Free House Gets Close To Winner One More Time

For the third time in as many races, Free House came close to winning a Triple Crown race - only to lose in the final yards.

In Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, Free House hooked up with Silver Charm at the head of the stretch and it looked as if the two would battle to the wire, just as they had in the Preakness. But this time, Touch Gold came roaring past the two to not only deny Silver Charm his Triple Crown but Free House his chance at redemption.

“Turning for home, I’m thinking it’s going to be the Preakness all over again,” said jockey Kent Desormeaux, who rode Free House to a runner-up finish in Baltimore on the heels of his third-place finish in the Kentucky Derby under David Flores.

“Then I asked Free House to go. We accelerated so tremendously and Silver Charm just went with me. I’m thinking … a head bob again. And then here comes Touch Gold just running right by us pretty quickly.”

Free House, who beat Silver Charm twice in California, was second by a head in the stretch in Kentucky, losing the race by less than two lengths. In Saturday’s race, he finished 1-3/4 lengths behind Touch Gold, just a length behind Silver Charm.

“The one thing for sure is he definitely belongs with these horses,” said trainer Paco Gonzalez.

Gettin’ back up

John Velazquez, despite being thrown from his mount in the race preceding the Belmont Stakes, was able to return to ride longshot Irish Silence to a fifthplace finish in the final leg of the Triple Crown.

Velazquez, the jockey aboard Labeeb in the $200,000 Manhattan, was tossed by his horse as the field rounded the final turn of the 1-1/8-mile race on the inner turf course.

Velazquez went down and it appeared a horse ran over him, but the rider was able to walk to the track ambulance, and stewards cleared him to ride.

A pilgrimage, California style

The one-day record for largesse might have been surpassed by Beverly and Bob Lewis, the owners of Silver Charm.

Bob Lewis is the beer distributor from Southern California who also owned Serena’s Song, Hennessy, Timber Country and other speedy runners in recent years. But Silver Charm gave him a rare shot at racing glory by winning the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness and then heading to Belmont. For the occasion, Lewis was equal to the task.

He brought with him from California a plane of more than 100 friends and associates as his guests. He booked them into the Garden City Hotel. He bought out an entire limousine service to transport them in style to the race track. And he supplied tickets to a Broadway show, “Victor/Victoria,” the night before the race.

But just when he might have heard his guests singing his praises, Lewis came down with something like the flu and was forced to stay in his hotel room for a few nights after arriving in New York.

And where was he Saturday afternoon when they ran the main event? That’s right, sick or not, win or lose, he was at Belmont Park with everybody else.

Lukas can relax

The Lewis’ own several dozen other racehorses, most of which reside in trainer D. Wayne Lukas’ barn.

Bob Lewis was asked Saturday morning if he had any plans to send more horses to Silver Charm’s trainer, Bob Baffert, who handles only a handful of the Lewis herd.

“We’ve never had any discussions of that sort,” Lewis said. “I have 37 horses with Wayne, and I anticipate an exciting second half of the year. We have a lot of new 2-year-olds coming up.”

Baffert still joking

Even in defeat, Baffert kept his sense of humor.

“Now I know why Chris took off my horse,” Baffert said. “He wanted to win the Belmont.”

Baffert was referring to Chris McCarron, who rode Silver Charm earlier this year but chose to go with Hello after the San Felipe.

On Saturday, McCarron rode Touch Gold.

Crowd pleaser

Three years ago, the Belmont Stakes drew a record-low crowd of 37,171 to watch Tabasco Cat beat Go For Gin.

But when there’s a Triple Crown on the line, the fans do show up.

On Saturday, 70,682 came out to watch Silver Charm’s failed bid to become the 12th Triple Crown winner - the third largest in Belmont Stakes history.

The record is 82,694, set in 1971, when Canonero II failed in his Triple Crown chance.

Record handle

The Belmont Stakes day handle of $46,719,629.72 set a New York state record.

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