By ED GOLDEN

On flat-out merit, Gary Stevens should have won his first Eclipse Award as best jockey last year. If the vote were taken today, he’d be a hands-down winner for 1998.

With less than four months in the books, the 35-year-old Hall of Fame jockey has won the Santa Anita Derby and the $4 million Dubai World Cup. He is the nation’s leader in purse earnings with nearly $7 million, and to put that in perspective, Eddie Arcaro’s mounts won a total of $30 million during his career of two decades.

"It’s just been a combination of my being in a good zone and riding good horses," said Stevens, who will ride probable Kentucky Derby favorite Indian Charlie on May 2.

"When things are going well, your confidence is up. I’m riding some very good horses right now and I’ve got a lot of good support behind me. I’m really enjoying everything."

Stevens won the Dubai World Cup on Silver Charm by a desperate nose, and in retrospect, is happy he did, and not only for the huge payday of $2.4 million to the winner.

"There was a lot of late-felt pressure after the event was over," Stevens said. "I didn’t realize how much pressure was really on us. To have a Kentucky Derby winner travel outside the United States, you obviously want to make a good showing. After the fact, it kind of felt like we had the whole of the United States resting on our shoulders. Had we gotten beat, it may have tarnished our Kentucky Derby a bit. So it was nice to see our champion 3-year-old of last year go over and compete with the best in the world and get the job done."

Gary’s decision to ride Indian Charlie over Halory Hunter in the Derby didn’t necessarily come down to "Charlie" being the superior horse, or Stevens’ strong bond with trainer Bob Baffert, who trains Silver Charm.

"Again, it was a combination in my mind of thinking Indian Charlie’s the better horse, and my relationship with Baffert," Stevens said. "It’s very difficult for me to separate the two colts. Any handicappers out there shouldn’t read anything into the decision. I think Halory Hunter’s victory in the Blue Grass Stakes speaks for itself. He’s a legitimate contender and he has an excellent shot of winning the Kentucky Derby. Yet, I’m very comfortable and confident about the horse that I’m on.

"I didn’t expect any kind of dilemma at all. I felt even if Halory Hunter would win, he wouldn’t sway my mind at all. But he did have me thinking after the race. He was just as impressive to me as Indian Charlie was in the Santa Anita Derby, and I really didn’t expect that.

"So, yeah, anytime you have to give up a horse of that caliber, it’s tough. It’s more or less the same thing as the choice between Silver Charm and Gentlemen. The only difference was I had never ridden Halory Hunter, and I’d ridden Indian Charlie in three of his outs this year and had said since February that he was more than likely going to be my Derby mount."

As far as a horse to beat, Stevens isn’t looking past his own mount. "I’ve found that the best policy is just to worry about my own horse and not get caught up in the circus of the media, reading everything and paying much heed to it," he said. "My duties at hand right now are worrying about my own horse and the strategies we’ll employ to get the job done."

BOLDINI -- Irish-bred colt tons the best when rallying wide on turf to break maiden in U.S. debut. Should go on to bigger and better things for Ron McAnally.

MONEY IN THE SHEET -- Daughter of Smokester couldn’t have been more convincing in winning debut by eight lengths. Should have quite a future.

THE HOMESTRETCH: Gary Stevens’ older brother, Scott, is a leading jockey on the Arizona circuit, and their father, Ron, is a successful trainer in Arizona and the northwest. Gary took advantage of an extended trip to Dubai to enjoy some quality time with his dad. "My father traveled to Dubai with me and it was very, very special for me," Gary said. "Even though I’ve been around my father a lot over the years, I hadn’t gotten to spend much time with him. So it was nice to spend that one-on-one time for five days, which we did. We talked about a lot of things. If your personal life isn’t going well, or you’re not happy with it, then it reflects on everything else you do." . . . Thanks to restoring its simulcasts to Nevada casinos, Santa Anita ended its 86-day season Monday with the second-best overall handle since its record $1,019,847,734 in 1995-96. "Nevada was very strong," said track President Cliff Goodrich. "Of course, we were going against nothing (there was no simulcasts from Santa Anita to Nevada last meet due to a dispute between the two entities). We’re up 30 percent overall out of state, and even without Nevada, we were up double digits overall out of state. Our out-of-state signal was very strong, albeit most of it was driven by out-of-state figures. Our track superintendent, Steve Wood, said this was the fifth-rainiest year in Los Angeles history, going back 120 years. But we’re still up in average daily on-track attendance about one percent, but down about one percent in daily on-track handle. That’s attributable to new fans, who don’t bet a lot, and to the rain, which cut the size of the fields, which in turn hurt betting. Southern California off-track sites were down about seven percent, which continues to be a concern for the entire industry. We haven’t found a way to replace fans in satellite locations who are drifting away, for one reason or another." On the future of the Arcadia track: "We’re always trying to improve, and that’s what we’ll be meeting on all summer. We’ve got some things in mind that are not finalized yet, but our fans will appreciate them. We’re looking to improve our entire racing program. We’ll review marketing strategy to see how we can reach out to more people. Of course, we have the NTRA as an upside, so we feel pretty good about the future." Goodrich said there are no plans to move the date of the star-crossed Santa Anita Handicap from early March. "We’d face a lot of competition from other major handicap races," Goodrich said. "Keep in mind, three of the last four years we had Holy Bull, Cigar and Silver Charm ready to come to the Big ‘Cap, and they all got hurt, so I’m not sure the date hurts us that much."