HOFMANS COULD SEE IT COMING.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Touch Gold didn't only steal the Belmont Stakes Belmont Stakes Oldest of the three U.S. horse races that constitute the Triple Crown. The Belmont originated in 1867 and is named after August Belmont (see Belmont family). The stakes is held in early June at Belmont Park, near Garden City, Long Island; the course is 1.5 mi (2,400 m). on Saturday. He stole the Preakness as well. Now that's a late rally. The Preakness had been over for three weeks and Silver Charm's gutsy victory had been etched in the Daily Racing Form The Daily Racing Form, LLC (DRF) is a broadsheet newspaper founded in 1894 in Chicago, Illinois by Frank Brunell. The paper publishes the past performances of race horses as a statistical service for bettors on horse racing in the United States. past-performance charts. Although some theorized that Silver Charm Silver Charm (born February 22 1994) is an American Champion Thoroughbred race horse. Trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Gary Stevens, Silver Charm won the 1997 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes before falling short of the Triple Crown by placing second in the Belmont didn't run the best race that day in Baltimore, that Touch Gold had displayed unmatched courage, they couldn't say for sure. Although some believed Touch Gold would have won the Preakness if he hadn't fallen on his nose coming out of the starting gate starting gate n. Sports 1. A series of stalls with interconnected doors that open simultaneously at the beginning of a race. 2. and then gotten shut off twice before rallying to finish fourth by just 1-1/2 lengths, they couldn't say for sure. Now they can say for sure. When Touch Gold swept around Free House and beat Silver Charm by three-quarters of a length at Belmont Park Noun 1. Belmont Park - a racetrack for thoroughbred racing in Elmont on Long Island; site of the Belmont Stakes Belmont Elmont - a town on Long Island in New York; site of Belmont Park on Saturday, he confirmed what his supporters had seen at Pimlico. Finally, they could say, ``I told you so.'' Even David Hofmans David Hofmans (born January 27, 1943, in Los Angeles, California) is an American trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses. Born and raised in Los Angeles, as a boy his father brought him to watch horse racing at area tracks. , the kind and courteous trainer of Touch Gold, was bragging a little bit afterwards. ``I think Silver Charm's a good horse, maybe even a great horse, but he didn't win the Triple Crown,'' Hofmans said, just warming up. ``But he's not disgraced today. ``He just ran into a better horse. I thought this horse was better in the Preakness, but I wasn't sure. But today he proved it. He's better than Silver Charm. And Silver Charm, he's a damned good horse.'' That he is. He also was a lucky horse in the Kentucky Derby Kentucky Derby One of the classic U.S. Thoroughbred horse races. It was established in 1875 and run annually on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs track in Louisville, Ky. With the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, it makes up U.S. racing's coveted Triple Crown. and the Preakness, each of which he won by a head. That's not a knock, just a fact of racing life. It's hard to get a perfect trip, to win a photo finish, race after race after race. The breaks tend to even out in this game. They evened out for Touch Gold and Silver Charm on Saturday. ``All he had to do was run the Preakness back,'' jockey Chris McCarron said of Touch Gold. ``If he didn't stumble at the start, he was going to win the Preakness and there would have been no horse going for the Triple Crown.'' The breaks evened out for McCarron too. He had been Silver Charm's rider early this season. But before the Santa Anita Derby The Santa Anita Derby is an American Grade 1 thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run each April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California and carries a purse of $750,000. , he jumped to Hello, a little 3-year-old trained by longtime McCarron patron Ron McAnally. Then McCarron was injured in the accident that claimed Inexcessivelygood's life at Turfway Park, and wound up missing the Kentucky Derby, watching as Stevens rode Silver Charm to victory. Ironically, Stevens had been riding Touch Gold, winning the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland by 8-1/2 lengths. ``I said he was a horse with a world of ability, it was just a question of seasoning,'' Stevens said Saturday. By the time Touch Gold joined the Triple Crown series for the Preakness, Stevens was otherwise engaged, shall we say. It was McCarron, therefore, who nearly flipped over Touch Gold's head at the start of that race. In a further irony, McCarron had once been in the role Stevens filled Saturday, rider of a would-be Triple Crown winner. That was in 1987, when Alysheba came to New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of with a shot at immortality but finished fourth to Bet Twice, joining Spectacular Bid ('79), Pleasant Colony ('81) and Sunday Silence ('89) in the near-miss column. McCarron was asked Saturday what Stevens must be feeling. ``How long does it take you to get over it?'' he said. ``I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. , because I haven't gotten over it yet.'' And how does McCarron feel, playing the spoiler spoiler: see airplane. 1. spoiler - A remark which reveals important plot elements from books or movies, thus denying the reader (of the article) the proper suspense when reading the book or watching the movie. 2. ? ``I'm certainly happy to have been the one to upset the apple cart,'' he said after riding his second Belmont winner, the first having been Danzig Connection in '86. Touch Gold, a Deputy Minister offspring owned by 50-50 partners Frank Stronach of Canada and Robert and Janice McNair's Stonerside Stable, was a handicapping puzzle all by himself this week. He had looked brilliant in the Lexington romp and the Preakness defeat, but he had improved so quickly he seemed a candidate to ``bounce.'' He had turned in a swift workout eight days before the Belmont, but that was his only official work since the Preakness because of a hoof hoof, horny epidermal casing at the end of the digits of an ungulate (hoofed) mammal. In the even-toed ungulates, such as swine, deer, and cattle, the hoof is cloven; in the odd-toed ungulates, such as the horse and the rhinoceros, it is solid. injury. You could make a case for him winning by five lengths. Or losing by five. The Touch Gold people acknowledged that they sneaked up on Silver Charm, that it would have been harder to look him in the eye and go by. Harder but - when you think you've got the best horse - not impossible. Said McCarron: ``I may have beaten him anyway.'' CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Touch Gold co-owners Frank Stronach, left, and Robert McNair hoist the Belmont Stakes trophy. Associated Press |
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