Baffert a Boss of Bosses

A field of between 10 and 12 horses is lining up for the Belmont Stakes on Saturday in New York, where a victory would make Real Quiet the 12th horse to sweep the Triple Crown.

You wonder why some of them are even bothering. Basic Trainee has finished ahead of only two horses in the opening Triple Crown races, losing the Kentucky Derby by 73 lengths and the Preakness by 24. Raffie’s Majesty and Hanuman Highway have never won a stakes race.

“I don’t mind a large field,” said Bob Baffert, who trains Real Quiet. “I’ve got the best horse, and I know he can get the distance of a mile and a half. Some of these horses keep running in these races because of their owners. The owners are controlling the game, especially in the East. In the old days, the trainers were in control, but now it’s the owners. Some of them don’t appreciate how you can grind up these horses by running them too much. There’s no point running 80-1 shots in a big race.”

Baffert, 45, wouldn’t even run the probable favorite in this year’s Preakness. Indian Charlie, winner of the Santa Anita Derby, undefeated going into the Kentucky Derby and the favorite at Churchill Downs, ran third there and then, four days before the Preakness, worked five furlongs in a sprightly 59 1/5 seconds. Of the 43 horses that worked that distance that day at Churchill Downs, Indian Charlie’s time was the second fastest.

Baffert eyeballed Indian Charlie after the workout, then called the colt’s owners, telling them that he wouldn’t be running in the Preakness. “We could run,” he told them, “but the horse has lost some weight, he isn’t doing that well and we’ll get beat.”

Indian Charlie is owned by the colt’s breeder, Hal Earnhardt, and his three partners. None of them questioned Baffert’s decision to skip the Preakness. There are few trainers whose opinions carry as much weight with owners as Baffert’s do. Even Wayne Lukas, who has won 10 Triple Crown races and is likely to run two horses--Grand Slam and Yarrow Brae--in Saturday’s Belmont, has said that he has run several overmatched horses in the Kentucky Derby only because their owners wanted to.

Baffert, who has won four of the last five Triple Crown races--last year’s Derby and Preakness with Silver Charm and this year’s Derby and Preakness with Real Quiet--addresses owner-trainer problems early on. He has a feel for owners who will be compatible and those who won’t mesh with his philosophy.

“If I see that the chemistry is missing, I won’t take their horses,” Baffert said. “You talk to a prospective owner for a few minutes, and usually you can tell in the tone of a guy’s voice whether you’ll get along.”

Baffert was asked what he would do if he wasn’t comfortable with a potential deep-pocketed client.

“It’s already happened,” he said. “I’ve turned down guys because I knew it just wouldn’t work out.”

Mike Pegram, who owns Real Quiet, is a blue jean-wearing, beer-drinking Kentucky native who grew up in Indiana and now owns 22 McDonald’s franchises in Washington state. Pegram and Earnhardt met in Palm Springs, later bought a quarter horse together in 1985 at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico. Through Earnhardt, Pegram met Baffert, who claimed Pegram’s first horse, for $32,000, at Del Mar in 1988.

Pegram is a regular at the Churchill Downs barn, where Real Quiet is doing all his major work for the Belmont. The crooked-legged horse cost him $17,000, has already earned $1.9 million and could make $5.6 million more, counting purse and Triple Crown bonus, with a win Saturday.

“I’m just a passenger on this train of destiny,” Pegram said last week. “The owner puts up the money, but that doesn’t mean he should start telling the jockey or the trainer what to do. If I should start doing that, because of my overnight success, I hope you guys [reporters] kick my ass when I do.”

Pegram says that he and Baffert get along swimmingly because of mutual respect.

“Owners like Mike and Bob Lewis [the owner of Silver Charm] know that I’m taking care of their investment,” Baffert said. “I’ll make mistakes along the line, but they’re willing to roll with the punches and live with that.”

John Gaines, who heads the group that owns 50% of Indian Charlie, has bred more than 40 stakes winners in Kentucky. Gaines, 70, was the man whose idea in the early 1980s germinated into the Breeders’ Cup program.

“Bob Baffert is a very sophisticated trainer and I’m a sophisticated horseman,” Gaines said from his office in nearby Lexington. “When he called about [Indian Charlie not running in the Preakness] I was 1,000% sure it was the right thing to do. I have as much confidence in Bob as I’ve had in any trainer who’s ever worked for me.”

Earnhardt, an automobile dealer in Phoenix who sells about 2,500 vehicles a month, owns the other 50% of Indian Charlie. The colt returned to training at Churchill Downs last week; Baffert would like to run him in the $1-million Haskell Invitational Handicap at Monmouth Park on Aug. 9.

“I let Bob call all the shots,” Earnhardt said. “Before the Preakness, he told me about Indian Charlie’s weight loss, and I knew that missing the race would be in the best interests of the horse. We had airplane and hotel reservations in Baltimore, and we were ready to go. But when he said we shouldn’t run, I didn’t give it a second thought. I’m at the small end of Bob’s stable. I’m sure I’m the easiest guy he’s got to deal with.”