By ED GOLDEN

After days of specious speculation on where Silver Charm and Gentlemen would surface next, trainers Bob Baffert and Richard Mandella Sunday morning gave two thumbs up to the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap on March 7.

"We’re definite for the Big ‘Cap," Baffert said from his car phone. The only remaining major piece of the puzzle will be put in place by Gary Stevens, who must officially declare whether he rides Silver Charm or Gentlemen. Baffert still didn’t have any public word from the Hall of Fame rider. But not to worry. "I don’t even think about the jockey," Baffert said. "The horse is the main concern, buddy, remember that. The rider issue is not an issue."

Mandella, meanwhile, was waiting for a break in the rain to give Gentlemen an important workout.

"Not today, maybe tomorrow," said Mandella on an El Nino-driven Sunday morning from his Hollywood Park headquarters. He also had no announcement on a rider.

"I haven’t heard anything yet," said Mandella, who had two races in mind for Gentlemen beyond the Santa Anita Handicap, assuming all was well after that race. "We’d look at either the Oaklawn Handicap or Dubai (March 28). But first we’ve got to get to the Handicap and make sure we run good and come out good. Then we can figure out if we can go to one of the others. The first thing is the Handicap."

Santa Anita couldn’t pull it off, but now Oaklawn Park president Charles Cella has offered "America’s Million Dollar Dare," a special $1 million winner’s award, if Gentlemen, Silver Charm and Skip Away all start in the April 4 Oaklawn Handicap. The purse would remain $750,000-guaranteed, with the winner assured a $1 million prize.

Baffert, like Mandella, put any races beyond the Big ‘Cap on hold, although he thought the Oaklawn pitch was simply a come-on.

"It’s a bogus bonus," Baffert said. "It should be (if) two-out-of-three (run)." Told Skip Away’s trainer, Sonny Hine, has said he would run if Silver Charm and Gentlemen run, Baffert, as usual, spoke in blue-collar truth: "Hine’s full of bleep. Anybody would say that, but it should be two-out-of-three because chances of getting two out of three are better than three out of three. What if Gentlemen decides to go to Dubai?

"The bonus is great for racing, but Oaklawn is a strange track and horses run weird on it. When it rains there, it’s sort of a hard slop and would help a horse like Skip Away. It becomes a speed track. I went there last year with Isitingood and he had hell with it. He ran second, but he got beat a block by Atticus. Apparently, Charles Cella has not heard the song from Meatloaf: ‘Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad.’"

BAJA GOLD -- Rushed into contention after tardy start and finished a game third with $32,000 sprinters. Clean break should do it.

GAME PLOY -- Here’s a rarity -- a Polish-bred, who should have won U.S. debut but eased himself up in deep stretch. Next time, but don’t expect 16-1.

PACIFICBOUNTY -- Quality colt is ready for bigger and better things after strong second in first start in 10 months.

PINFLORON -- Eventful trip has versatile stakes performer ready for best.

THE HOMESTRETCH:Randy Bradshaw is not overwhelmed by Prosperous Bid, the half-brother to Best Pal who is unbeaten in two starts. "I wasn’t near as impressed with his second race as his first," said the trainer of Artax, who is scheduled to meet Prosperous Bid in the San Felipe Stakes on March 14. "The track was a little dead, which may have been partly responsible, but the horse he beat by two lengths (Crafty Friend), we beat by 10 lengths. They didn’t beat up on Prosperous Bid, but from the 16th pole to the wire, Corey Nakatani threw about four or five ducks at him and he wasn’t drawing off. I like our chances." The San Felipe could come up light, but Sunday’s one-mile San Rafael Stakes is expected to draw Late Edition, Mantles Star, Magical, Mr. Fortune, Orville N Wilbur’s, Sea of Secrets and Souvenir Copy . . . With the intra-organizational name-calling, finger-pointing and back-stabbing at a single facility between only two entities, Santa Anita management and the purse committee of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, good luck to the NTRA in its effort to unify a multitude of tracks nationally for the common good. Oh, baby, oh! . . . Santa Anita Enterprises, Inc., a subsidiary of the Santa Anita Companies, Inc., and an affiliate of the Meditrust Companies, has filed plans with the city of Arcadia for a 500,510-square foot, on-site entertainment and commercial center and a 90,000-square foot medical office building. The complex, valued in excess of $60 million, is planned to include a 30-screen movie theater, large-format and general retail stories and restaurants. No tenants have been announced . . . Laffit Pincay Jr. still is on the fence about moving his tack to Northern California at the end of this meet. "I haven’t made up my mind yet," said the 51-year-old Hall of Fame rider, who had 11 wins halfway through the meet in his pursuit of Bill Shoemaker’s record 8,833 . . . Add Golden winners: A Magicman, $5.80, Treasured Reality (by 14 lengths), $20.40 . . . When a 4-year-old gelding named Denman won at Bay Meadows, Santa Anita track commentator Trevor Denman said he had no clue who the horse was named for. "It was bred by Golden Eagle Farm," Denman pointed out, "but I don’t know if it was named for me. It could have been named for someone on their farm, for all I know, but I love it." . . . Baffert "was bleeped" Saturday when he lost one of his Kentucky Derby hopefuls, Pleasant Drive, who suffered a condylar fracture of his right hind leg during a workout. The trainer says the colt will be out for several months. "That’s why you need numbers in this game," Baffert said. "We still have Real Quiet, Souvenir Copy and the mighty Indian Charlie. He could be the best one." . . . Baffert on Favorite Trick being named Horse of the Year: "In my heart, I think Silver Charm should have won. By the response of the people at the Eclipse Awards, it sounded like he was the most popular, but the voters forgot about him. Favorite Trick is very deserving, but Silver Charm got a bigger cheer than any of them. Most of the votes are carried by the turf writers, and a lot of them forget, or don’t know what’s going on. They go by the last race. It’s a case of what have you done for me lately?" . . . I should have put this in print even earlier, but it says here Favorite Trick won’t make the Kentucky Derby, which is too bad. He started too late and his trainer, Bill Mott, has no passion for the race. The only other horse to compete in the Run for the Roses as Horse of the Year was Secretariat.