River Keen Comes Up Big Again in Woodward

Trainer Bob Baffert may have inadvertently found the best way to win races with River Keen. The 7-year-old former claimer does his best when Baffert is out of town.

In July, River Keen won the Bel Air Handicap at Hollywood Park while Baffert was at Monmouth Park, saddling Silverbulletday for her win in the Breeders’ Cup Oaks.

On Saturday, with Baffert watching on television in Kentucky, where he was attending a week-long yearling sale, River Keen scored the biggest win of his career, out-bobbing Almutawakel by a nose to capture the $500,000 Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park. Other than the Bel Air and the Woodward, River Keen is winless in six starts this year.

Baffert went nine races before he notched his first win in New York, but now he’s taking King Kong-sized bites out of the Big Apple. Since July, his horses have won eight of 12 New York starts, and the Woodward was his fifth stakes win there this year, four of them Grade I races.

“I figured Belmont owed me at least one photo,” Baffert said on the phone from Kentucky.

He has been thwarted four times in the most recent runnings of the Belmont Stakes, including narrow losses by Silver Charm and Real Quiet with the Triple Crown on the line in 1997-98.

River Keen, second to Baffert’s General Challenge in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar last month, went off as the fourth choice in the Woodward, which hadn’t been won by a 7-year-old since the last of Forego’s four consecutive victories in the stake, in 1977. River Keen and Forego are the oldest winners of the Woodward, which was first run in 1954.

Chris Antley, who also won the $150,000 Jerome Handicap on Saturday with Doneraile Court, kept River Keen close to the pace and saved ground on the rail. When the leader, Black Cash, dropped out of contention in the stretch, River Keen and Almutawakel, the Dubai World Cup winner, battled to the wire. Almutawakel, under Jerry Bailey, may have gotten a nose in front several strides from the finish, but it was River Keen’s nose that prevailed at the wire.

“Chris is the strongest jockey there is from 100 yards out,” Baffert said. “It is very hard to get by him late.”

Paying $13 to win, the Irish-bred River Keen won for the 10th time in 35 starts. He ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:46 4/5 on a fast track. His next start will be the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont on Oct. 10, and perhaps the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Gulfstream Park on Nov. 6.

Stephen Got Even finished third and Running Stag, the odds-on favorite, was fourth.

Last Dec. 4 at Hollywood Park, River Keen’s owner, Hugo Reynolds, a Corona construction man, urged Baffert to claim the horse for $100,000. River Keen won the race for trainer Bob Hess Jr. that day.

“I remember [River Keen] when he was just a Mickey Mouse handicapper in England,” said Philip Mitchell, who trains Running Stag.

*

Doneraile Court, a Seattle Slew colt who was bred by John and Betty Mabee of San Diego, was bought as a yearling for $1 million by Michael Tabor and Susan Magnier. The Jerome ended a seven-race stakes losing streak for trainer Nick Zito’s horse. Favored Vicar ran second, beaten by a head. . . . Belmont’s other stake was also close, with Catinca beating Furlough by a neck in the $250,000 Ruffian Handicap.

Gary Stevens, who rode Stephen Got Even in the Woodward, didn’t arrive in New York until 4:30 a.m. Saturday after his Delta flight from Cincinnati was forced to return and make an emergency landing shortly after takeoff Friday night. Some of the 114 passengers and five crew members smelled smoke, which was caused by a short circuit in a heating vent in the nose of the plane. After the landing, the emergency slide was used to remove passengers from the plane. Stevens took another flight, which left Cincinnati at 2:15 a.m. “It was rough and scary,” Stevens told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “A lot of different things went through my mind, but you just hope for the best.”

At Belmont, Stevens accepted the Mike Venezia Memorial Award, given annually to a jockey who demonstrates exceptional sportsmanship and citizenship. The award is named after a jockey who was killed in a race in New York in 1988 and Stevens dedicated his award to J.C. Gonzalez, killed in a spill at Fairplex Park on Sept. 9.

Trainer Bobby Frankel, whose Barter Town ran last in the Woodward, won the $200,000 Bay Meadows Handicap with Kirkwall, who was 10-1. Ridden by Victor Espinoza, Kirkwall won his first race since the Tanforan Handicap at Bay Meadows in January. He was a head better than Special Quest, with Game Ploy third in the three-way photo.