Stevens Should Mount Last Week And Frame It

What a week for Gary Stevens.

On Wednesday, he became one of the youngest riders elected to racing’s Hall of Fame. On Saturday, he underlined the turf writers’ vote by riding Silver Charm to a head victory over Captain Bodgit in the Kentucky Derby.

Stevens, 34, joined Isaac Murphy, Earl Sande and Angel Cordero Jr. as three-time Derby winners. Eddie Arcaro and Bill Hartack won five apiece and Bill Shoemaker won four.

“When I galloped back to the winner’s circle, it was just an unbelievable feeling,” Stevens said. “It gets better every time. This tops off an incredible week.”

It was quite a different Derby scene two years ago. When he rode Thunder Gulch to a 2-1/4-length victory over Tejano Run, Stevens stood in the irons and pointed his whip to the sky to salute his good friend, Longacres publicist Mark Kaufman, who had died of a heart attack a few days earlier.

Stevens, riding Silver Charm for trainer Bob Baffert, also won for D. Wayne Lukas with the filly Winning Colors in 1988 and Thunder Gulch.

“For me to experience this a second and third time, it gets sweeter and sweeter,” Stevens said.

Favorite loses again

The Derby jinx lives, but just barely.

Captain Bodgit went off the betting favorite in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby but finished second by a head to Silver Charm, making it 18 years in a row since the first choice came out on top.

“At the eighth pole, I thought we were the winner,” Alex Solis, Captain Bodgit’s jockey, said. “I thought the winner was struggling a little bit, but when that horse saw me he shifted into another gear.”

No excuse for Pulpit

No horse since Apollo in 1882 has ever won the Kentucky Derby without racing as a 2-year-old. Pulpit tried his best, but finished fourth in Saturday’s Run for the Roses.

“He set up perfect for the race,” trainer Frank Brothers said. “We just got outrun today.”

The local favorite owned by Claiborne Farm went off as the 6-1 choice in the 13-horse field.

Pulpit, ridden by Shane Sellers, held the lead for a time along the backstretch, but faltered in the last eighth of a mile.

“I thought I had it won on the backside,” Sellers said. “Then the ground just broke away from him the way the Churchill track will do. Not that that’s an excuse. I’m very proud of my horse. He was professional early in the race. He handled the post parade very well. It just wasn’t our day.”

Baffert pays his dues

Bob Baffert finally got a chance to pay off an old debt when he won the Kentucky Derby.

It was to the tune of $1 million.

“A man named Mike Pegram got me into thoroughbred racing,” said Baffert, a former quarterhorse trainer. “I told him I’d need a bankroll, at least $300,000. I thought that would blow him away. He asked me, ‘How about $1 million?’ I said ‘I’m your man.”’

That was in 1989, and Baffert said he made payment in full in the winner’s circle on national television.

“I asked him how I was ever going to repay him, and he said, ‘If you ever win the Kentucky Derby, mention my name,”’ Baffert said.

Baffert still has horses for Pegram - he had one in an earlier race Saturday - but the Derby winner is owned by Robert and Beverly Lewis.

“We’ll be into the middle of next year before we come off this high,” said Lewis, a Southern California beer distributor.

Baffert purchased Silver Charm for the Lewises for $85,000 as a 2-year-old.

“I can find the runners,” Baffert said. “Finding the people to put up the money is the hard part. I’ve made my whole career buying horses like this.”

Rookie calls it right

Kurt Becker may have been the most nervous person at Churchill Downs as he called his first Kentucky Derby.

Becker, the 28-year-old rookie track announcer, thought he had the right call when he said Silver Charm crossed the finish line first. He hoped he was right. He really, really hoped he was right.

“That’s what I’m sweating out,” he said as the photo was examined, hopping from one foot to the other.

Moments later, the number 6 went up on the board. “Bingo!” Becker proclaimed.

Becker, who used to announce harness racing and stock car racing, suggested his grade for his first Derby should be an S.

“I guess that’s what I’d give myself the first time out - survival.”

A different color

Silver Charm became only the sixth Florida-bred and only the sixth gray or roan-colored horse to win.

He broke from the No. 5 post position, the 10th horse to win from that slot. The field of 13 starters was the smallest since a similar number went to the post in 1985.

Betting slows

Attendance was 141,981, the fourth-largest crowd in Churchill Downs history, down slightly from last year’s total of 142,668.

Wagering on the race totaled $7,278,730, well below the race record of $9,377,730 set last year.