It Just Wasn’t Cavonnier’s Day

In July 1997, the folks at the Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa, doing what came naturally, held a Cavonnier day at the races. Never had a horse come out of Santa Rosa, where Cavonnier broke his maiden in a 5 1/2-furlong race in 1995, and almost won the Kentucky Derby.

From six miles down the road, where Bob and Barbara Walter bred and raised Cavonnier at their Vine Hill Ranch, Cavonnier journeyed to the Sonoma fair. It was the dark bay gelding’s first gander at a racetrack since he had suffered what was believed to be a career-ending tendon injury in the Belmont Stakes the year before.

The memory of that day at Santa Rosa is burned into Barbara Walter’s brain. “They sold out the grandstand,” she recalled this week. “Then when they brought him from the paddock to the winner’s circle, there was such a roar. They made more noise than you might hear when USC plays football at Stanford.”

Cavonnier, inspired by all that attention, became the consummate ham.

“He pricked his ears,” Barbara Walter said. “He stuck his chest out and pranced all the way there. He was telling everybody that he was the king of the hill. It was as though he was saying, ‘Where’s my jockey?’ ”

Last Tuesday at Santa Anita, Cavonnier again seemed to be advertising for a jockey when he breezed five furlongs in a torrid 58 2/5 seconds. Privately, his trainer, Bob Baffert, planned to run him in a grass allowance Friday--in what would have been Cavonnier’s first race since June 8, 1996. But too many other trainers heard about Baffert’s plan and not enough horses were entered to fill the race. Baffert will have to shop for another spot at the Oak Tree meet, to give Cavonnier a prep for the $250,000 California Cup Classic on Oct. 31.

With his heartbreaking Kentucky Derby loss to Grindstone by the smallest of noses in 1996, Cavonnier nevertheless put Baffert on the map at Churchill Downs. Assured he had found a way to win the Derby, Baffert has returned to Kentucky the last two years and, with Silver Charm and Real Quiet, blown the doors off Louisville. But it was Cavonnier, while inches short, who opened those doors. He and Baffert sneaked up on the opposition. A California-bred and a gelding, Cavonnier went into the Derby with 2 1/2 strikes against him, even though he had won the Santa Anita Derby a month before.

“Have we watched the [Derby] replay?” Bob Walter said, repeating the question. “Well, we’ve worn out at least one of the tapes.”

In the stretch, Craig Perret, riding Halo Sunshine, swung his whip and accidentally smacked Cavonnier across the face.

“I don’t want to take anything away from Grindstone,” Barbara Walter said, “but I’d like to think that at least we would have gotten a dead heat if that hadn’t happened. But there’s one thing they can’t take away from us: Our horse ran the sixth-fastest Derby ever.”

A weary Cavonnier went from a lukewarm second choice in the Derby to the 17-10 favorite for the Preakness, Grindstone having been retired a few days after the Derby because of a cracked knee. At Pimlico, laboring over a packed-down track that had been hit hard by rain, Cavonnier finished fourth. Louis Quatorze, the Preakness winner, was no better than 6-1 in the Belmont as the New Yorkers made Cavonnier a 3-1 favorite. The Walters’ horse was in good shape after a mile, in fourth place, but entering the stretch he started favoring his right foreleg. Chris McCarron alertly pulled him up and jumped off. Cavonnier had ruptured a tendon.

“His injury could have been worse if he wasn’t so intelligent,” Bob Walter said of his horse. “He was hurt and he just stood there, on the track, to protect himself. If he had thrashed around, it would have been worse.”

Baffert was skeptical about Cavonnier ever running again, but Walter, who’s now 82, never considered anything else. A polo player much of his life, he had seen several ponies return from similar injuries.

“From day two, I thought he could do it,” Bob Walter said.

The old wheeze about bowed tendons is that the only cure is a switch of owners, but at UC Davis Cavonnier was introduced to an experimental drug, called Bapten, that accelerates the knitting of the fibers in the tendon area. Much rehabilitation was required, and under the supervision of George Pirie, the manager of Vine Hill, Cavonnier started with half-hour walks twice a day, then progressed to uphill gallops three times a week.

“One of our worries was that he might favor the good leg,” Bob Walter said. “But this is a smart horse and he didn’t. I think he’s better than he was before. He’s come back stronger and his mental attitude is terrific.”

Skip Away, 12th that day, is the only horse from the 1996 Derby who’s still running. Barbara Walter points out that for a 5-year-old, Cavonnier is lightly raced: The son of Batonnier and Direwarning, a Caveat mare, has six wins, three seconds and two thirds in 16 starts, with earnings of $1.1 million.

Cavonnier’s first $100,000 win came in the 1995 California Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita. Now he’s shooting for the richest of the Cal Cup races. Or could his future possibly include grass?

“I’ll let Baffert worry about that,” Bob Walter said. “That’s the reason he’s got all that white hair.”

Horse Racing Notes

Bonapartiste, River Bay and Military, who finished 1-2-3 in the Del Mar Handicap, separated by about a length, will battle again Sunday in the $300,000 Oak Tree Turf Championship. Others running in the 1 1/4-mile race are Legend Of Russia and Amerique. They each will carry 124 pounds. . . . Exploit, bought for $525,000 as a weanling by Bob and Beverly Lewis, won his second race without a loss, scoring by 1 1/2 lengths for trainer Bob Baffert and jockey Chris McCarron. . . . Baffert will split his 2-year-old fillies, running Excellent Meeting, the Del Mar Debutante winner, in the $200,000 Oak Leaf at Santa Anita a week from today and sending Silverbulletday to Keeneland for the $400,000 Alcibiades on Oct. 11.