Triple Crown Bid Nearly Destroyed Silver Charm Unscathed In Brush With Disaster
Cheers for Silver Charm spooked another horse into his path, but the Kentucky Derby-Preakness winner escaped injury Tuesday at Churchill Downs.
“It could have been devastating,” trainer Bob Baffert said of the incident that occurred just before Silver Charm began his final workout for the Belmont Stakes. “We dodged a bullet.”
“We grazed,” said Joe Steiner, who worked Silver Charm five-eighths of a mile in 1:01. “It was a slight graze, really nothing. They barely touched. It was nothing.”
Silver Charm was jogging along the inside rail approaching the clubhouse turn en route to the backstretch to begin his work when many in an estimated crowd of 2,500 began cheering and applauding.
The noise didn’t bother Silver Charm, but it spooked Firecrest, going the other direction along the outside rail. The 5-year-old gelding, ridden by Filamon Garcia, bolted across the track and brushed Silver Charm.
Baffert, in radio contact with Steiner, shouted, “Close call! Play of the day!”
At his barn after the workout, Baffert said, “The riders did a good job. He (Firecrest) could have stepped on him. The element of disaster is out there every day.”
After clocking Silver Charm in 1:00, Baffert shouted, “Show me the money.”
Should Silver Charm win the Triple Crown, he would earn a $5 million bonus from Visa, the sponsor of the three races. He is scheduled to leave Louisville on flight to New York at 6 this morning.
The official clocking had the colt going a quarter-mile in 24 seconds, a half in 48-4/5, five-eighths in 1:01 and galloping out three-quarters in 1:15.
“He went real good,” Steiner said. “He left the pole (started) quick. “He couldn’t be doing any better.”
Immediately after the workout, Baffert called Bob Lewis, the gray colt’s owner.
“He went great, Bob,” he said. “You should have seen the crowd. Unbelievable! There are two or three thousand people here.”
Churchill Downs opened the lower level of the clubhouse to the public. About 200 people also gathered outside Silver Charm’s barn and followed him to the track.
xxxx Playfair Race Course plans to add two tracks to its lineup of simulcast wagering sources this week. The Spokane facility will offer full programs from Hastings Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Belmont Park in New York. Track officials hope to have Belmont in place this morning at 10:30, general manager Kim Rich said. Hastings starts at 6:30 p.m.