STEVENS GIVEN MORE TIME TO MAKE BIG 'CAP CHOICE.Byline: Daily News Instead of announcing his choice of a Santa Anita Handicap The Santa Anita Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in the late winter at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is a Grade I race for horses three years old and up, and is considered the most important race for older horses in North America during mount Sunday as expected, Gary Stevens
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 and Gentlemen have given him more time to decide. Stevens, a Hall of Fame jockey, is the regular rider of both favorites for the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap on March 7. Speaking with reporters at the track, Stevens acknowledged a ``possibility'' that he won't have to choose, an allusion to speculation that Gentlemen would skip the race to concentrate on the $4 million Dubai World Cup The Dubai World Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held annually since 1996 at the Nad Al Sheba Racecourse in the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The race is operated through the Emirates Horse Racing Authority (EHRA) whose Chairman is Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on March 28. But Gentlemen trainer Richard Mandella Richard Mandella (born November 5, 1950 in Beaumont, California) is a Thoroughbred horse trainer and a member of the Racing Hall of Fame. Mandella's father, a blacksmith, introduced him to horses at an early age and while still in high school he began breaking and training has told Santa Anita publicists the 6-year-old will run in the Big 'Cap. ``I hope that (a Gentlemen-Silver Charm duel) does happen. I think it will happen,'' Stevens said. ``I want to see racing flourish. I think if we can get these two horses and possibly get Skip Away out here it would be the greatest day of racing we've seen in a long, long time. It wouldn't be the best thing for me, but it would be the best thing for racing.'' Some horsemen were surprised that Stevens intended to announce a decision so soon. Once he makes a choice, he runs the risk that his horse will get injured or sick, leaving Stevens out of luck for the Big 'Cap, because handlers of the other horse will have already chosen a new rider. -- Kevin Modesti |
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