HORSE RACING : Top Trainers Know When They Have to Jockey for Position

The trainers of the three best 3-year-olds in the country perceive their horses in different ways.

Bob Baffert, knowing Real Quiet’s season is over, is in a que sera, sera mode, since winning a Kentucky Derby and a Preakness usually adds up to an Eclipse award. Shug McGaughey, who trains Coronado’s Quest, concedes that his colt is still an underachiever. And Elliott Walden, who trains Victory Gallop, is bullish about overtaking Real Quiet, just as he did in the last grinding strides of the Belmont Stakes.

“If my horse wins the Haskell and the Travers, he ought to be a cinch for best 3-year-old,” Walden said. “Overall, he’s won six out of 10 starts with three seconds. He wins these next two, and I definitely think he deserves the championship.”

The $750,000 Travers is at Saratoga on Aug. 29, preceded by Sunday’s $1-million Buick Haskell Handicap at Monmouth Park, near the North New Jersey shore.

Walden doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry about the injured Real Quiet remaining at Del Mar instead of running in the Haskell. The upside, had Real Quiet been able to run, was that Victory Gallop would have had a chance to even their rivalry at two wins apiece.

But Walden is also a realist.

“I can’t sit here and say I’m devastated that Real Quiet isn’t coming,” he said. “We had some unfinished business to do, but there’s no question the race would be a lot tougher if he were running.”

Real Quiet’s defection has brought on only one extra horse for Monmouth Park. Trainer Wayne Lukas is shipping in Grand Slam from Saratoga, rather than running in Sunday’s $250,000 Jim Dandy at the upstate New York track.

Six 3-year-olds are entered in the Haskell, but only five may run. Definite are Victory Gallop, Coronado’s Quest, Grand Slam, Arctic Sweep and Ian’s Thunder. Tomorrow’s Cat is cross-entered and may run in the Jim Dandy instead. Victory Gallop is the even-money favorite on the morning line, with Coronado’s Quest 6-5 and Grand Slam 9-2.

Walden might have had mixed emotions about Real Quiet, but he would have welcomed another Del Mar horse, Old Trieste, for the 1 1/8-mile Haskell. Old Trieste, winner of the Swaps at Hollywood Park, would have given Coronado’s Quest company up front Sunday.

“Old Trieste would have been a major threat,” Walden said. “But I still would have liked to see him come. He would have made the race honest. But he’s a hot-blooded horse, and it would have been tough shipping him all the way across the country.”

Victory Gallop, who will be ridden by Gary Stevens, was second in both the Derby and the Preakness, then beat Real Quiet by a nose in the Belmont. Coronado’s Quest, winner of the Wood Memorial in April, missed the entire Triple Crown. He didn’t run in the Derby because McGaughey felt the big crowd at Churchill Downs would unhinge him. He was scratched from the Preakness after bruising a foot the day before the race. Since then, he’s won twice, including a victory in the Dwyer at Belmont Park on July 12.

“Let’s face it,” McGaughey said. “We’ve been running in Grade IIs while the top horses have been mixing it up. My horse is still in the minor leagues, trying to get to the majors.”

Coronado’s Quest, who has won eight of 12 races and finished second twice, was the morning-line favorite for the Preakness, over Derby winner Real Quiet. In Florida last winter, Coronado’s Quest’s pre-race antics drove McGaughey up the wall. Before the colt left Florida, surgery corrected a breathing disorder, and he no longer acts like Godzilla in the paddock.

“I don’t know if the operation has been the difference or not,” McGaughey said. “I hope so, because that means all our troubles are behind us.”

Coronado’s Quest is a son of Forty Niner.

“A few years ago,” Walden said, “I had a horse called Distorted Humor, who was also by Forty Niner. They were similar, in that they’re fast and they can carry their speed. I expect Coronado’s Quest to be very tough Sunday. I’ve got concern about how the race sets up. It’ll be up to Gary to put my horse where he belongs. But we can’t be 20 lengths behind and still win.”

Horse Racing Notes

Jersey Girl, who has won seven consecutive races and nine of 11 overall, underwent surgery in Lexington, Ky., Friday for a broken knee. She was injured while winning the Test Stakes at Saratoga last Saturday. Trained by Todd Pletcher, formerly Wayne Lukas’ assistant, Jersey Girl might have already clinched the Eclipse award for best 3-year-old filly. . . . Trainer Ron McAnally said Friday that Mud Route won’t run in the $1-million Pacific Classic at Del Mar next Saturday. “He’s only been a mile and a quarter once before, so this isn’t the right spot,” McAnally said. Mud Route won the San Diego Handicap, beating Silver Charm, on July 25.

Probables for the Pacific Classic include Touch Gold, Gentlemen, Puerto Madero, Free House, Pacificbounty, Lazy Lode, Grajagan and Don’t Blame Rio. . . . Touch Gold worked six furlongs in a rousing 1:12 1/5 Thursday. Trainer Patrick Byrne supervised the workout, then took off Friday for Saratoga, where he will saddle Awesome Again for today’s $400,000 Whitney Handicap.

The McAnally-trained Bayakoa will be enshrined in the Racing Hall of Fame in ceremonies Monday in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Others entering the hall will be Riva Ridge, Fort Marcy, jockey Jacinto Vasquez and trainers Ansel Williamson and Bill Mott. Williamson, a former slave, saddled Aristides, who won the first Kentucky Derby in 1875, then won the Belmont Stakes the same year with Calvin, who beat Aristides by two lengths.