Horse of the Year Skip Away, who turned in a fabulous 4-year-old season. On the harness front, pacing Triple Crown winner Western Dreamer and Malabar Man were the stories of the year.

Silver Charm, the stunning gray colt by Silver Buck out of Bonnie's Poker, held off Captain Bodgit down the stretch to win a photo finish in the 123rd Kentucky Derby before getting a head in front of Free House two weeks later at Pimlico to claim the Preakness.

In that race, Touch Gold stumbled badly out of the gate, nearly throwing jockey Chris McCarron, who remarkably managed to keep the colt from going face-first into the dirt before rebounding to get Touch Gold up for a fourth-place finish.

The late-blooming Touch Gold would make his presence felt more sternly three weeks later in the 129th running of the Belmont Stakes.

The Frank Stronah and Stonerside Stable-owned bay colt shook off the near disaster of the Preakness and came thundering down the stretch to capture the mile-and-a-half classic, denying Silver Charm a chance at immortality. In the span of a few short seconds, Silver Charm went from becoming the first Triple Crown winner in 19 years to the fifth horse since 1978 to be denied the third leg in the Belmont.

TO PROVE THAT HE WAS NO fluke, Touch Gold came back to capture the Haskell Inviational at Monmouth Racetrack in August, although the field was without Silver Charm, who came down with an infection and had to be scratched.

Silver Charm has not raced since the Belmont but is expected to begin his comeback as he launches his 4-year-old season with an appearance in the $200,000 Grade I Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita Park on December 26th.

Silver Charm was ridden by Gary Stevens, who was inducted into Thoroughbred Racing's Hall of Fame this year. The three-time Kentucky Derby winner and leading money winner in 1990 has won over 4,000 career races.

The Hall of Fame also welcomed a pair of gifted equines through its hallowed doors this year -- Granville, who finished second in the 1936 Preakness before going on to capture the Belmont three weeks later, and the very talented Easy Goer, who had the misfortune of being born in the same year as Sunday Silence.

Easy Goer and Sunday Silence staged three memorable battles in the 1989 Triple Crown series, with Sunday Silence edging Easy Goer in the Derby and the Preakness before Easy Goer exacted his revenge in the Belmont. That, incidentally, was the last time a horse won the first two legs of the Triple Crown until Silver Charm accomplished it this year.

Skip Away and Favorite Trick each staked their claim to the coveted Horse of the Year award in the record-setting 14th running of the $13 million Breeders' Cup at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, California on November 8th.

FAVORITE TRICK WON HIS EIGHTH race in as many starts and now leaves his stats up to the voters as he seeks to become just the second 2-year-old to ever claim Horse of the Year honors. Only the legendary Secretariat can lay claim to that feat.

Standing in his way will be Skip Away, who made his case by turning in a record-setting 5 1/2-length victory in the $4.4 million Breeders' Cup Classic, the world's richest horse race.

Under jockey Mike Smith, Skip Away covered the 1 1/4 miles in 1:59, besting Cigar's 1995 effort of 1:59 2/5. He had won the Jockey Club Gold Cup just three weeks earlier. Skip Away has won more than $4 million this year.

In the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies event that kicked off the day, Countess Diana romped to an eight-length victory for her fifth win in six career starts. Trainer Pat Bryne turned in the impressive feat of conditioning both Favorite Trick and Countess Diana.

The other winners of the Breeder's Cup events were Elmhurst, in the sprint; Spinnning World, who took the Mile, Canada's Chief Bearhart, who scored a record-setting victory in the Turf, and in the only race on the card not to set or tie a Breeders' Cup record, Smith piloted Ajina to a two-length victory in the Distaff.

WESTERN DREAMER LOGGED VICTORIES in the Cane Pace, Little Brown Jug and Messenger Stakes to become the eighth winner of pacing's Triple Crown and the first since Ralph Hanover in 1983.

Malabar Man was cruising to Horse of the Year honors after owner and amateur driver Malvern Burroughs guided the colt to the winner's circle in the Hambletonian at the Meadowlands in August, but ran into a red-hot Lord Stormont later in the month at the World Trotting Derby.

Burroughs, a retired contractor and New Jersey native whose company had a hand in building the Meadowlands Racetrack, became the first amateur driver to win the Hambletonian since Harrison Hoyt guided Demon Havover to the winner's circle in 1948.

Malabar Man rebounded with victories in the Bluegrass and closed out the season with a revenge-earning triumph over Lord Stormont in the Breeders' Crown. The 3-year-old colt finished the season with $1,485,417, edging Western Dreamer who amassed $1,349,401.

JOCKEY JERRY BAILEY WAS the sports leading money winner for the third straight year. Bailey earned $18,238,173 to push his three-year total to over $54 million. Stevens was second with $15,431,701.

Michael Lachance led the harness contingent for the second straight year with $9,119,093, edging out John Campbell, who had won the money title nine of the previous 11 years.

Along with all of the heroics of the year, came some somber moments. The horse racing world mourned the loss of harness driver Mike Gagliardi who lost his battle with cancer at the young age of 48.

The passing of Eddie Arcaro on November 14th saw the loss of the only jockey to ever ride two Triple Crown winners. The greatest jockey of his era, The 1958 Hall of Fame inductee guided Whirlaway to the 1941 Triple Crown and then managed to repeat the astounding feat aboard Citation in 1948.

The

Eddie Arcaro was the only jockey to ever ride two Triple Crown winners (AP)

81-year-old Arcaro finished his magnificent career with five Kentucky Derby victories to go with six Preakness and Belmont Stakes wins among his 4,779 career wins. He concluded his 30-year career in 1961 with career earnings of more than $30 million. Arcaro finished in the money in almost half of his 24,092 mounts.

Hall of famer Bill Shoemaker, the winningest jockey in racing history with 8,833 trips to the winners circle, concluded his seven-year training career late in 1997.

JOCKEY JORGE VELAZQUEZ, WHO won nearly 6,800 races, announced his retirement from race riding, effective at the end of the year as did trainer Woody Stephens, who saddled an unprecedented five straight Belmont Stakes winners from 1982 to 1987.

The upcoming racing season brings with it the usual hopes and aspirations of untapped talent as well as the question marks and thoughts of what could be.

Will Favorite Trick and Countess Diana shake off the stigma that has plagued Breeders' Crown Juvenile champions to emerge as legitimate Triple Crown hopefuls? Or will the go the route of Boston Harbor, Unbridled's Song and Arazi, who tasted victory in their sophomore campaigns but were unable to rise to the occasion when the big money races were on the line? And who will emerge to stir our interest in the youngsters this season?

Can Silver Charm and Touch Gold build on the excitement they generated as 3-year-olds to turn in formidable 4-year-old campaigns?

Will Skip Away carry the torch passed on from Cigar as thoroughbred racing's main attraction? And who will be the surprise horses that inevitably enter the scene year after year?

One thing to look foward to for the upcoming racing season is the incorporation of the first major change in the Kentucky Derby draw in over 120 years.

STARTING IN 1998, BOTH the Derby and the Preakness draw will allow owners and trainers to select their horses post positions as opposed to the traditional blind draw in which post position was determined by racing officials.

The change was adopted to create more fan interest in the draw process and it is sure to spark speculation about decisions made by owners and trainers.