Tape Charms, Then Winning Excites Baffert

Consignors of horses are forever sending promotional videos of their bloodstock to trainer Bob Baffert. There’s such a rush of tapes around auction time that Baffert hardly has a minute to visit a video store, to catch up on the many movies that he has missed.

Once in a while, Baffert views a horse tape that’s like “Fargo” or “The Sting.” It’s so good that you want to keep rerunning it. Such a tape popped into his hands early last year.

“It was of Silver Charm working [seven furlongs] in 1:21 4/5,” Baffert said. “He was the second fastest [at the sale] out of about a thousand horses.”

Baffert bought Silver Charm for $80,000 on behalf of Bob and Beverly Lewis of Newport Beach, and they have never looked back. As a 2-year-old, Silver Charm won the Del Mar Futurity, and then Saturday, running after a forced five-month layoff that was too long for all concerned, the strapping charcoal-gray colt made his 3-year-old debut, winning the $106,400 San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita. One seven-furlong victory in February does not a Kentucky Derby winner make, but of the 12 horses the Lewises have nominated to the Triple Crown, Silver Charm goes to the head of the class.

Missing the last quarter of 1996 and the Breeders’ Cup because of a viral infection, Silver Charm won the San Vicente by 1 3/4 lengths over Free House. The time of 1:21 equaled the stakes record set by Ancient Title in 1973, and since then horses such as Flying Paster, Mister Frisky and Afternoon Deelites won the San Vicente without running as fast.

Silver Charm’s finish--closing with authority under Chris McCarron along the rail--was less exacting for the Lewises than his start. Just before the break, their colt nudged the stall door and had to be led back to the rear of the gate so assistant starters could reload him.

“When I saw that, my heart dropped to my shoes,” Bob Lewis said. “It was not a good feeling.”

The trainer was worried too.

“I thought that this could be disastrous,” Baffert said. “A horse could hit his nose [on the door] and then you don’t know how it will affect him.”

When the gate opened for all nine of them, Funontherun went to the lead, followed by Red and Silver Charm. They were tightly packed with four others in the run down the backstretch, with the first half-mile going by in a brisk 44 4/5 seconds.

Silver Charm joined the two-horse battle between Funontherun and Red at the top of the stretch. He took the lead with an eighth of a mile left.

“Bob [Baffert] thought that he might be short,” McCarron said. “But he finished very well.”

Free House, who ran three poor races after winning the Norfolk in October, closed in the stretch to finish two lengths ahead of Funontherun, who after an an 11-length maiden win went off a slight favorite over Silver Charm and his entrymate, Esteemed Friend. Baffert nodded toward the Lewises in the winner’s circle and said, “Guess we won’t be seeing a price like that again.” Silver Charm’s payoff was $7.20 as he earned $66,400 for his third win in four starts.

McCarron was riding Silver Charm for the first time, after David Flores had the assignment for his first three starts.

“David’s a good rider,” Baffert said. “He gets the lead with a horse and it’s impossible to get by him. But for a horse that comes from off the pace like this one, you need somebody more experienced. The first time a jockey rides in the Kentucky Derby, he’s bound to be overwhelmed. So you’ve got to get somebody who’s got ice water in his veins.”

McCarron has ridden in the Derby 14 times, winning with Alysheba in 1987 and Go For Gin in 1994. Last year, against Grindstone, McCarron missed by a nose with Cavonnier, who was Baffert’s introduction to the Derby.

McCarron, who also rides Hello and Mud Route, now finds himself with three of California’s leading candidates for the Derby.

“It’s very exciting for me,” McCarron said. “This is a position I try to be in every spring. I love going around the backside trying to find these kinds of horses. I hope they can stay separated long enough where I won’t have to make a decision until I am forced to.”

Baffert is undecided what to do next with Silver Charm, his options even including the El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows. Santa Anita’s program for 3-year-olds includes the one-mile San Rafael on March 2, the 1 1/16-mile San Felipe on March 16 and the Santa Anita Derby on April 5. The Kentucky Derby is May 3.

Another Baffert 3-year-old, the stakes-winning In Excessive Bull, hasn’t run this year because of a throat infection and is in limbo.

“He’s still on the shelf, and right now I’d say that the Kentucky Derby is doubtful,” Baffert said. “I’ll know more in about a week, when we start working him again. I don’t want to ruin a horse just to get him to the Derby.”

Horse Racing Notes

Skip Away, last year’s champion 3-year-old male, ran for the first time in four months and couldn’t overhaul Formal Gold on Saturday in the $300,000 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park in Florida. Formal Gold, 6-1 after finishing fifth as a field horse in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, won by 1 1/4 lengths. “My horse has been off too long,” said Shane Sellers, who rode Skip Away. “The other horse just galloped on a speed-biased racetrack.”

In a race for 3-year-olds at Gulfstream, the front-running Pulpit won again, this time by 8 3/4 lengths while covering 1 1/16 miles in 1:42. Unraced last year because of a broken hind leg, the son of A.P. Indy made his debut on Jan. 11, winning by 7 1/2 lengths. Sellers rides him for trainer Frank Brothers. . . . Traces Of Gold, trained by Jerry Hollendorfer and ridden by Russell Baze, repeated as the winner of the $100,000 Brown Bess Handicap at Bay Meadows. The 5-year-old mare paid $8.20. Antespend, 6-5 and the high weight with 122 pounds, finished off the board. Traces Of Gold carried 114. . . . Inner City, ridden by Corey Black for trainer Marty Jones, won the $100,000 Turf Paradise Handicap. The 8-year-old Irish-bred, sent off at 8-5, won for the 12th time in 40 races and registered his first stakes win in a year. Kaafih Homm finished second. . . . Los Alamitos had a record mutuel handle for harness racing of $1,716,060.50 on Friday night. The previous record was $1,606,238 on March 13, 1987.