Hall Call - by Dan Liebman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:03:00 GMT

(Originally published in the April 25, 2009 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

While spending a spring morning watching horses gallop at Keeneland in 1990, I met a relative newcomer to training Thoroughbreds. He was searching for the clockers, and as it was his first trip to the Kentucky track, the West Coast-based conditioner was unaware they timed horses from the press box.

I showed him the way.

“I have a horse here for the Lexington (Stakes, gr. II),” he said as we walked. “If he wins this, we’ll go on to the (Kentucky) Derby (gr. I).”

I listened, not letting on I was convinced I had already seen the Derby winner at Keeneland, a horse named Unbridled who had run third in the Blue Grass Stakes (gr. II) as a perfect prep for the first Saturday in May.

“I’m Bob Baffert,” he said to the clockers. “I breezed a horse named Thirty Slews.”

Thirty Slews ran third in the 1 1⁄16-mile Lexington, and Baffert saw all he needed to see. The job of a trainer is to find where his horse can be the most competitive, and Baffert never ran Thirty Slews farther than seven furlongs in 18 subsequent races. Thirty Slews won the 1992 Breeders’ Cup Sprint to become Baffert’s first grade I winner.

Baffert has been adept at figuring out where his horses are the most competitive, and though he didn’t make it to the Derby with Thirty Slews, he eventually found his way to Churchill Downs. More importantly, he found the hallowed winner’s circle.

Now, racing has honored Baffert by voting him into the sport’s Hall of Fame, one of six members of the class of 2009 announced April 20 to be inducted in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Aug. 14.

Baffert nearly won the Derby in his first try when Cavonnier ran second in 1996 by a nose (he also started Semoran that year, who ran 14th). Almost immediately, Baffert became a media darling. He stood out with his white hair and dark sunglasses, and was always good for a quote or 20.

Baffert returned to Louisville, Ky., the following year and won the Derby by a head with Silver Charm for Bob and Beverly Lewis. The next year he won the race for his good friend Mike Pegram, as Real Quiet scored by a half-length.

The days since he won the $2,000 Turquoise Futurity at Rillito Park in 1982 were long gone. Baffert was quickly proving he is one of the best in the game.

He won the Derby a third time in 2002 with War Emblem for the late Prince Ahmed Salman and returns this year with one of the favorites, Pioneerof the Nile. Baffert has also won the Preakness Stakes (gr. I) four times and the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) once. He was less than a length away from winning the Triple Crown twice, Silver Charm beaten three-quarters of a length in the Belmont and Real Quiet losing by a scant nose.

Thirty Slews was the first of seven Breeders’ Cup winners for Baffert, who was the leading money-winning trainer three straight years, 1998-2000.

Baffert enters the Hall the same year as one of his trainees, Silverbulletday, one of 10 champions he has conditioned. His other household names include such stars as Chilukki, Indian Blessing, Midnight Lute, Congaree, Vindication, Point Given, Captain Steve, Excellent Meeting, El Corredor, and Indian Charlie.

Baffert was first discussed by members of the Hall of Fame nominating committee two years ago, but he failed to receive the necessary votes to appear on the ballot in 2007 and 2008 because some were concerned he had not trained enough Thoroughbreds during the years when he was first transitioning from training Quarter Horses.

Now, in his first year on the ballot, the 56-year-old Baffert has been elected to a spot alongside the best the sport has known. It may be a couple of years overdue, but it is a most-deserving honor for a most-deserving recipient.

Add Seasoning - by Dan Liebman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:53:00 GMT

Seattle Slew was a heck of a racehorse. He started only three times at 2 and had just six races prior to winning the 1977 Kentucky Derby (gr. I). He went on to win the Preakness (gr. I) and Belmont (gr. I) Stakes and remains, 31 years later, the only unbeaten horse to win the Triple Crown.

Big Brown tried…and failed.

We can look back and question the competition Seattle Slew ran against in his Triple Crown races, just as many are questioning the current crop of 3-year-olds. But we cannot question whether Seattle Slew was a good horse.

Triple Crown winners had never occurred in back-to-back years until Seattle Slew and Affirmed (1978), so it was an historic moment when the two met in the Marlboro Cup Handicap (gr. I) Sept. 16, 1978. Partly because of who Affirmed had beaten in his races, and mainly because he had won 10 straight, for the only time in Seattle Slew’s 17-race career, Slew was not the choice of the bettors. Affirmed was made the 1-2 favorite while Seattle Slew went off at more than 2-1. But in wire-to-wire fashion, as was his style, Seattle Slew controlled the pace and ran away from Affirmed to win by three lengths. And it was not a soft pace. Seattle Slew ran the nine furlongs in 1:45 4⁄5, just two-fifths off the American record for the distance, set by another Triple Crown winner in the first Marlboro Cup five years earlier, Secretariat.

Seasoning, or training, is an important part of preparation for any athlete, regardless of talent level. Though he had only been out six times prior to the Derby, Seattle Slew had run 46 furlongs, compared to three races totaling 25.5 furlongs for Big Brown. Every furlong previously run makes a big difference before having to traverse 31.5 furlongs in the course of the five-week Triple Crown period.

Seattle Slew is the exception among the 11 winners of the Triple Crown. His three races at 2 are the lowest number among the esteemed group, the next lowest being six; they averaged nine starts as juveniles. Triple Crown winners Sir Barton and War Admiral each made six starts as 2-year-olds; Gallant Fox made seven; Omaha, Assault, Citation, Secretariat, and Affirmed each made nine; Count Fleet made 15; and Whirlaway made 16.

By the time they ran in the Derby, the 11 Triple Crown winners averaged a dozen starts.

In comparison, the seven horses in recent years that have won the Derby and Preakness only to fall short in the Belmont—Smarty Jones, Funny Cide, Real Quiet, War Emblem, Silver Charm, Charismatic, and Big Brown—have averaged four starts at 2 and fewer than eight prior to the Derby.

Consider that of this year’s 20-horse Derby field, the average number of starts at 2 was 3.4 and the average number of starts prior to the first Saturday in May was 6.3. Compared to the 11 Triple Crown winners, those figures are 62% and 47.5% less, respectively.

Charismatic and Smarty Jones never raced after the Belmont, but Funny Cide, Real Quiet, War Emblem, and Silver Charm all came back to win a grade or group I race.

Big Brown needs to prove that he can do the same.

Star Parade

Those who bemoan the quick retirement of many of racing’s stars were smiling widely June 14, when three champions all won. The parade of stars was led by 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin, who took the Stephen Foster Handicap (gr. I) in his first start since a triumphant overseas trip to win the Dubai World Cup (UAE-I). Also at Churchill Downs that afternoon, Dreaming of Anna, the 2006 champion juvenile filly, was victorious in the Early Times Mint Julep Handicap (gr. IIIT), while at Belmont Park, Ginger Punch, last year’s champion older female, took the Ogden Phipps Handicap (gr. I).

What's Going On Here : silver charm

Hall Call - by Dan Liebman

Add Seasoning - by Dan Liebman