Inside Job for Point Given

Few rival trainers see any chinks in Point Given’s armor, and the big colt’s confident trainer, Bob Baffert, is not one to disagree. But if there is a glimmer of an upset for the seven other horses running in Saturday’s Santa Anita Derby, it came at entry time Wednesday, when Point Given drew the inside post position, the same spot that contributed to his defeat in November’s Breeders’ Cup.

Baffert didn’t even flinch. “The rail in this race is not as important as it is in shorter races,” he said. “I imagine they’ll try to crowd us going into the first turn, but there should be time for [jockey Gary Stevens] to put him in the right situation. I would have liked a post someplace in the middle, but this horse has all the ingredients to be a Kentucky Derby winner and I’m not concerned. The only thing that’ll get us beat is a bad trip.”

A zigzagging trip is what Point Given got in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, as he ran second to Macho Uno, beaten by only a nose, but that was a 1 1/16-mile race at Churchill Downs, with a 14-horse field and the start not allowing much of a run to the first turn. The start for the 64th Santa Anita Derby, a 1 1/8-mile race worth $750,000, is from the upper stretch. The horses will run through the stretch a first time before they hit the clubhouse turn.

Baffert has saddled the winner of the Santa Anita Derby three of the last five years, and two of those--Cavonnier and Indian Charlie--broke from the No. 1 post. Jeff Tufts, the Santa Anita oddsmaker, has made Point Given the even-money favorite, and the son of Thunder Gulch is likely to go off at less than that. He was 2-5 in his last race, a convincing victory in the San Felipe Stakes on March 17. The last odds-on choice to run in the race was Brocco, who paid $3.40 for winning in 1994.

Crafty C.T., unraced as a 2-year-old, winner of the San Rafael Stakes on March 3 and about to make his fourth start in three months, is the 9-5 second choice on the morning line. Howard Zucker, who trains Crafty C.T., hasn’t budged from a San Rafael-day position that precluded running in the Kentucky Derby. Crafty C.T. has been losing weight with every race, which is the spoken part of it, but also in the equation could be the aura that Point Given has cast over the entire 3-year-old division.

No question that Zucker was impressed with Point Given’s San Felipe.

“He was five wide, and still inhaled those other horses,” Zucker said. “I think Baffert has orchestrated his horse’s campaign to a T, and he’s a man who doesn’t make many mistakes. So I’ve got my little guy, who’s only had three races, running against this big horse that almost won the Breeders’ Cup, but that’s all right, I think my horse deserves the chance. Let it rain. That might help our chances.”

Occasional showers are in the forecast right into Saturday, but there hasn’t been an off track for the race since Sir William upended Round Table in 1957.

With a victory, Point Given will give Baffert and Gary Stevens a bigger niche in the Santa Anita Derby record book. Baffert can match trainer Wayne Lukas’ record of four Santa Anita Derby wins and Stevens can catch Bill Shoemaker if he rides the winner for the eighth time. With the Kentucky Derby to be run May 5, Lukas is in danger of not being represented at Churchill Downs for the first time since 1980; he appears to be taking a flier Saturday with Scorpion, who was beaten by 13 lengths in his last start. Lukas has started at least one horse in the Santa Anita Derby every year since 1979.

Stevens, who missed last year’s Santa Anita Derby because degenerative arthritis in his knees had forced him into a short-lived retirement, booted home both of Baffert’s horses--General Challenge and Indian Charlie--the two previous years. He has ridden Point Given in his last three starts--the near-miss in the Breeders’ Cup, the win in the Hollywood Futurity in December and the victory in the San Felipe, which was the first start in three months for Prince Ahmed Salman’s colt.

“The plan, right after the Breeders’ Cup, was for the horse to have two starts [as a 3-year-old] going into the Kentucky Derby,” Stevens said. “But I was surprised when they wheeled him right back in the Hollywood Futurity.

“He’s a good work horse, and he was very fit going into the San Felipe. He’s a well-seasoned horse. People forget how many races he had [six] as a 2-year-old. He’s been in the big battles already. He’s very nimble, he’s very athletic and he has a fluid stride. He can change directions faster than any horse I’ve ever been on.”

I Love Silver finished second, 2 1/4 lengths behind Point Given, in the San Felipe, but his trainer, Dean Greenman, is not optimistic about closing the gap on Baffert’s horse. Laffit Pincay, who like Stevens has won the Santa Anita Derby seven times, has taken over on I Love Silver, Eddie Delahoussaye opting to stay with Crafty C.T.

“I don’t think I can knock off the favorite,” Greenman said Wednesday. “But if my horse runs the same race he ran last time, I’ll be happy.”

Horse Racing Notes

Trainer Ron McAnally might scratch Early Flyer to run in the $200,000 California Derby at Bay Meadows on April 14. . . . Cherokee Kim, who broke his maiden on the third try at Santa Anita on March 10, is one of seven late nominees to the Triple Crown. The others are Crafty Shaw, Arctic Boy, Son Of Rocket, Richly Blended, Camden Park and True Concern. . . . Baffert’s Kentucky Derby winners--Silver Charm and Real Quiet--both finished second in the Santa Anita Derby. . . . Stevens has replaced Corey Black with Bob Meldahl as his agent. Meldahl, who also books mounts for Pincay, had room for another rider after Corey Nakatani announced that he’d be riding at the Keeneland meet that opens Saturday. . . . Nakatani will be riding at Oaklawn Park on Saturday, aboard Wooden Phone for Baffert in the $600,000 Oaklawn Handicap. . . . Captain Steve is back at Baffert’s barn after winning the Dubai World Cup. Baffert will evaluate the colt’s condition before committing to the Pimlico Special on May 14. . . . A shoulder injury has prevented trainer Bob Hess Jr. from shipping D’wildcat, the Swale Stakes winner, to Texas for Saturday’s $500,000 Lone Star Derby. . . . Post time for Saturday’s first race is noon. There will be a $1 pick-three bet on the Santa Anita, Illinois and Lone Star Derbies. . . . Ten were entered at Sportsman’s Park for the $500,000 Illinois Derby, with Dream Run, off his fourth-place finish in the Florida Derby, the 2-1 favorite. . . . There are two $150,000 stakes on the Santa Anita Derby card. The co-high weights in the five-horse San Bernardino Handicap are Tribunal and Irisheyesareflying, who’ll carry 117 pounds. They were third and fourth, respectively, behind Tiznow and Wooden Phone, in the Santa Anita Handicap. Lazy Lode will carry 121 pounds, five more than Kerrygold, in the Arcadia Handicap, which drew a field of seven. . . . Trainer Mel Stute, who’s on this year’s Racing Hall of Fame ballot, saddled Annie Lil for his 500th win at Santa Anita. Not included in the total are the 130 races Stute has won during Oak Tree meets at Santa Anita.

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The Draw

The field for the 64th running of the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby (all horses carry 122 pounds):

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Horse Jockey Odds 1. Point Given Gary Stevens 1-1 2. I Love Silver Laffit Pincay Jr. 6-1 3. Crafty C.T. Eddie Delahoussaye 9-5 4. Startac Alex Solis 15-1 5. Scorpion Victor Espinoza 30-1 6. Early Flyer Tyler Baze 12-1 7. Palmeiro Kent Desormeaux 8-1 8. Cherokee Kim David Flores 30-1

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First post time is noon. The Santa Anita Derby is the fifth race. Post time is 2:45 p.m.