June 4, 1997
NEW YORK -- The horse is Silver Charm. The race is the Belmont Stakes. The prize is the Triple Crown.
And the rider, Gary Stevens, is guaranteeing victory.
"If what Bob Baffert told me is true, I guarantee a victory," Stevens
said at a news conference Wednesday.
What the trainer told Stevens was that the gray colt is better for the 11/2-half mile Belmont on Saturday than he was for his victories in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.
BAFFERT AND STEVENS, OF COURSE, understand there is no such thing as a sure thing in horse racing.
"There isn't going to be any complaining or crying if we lose," Baffert said after flying to New York with Silver Charm from Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., where the gray colt has been training since the Preakness.
"I have put the horse in position to win, that's all I can do as a trainer," Baffert continued. "He's in position, and now it's up to the racing gods."
The gods have been good to Silver Charm. Just before starting a workout Tuesday at Churchill Downs, he almost was run into by a horse spooked by a crowd cheering Silver Charm.
If the gods smile on Silver Charm, he would become the 12th Triple Crown winner and first since Affirmed in 1978. The colt, owned by Bob and Beverly Lewis, also would earn a $5 million bonus offered by Visa, sponsor of the three races.
SIX OTHER 3-YEAR-OLDS are to oppose Silver Charm. Entries are to be drawn Thursday.
"I don't worry about the competition," Baffert said. "I worry about my horse. If I don't have him ready, it doesn't matter who he's running against."
Of Silver Charm's rivals, Baffert said, "Free House is the horse to beat, I think. He's in our face every time. The two gray colts have faced each other in five consecutive races, with Silver Charm winning three times and Free House twice. Free House finished third in the Kentucky and Derby and was second by a head in the Preakness.
"I'm very confident," said Paco Gonzalez, Free House's trainer. "These two horses are very close."
There's also the Frank Stronach-owned entry of Touch Gold, a good fourth in the Preakness after stumbling badly at the start, and Wild Rush, front-running winner of the Illinois Derby..
"There going to be tough," Baffert said. "Wild Rush is a speed horse, and Touch Gold has speed, too."
TOUCH GOLD HAS A QUARTER CRACK in his left front hoof and will wear a patch on it in the Belmont.
"He's got a lot of energy and he feels good," said trainer David Hoffmans, adding the reason the colt didn't work Wednesday as planned was because he didn't need it, not because of the crack.
"I'm afraid of Touch Gold," said Stevens, who rode the colt to victory in two starts before the Preakness. "Anybody who doesn't respect Touch Gold is crazy. I've ridden Wild Rush, and I respect him, too."
Stevens was on Wild Rush when he finished seventh in the San Rafael and also when he won a 1-mile stakes on the grass April 13. Kent Desormeaux, who will ride Free House on Saturday, was up when Wild Rush scored a front-running victory in the Illinois Derby on May 10 at Sportsman's Park.
Also expected to start is stretch-running Crypto Star, fifth in the Kentucky Derby; Mr. Energizer; and Irish Silence.
Owner Robert Perez is paying $50,000 to make a supplementary nominee of Mr. Energizer, who will be making his U.S. debut after 10 races in Panama. He won the last six.
Irish Silence, a New York-bred, has won two of eight starts.
SILVER CHARM WAS THE ONLY horse on the plane from Louisville, and he received a police escort from Kennedy International Airport to Belmont Park. He didn't get such royal treatment when sent from Florida to California after being bought for $85,000 as a 2-year-old.
"I put him on a van," Baffert said. "Builds character.''
Triple Crown facts and figures