BEAST OF BURDEN; SILVER CHARM CARRIES HOPE FOR SPORT'S FUTURE.

Byline: Kevin Modesti Daily News Staff Writer

With an NYPD squad car leading the way, its red roof lights flashing, and a pack of minicams waiting, a van carrying Triple Crown hopeful Silver Charm pulled into the Belmont Park stables Wednesday morning.

``They were stopping traffic!'' trainer Bob Baffert said after the drive from Kennedy Airport to the track, which followed a flight from Louisville, Ky., to New York.

This is how the Second Coming will be treated if it takes the form of a dark-gray thoroughbred colt.

Of course, Silver Charm is not the Second Coming. Actually, he is the Third, Fourth, Fifth or Sixth, depending on when you lost count of horse racing's would-be saviors.

Silver Charm, who will be the first Triple Crown winner since 1978 if he captures the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, is merely the latest horse expected to revive public interest in racing after more than a decade of attendance declines.

You hear the hopeful tone in the voice of Bob Lewis, who, with his wife Beverly, owns Silver Charm.

``I think the first two legs of the Triple Crown, and the photo finishes won by Silver Charm, have been a great stimulant for racing and should increase the public's enthusiasm for this wonderful sport,'' Lewis said.

You hear the wishfulness in the voice of Mark Stephens, Santa Anita's vice president for marketing, when he describes the broader meaning of a Triple Crown bid.

``Publicity gives racing legitimacy. Racing can't work in the mainstream if it's just gambling,'' Stephens said. ``Racing needs these stories.''

But how much can a new equine star really help?

Cigar's record-tying, 16-race winning streak in '95-96 earned the sport its best publicity in years, but if it won the racetracks many new fans, that isn't readily apparent in the turnstile counts.

Besides, Cigar is only the most successful of a string of horses whose early promise was hyped by racing publicists and reporters, especially those from the Daily Racing Form.

Before Cigar there was Holy Bull, who won five straight stakes at age 3 but suffered a career-ending injury just weeks before a much-anticipated trip west for the Santa Anita Handicap.

Since Cigar - who ran his last race in October - there have been Skip Away (the handicap horse promoted as Cigar's heir until he lost his first three races of '97), Gentlemen (whose five-race winning streak ended in the Big 'Cap) and Pulpit (who hasn't run since finishing fourth in the Kentucky Derby.)

Can Silver Charm do any better?

He's got charisma, to be sure.

``His charm comes from kind of a bulldog style of running, a refusal to get beat,'' said Rick Baedeker, Hollywood Park's VP for marketing.

``He's got humble beginnings and he took on the bluebloods,'' said Bob Baffert, Silver Charm's trainer. ``He's the average guy who made it to the top. America likes that.

``My older boys, they thought racing was boring until this horse came along. Now they want to know if Silver Charm has his own trading card. When you know you're getting to your own children, you've got to think you're getting to other children.''

Silver Charm's connections have charisma, too: popular jockey Gary Stevens, the courtly Lewises, and the quotable Baffert, who is scheduled for an appearance with David Letterman this week and one with Jay Leno on Monday - if Silver Charm wins.

In a recent issue, Entertainment Weekly magazine's list of ``What the Country is Talking About'' had Silver Charm at No. 12, below the Sylvester Stallone wedding but above the Barbra Streisand-James Brolin engagement.

Has racing found the horse of its dreams?

``He's probably the best thing that's happened to racing in a long time,'' said Steve Cauthen, who rode Affirmed to the last Triple Crown 19 years ago and now is a racetrack executive. ``I think it's already had its effect and the horse hasn't won the Triple Crown yet. The fact he has a chance is why we're talking now. The last seven years (since Sunday Silence's failed bid in '89), nobody has called me around Belmont time.''

Baedeker thinks the Triple Crown excitement is a tonic for the sport.

``I do sense that our existing fans are anxious to have a return to the good old days, and putting Silver Charm on a pedestal helps us do that,'' he said.

Woody Stephens, who trained every Belmont Stakes winner from '82 to '86, said the Triple Crown is the sport's last remaining big draw.

``The game has changed so much. We don't get the crowds,'' he said. ``People go to the OTB or stay home and watch on cable. But then they run the Kentucky Derby and there's (140,000) people at the track.''

But how many are there the next day? The long-term impact of a Triple Crown is unclear.

In their seasons following the Triple Crown sweeps by Secretariat ('73), Seattle Slew ('77) and Affirmed ('78), Santa Anita posted two modest attendance increases and one decline, Hollywood Park had three declines, and only Del Mar showed three increases.

Of course other factors were at work too. And other factors - not the lack of a superhorse - have contributed to racing's recent slump.

``People are looking for a magic bullet and it probably doesn't exist,'' said Mark Stephens, the Santa Anita exec.

What racing probably needs, more than a Silver Charm victory Saturday, is less competition from casinos and sports gambling, and more public acceptance of horseplaying as a game of skill.

``Does a Triple Crown winner solve the fundamental problems the game faces right now? No,'' Mark Stephens said. But he noted that Silver Charm will draw fans to the track on the day he runs.

``You've got to believe that if we who run racetracks provide a good product and give people a good time on that day, they'll come back,'' he said.

And Baedeker said, despite the flat attendance figures, he thinks the novice fans who typically get Hollywood Park's group-sales pitches have been more receptive because of the goodwill Cigar generated.

He thinks Silver Charm could help even more.

``It can't do anything but help,'' Baedeker said. ``I really think our fans are looking for a reason to get excited about racing again. If this star power coincides with good racing and full fields, it will help.

``The best it can do for us is set the stage for us to rebound.''

BELMONT ATTENDANCE

1996 40,797

1995 37,171

1994 42,695

1993 45,037

1992 50,204

1991 51,766

1990 50,123

1989 64,959-x

1988 56,223

1987 64,772-x

1986 42,555

1985 43,446

1984 46,430

1983 56,677

1982 46,050

1981 61,200-x

1980 65,804

1979 59,987-x

1978 65,417-xy

1977 71,026-xy

x-denotes Triple Crown was at stake.

y-denotes Triple Crown winner.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, Box

Photo: (1--color) Groom Rudy Silva leads Belmont Stakes favorite Silver Charm to his barn.

(2) Bob Baffert, trainer of Silver Charm, was incredulous at the hoopla and attention that greeted his horse's arrival at Belmont Race Track.

Associated Press

Box: BELMONT ATTENDANCE (see text)