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Belmont Stakes Notebook

Staying focused on the brink of the Triple Crown

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Posted: Wednesday June 02, 1999 12:41 PM

Secretariat won the Belmont by 31 lengths over Twice A Prince to win the Triple Crown in 1973. AP

NEW YORK (AP) -- For the past two years, trainer Bob Baffert was on the brink of a Triple Crown, first with Silver Charm in 1997 and then with Real Quiet in 1998.

Both times, his horse came up just short.

So he can relate to what trainer D. Wayne Lukas might be experiencing as the Hall of Fame trainer gets Charismatic ready for his run at the Triple Crown in Saturday's Belmont Stakes.

"This is what helps me and Lukas," Baffert said. "We've both got a lot of horses in training. If we had only one horse, the one we're running in the Belmont, we'd be going nuts.

"Right now, you just hope to keep him healthy and sound and don't do too much with him and hope he shows up. The last thing you want is when they turn for home and you're running third or fourth, and then you really feel horrible."

Field day

The biggest field in the 11 Belmonts in which the Triple Crown was won was eight. It happened twice, in 1948 (Citation) and 1977 (Seattle Slew).

A field of 12 was expected to be entered today for Saturday's Belmont, where Charismatic will attempt to become the 12th Triple Crown winner.

Wayne's view

Is D. Wayne Lukas feeling the Triple Crown pressure?

On Monday at Churchill Downs, the trainer of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Charismatic became testy when asked what he thought the reaction would be if he was the one running a filly against a Bob Baffert-trained horse going for the Triple Crown.

"You guys would have a field day," Lukas told several reporters. "What are you talking about? The cockroaches (reporters) would come right out of the woodwork.

"How about me running Excellent Meeting in the Preakness and having her eased? Wouldn't that have been a field day? I wouldn't have been able to even show up here for two weeks. C'mon, you kidding? All I'd have to do is do that very same thing and they'd have said, 'Well, he couldn't stand to be out of the Preakness, and he ran the filly and now she's ruined.' I'd have been 'The Butcher.'"

In the past, Lukas has been criticized for supposedly running unsound horses.

Baffert ran the filly Excellent Meeting in the Derby and Preakness, and will saddle the filly Silverbulletday in Saturday's Belmont Stakes.

Winning Triple Crown margins

Here's the rundown:

Sir Barton, by 5 lengths over Sweep On (1919); Gallant Fox, by 3 lengths over Whichone (1930); Omaha, by 11/2 lengths over Firethorn (1935); War Admiral, by 3 lengths over Sceneshifter (1937); Whirlaway, by 2 1/2 lengths over Robert Morris (1941); Count Fleet, by 25 lengths over Fairy Manhurst (1943); Assault, by 3 lengths over Natchez (1946); Citation, by 8 lengths over Better Self (1948); Secretariat, by 31 lengths over Twice A Prince (1973); Seattle Slew, by 4 lengths over Run Dusty Run (1977); and Affirmed, by a head over Alydar (1978).

Outsiders

Nine horses bred outside the United States have won the Belmont, the most recent being Canadian-bred Victory Gallop last year.

 

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