GOLDEN GLIMPSES #65 GOLDEN GLIMPSES #65 BAFFERT HAS PLENTY TO CHEER ABOUT IN KENTUCKY DERBY
If Bob Baffert doesn't win the Kentucky Derby with Silver Charm, he'll be rootin' mighty hard for David Flores and Free House.
"I'm happy he gets to go to the Derby," Baffert said of Flores, who will be riding in his first Run for the Roses. "I had him on Silver Charm the first three times we ran last year, including the Del Mar Futurity," said Baffert, who came within a nose of winning the Derby last year with Cavonnier, ridden by Chris McCarron. "But after Silver Charm won the Del Mar Futurity, I got together with McCarron's agent, Scotty McClellan. Since we nearly won the Derby last year, I figured he owed me one, and the same team should get together and go back to Kentucky."
In addition to Silver Charm, McCarron was also the regular rider of another Derby candidate, Hello, trained by Ron McAnally. McClellan opted to wait as long as possible before making a decision on which colt to ride, when suddenly, it was reported that Baffert made the decision for him. But now Baffert says that's not the way it happened.
"Believe me, they were going to take off my horse, no matter what you heard. Don't listen to that B.S. When they took off Silver Charm for the Santa Anita Derby, I felt bad, because I told them I would have left David on the horse, had I known that. Forget that they've been riding for McAnally for 17 years. In their minds, they felt Hello was a better horse."
Hello broke through the gate before both the San Rafael Stakes and the Santa Anita Derby, finishing third by two lengths both times. Silver Charm, ridden by Gary Stevens for the first time, missed by a head to Free House in the Santa Anita Derby. Kent Desormeaux rode Free House, because Flores was in Arkansas where he finished second on Baffert's Isitingood in the Oaklawn Handicap.
Baffert holds no malice for the decision made by McClellan and McCarron.
"They had a very good reason to take off my horse," he said, "because Chris said every time he worked him, the horse came back blowin' real hard. And they actually didn't think he'd go that far (1 1/8 miles). I told them, stick with my horse, because I know he's good. But you can't tell them every private thing you know about your horse, and convince them to ride.
"McCarron wants to train some day. I can't be tellin' him all my secrets. I made up their minds for them because McCarron wanted to work my horse a couple of times and then decide (on which horse to ride). But I wanted somebody to get to know my horse. Gary knows the horse now. He knows what he can do with him. The harder you train this horse, the more you buckle down on him, the better.
"But David rates the Derby shot," added Baffert, well on his way to his second straight Santa Anita training title. "He deserves it because he would have been on Silver Charm. I just thought I'd go back to McCarron because we came so close last year."
Jim Pegram, who books mounts for Flores, can't believe his turn of good fortune.
"If you think we were unlucky enough to lose the mount on Silver Charm," said Pegram, whose brother, Mike, is one of Baffert's major clients. "we were even luckier to get back on Free House."
THE HOMESTRETCH: Despite zero money generated from Nevada this meet due to the simulcast deadlock, resulting in a loss of more than $43 million in handle from last year, Santa Anita was down only 2.2 percent in total handle through 75 days of its 86-day meet. "Last year, we averaged $568,317 a day from Nevada," said vice president of marketing and PR Mark Stephens. "That was based on their 3.5 percent fee, which breaks out four ways: 8 percent to the state; 3 percent to the breeders; and 44.5 each to the track and to the purses. If you multiply $568,317 by 3.5, the total to California is $19,891. The purse money is 44.5 percent of that, or $8,852 a day. Over 86 days, that's $761,272 in purses the track missed out on, assuming our business from Nevada would have stayed the same. Actually, our Nevada business had been growing the last few years. Our meet started very slow, with a ton of rain in December and January. It was pretty good after that, and with the Nevada money, we probably would have had a purse increase. You can't guarantee that, of course, and we might end up being a little underpaid." Stephens cited Santa Anita Derby Day, the celebration of Laffit Pincay Jr.'s 50th birthday, and the $100,000 Mystery Mutuel Ticket promotion on March 23 as meet highlights for on-track attendance, in addition to two $500,000 Pick Six carryover days. Through 75 days, total handle was $762,674,394, compared to last year's $790,023,544. Adding in $43,192,116 that was handled from Nevada last year, this meet's figure would have been $805,866,510, an increase of $15,842,966. On-track handle was off 4.1 percent, with inter track down 5.2 percent. Other 75-day figures showed on-track attendance off 0.4 percent, inter track off 6.4, and overall down 3.4. Settlement of the simulcast impasse during Hollywood Park's meet seems unlikely, since it has no contract with the Nevada Pari-Mutuel Association. Santa Anita and Del Mar do, or at least they thought so until the Thoroughbred Owners of California intervened . . . Most impressive winner of the weekend's Kentucky Derby prep races was Captain Bodgit, whipping the most accomplished field on a surface he didn't necessarily fancy. Pulpit beat up on horses that could be running for a claiming tag before the year's out, if it weren't for their breeding . . . Trevor Denman will be off to his Minnesota farm for R&R after the Santa Anita meet. Luke Kruytbosch, "The Voice of Hollywood Park," returns to Inglewood . . . In the Feb. 18-22 editions of Gaming Today, we said of Golden Pick Pareja: "Done everything right for cagey Cotton Tinsley since coming back from year's layoff. Victories should continue to mount." The Cal-bred filly has now won four straight, her latest triumph worth $6.60. Add Golden winners: Kravis ($9.20).
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