Second Time’s Derby Charm

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — As Silver Charm and Captain Bodgit barreled toward the wire, the hunted trying to hold on and the hunter surging with every muscle in his big frame, trainer Bob Baffert watched and wondered whether he would be snuffed out in the final jump again.

“I thought, ‘No, no, don’t do this to me again,’ ” Baffert said. “I said, ‘Please, Lord, not again.’ ”

A year ago, Baffert made his Kentucky Derby debut by saddling Cavonnier for a heartbreaking defeat when Grindstone’s nose was a tad longer at Churchill Downs. But Saturday, the gods smiled on Baffert. His Silver Charm defeated Captain Bodgit by a head in the 123rd Derby, while a crowd announced as 141,981 watched on a dank, windy day.

Baffert could hardly bear watching from his box seat. “My gut was hurting so hard when they hit the wire,” he said.

This was billed as a corker of a Derby, with more than half the runners in the 13-horse field having a legitimate chance of winning, and it went that way. Captain Bodgit, the Florida Derby and Wood Memorial winner, ran a winning race, but fell just short of overhauling Silver Charm and jockey Gary Stevens. Free House, who defeated Silver Charm the last two times in Southern California, the most recent in the Santa Anita Derby, led going into the stretch and wound up third, 3 1/2 lengths behind Captain Bodgit.

After those three came Pulpit, Crypto Star, Phantom On Tour, Jack Flash, Hello, Concerto, Celtic Warrior, Crimson Classic, Shammy Davis and the Wayne Lukas-trained Deeds Not Words.

Lukas has finished last in the Derby before, this time coming with a horse he had dropped into the race at the 11th hour last week. Lukas’ bid to win an unprecedented third consecutive Derby was dashed by a 32-1 shot who was defeated by 25 lengths.

Pulpit, who led the race for almost a mile, might have lasted, jockey Shane Sellers said, but the ground on the wet-fast track started breaking out from under him in the last quarter of a mile.

Captain Bodgit went off the 3-1 favorite, which means that the Derby’s jinx goes on. Not since 1979 and Spectacular Bid has a favorite won this race.

Silver Charm was the second choice and paid $10 to win, running 1 1/4 miles in 2:02 2/5. He earned $700,000 of the $1-million purse for Bob and Beverly Lewis. The Newport Beach couple became the owners of the Silver Buck-Bonnie’s Poker colt after Baffert called in April a year ago to offer them Silver Charm, whom he had bought privately for $85,000 on the basis of seeing a videotaped workout.

“The first time I saw the colt,” Bob Lewis said, “I thought he was rather tall and gangly. He just didn’t . . . well, there was a sparkle about him, and he had a magnificent eye and a great head. But we had a Hall of Fame jockey and a horse in the capable hands of Bob Baffert, and that’s a winning team for you. I mean this when I say that I’m going to put this Derby win on my headstone. And if I have to come back and check it, I will.”

Stevens, whose election into the Hall of Fame was announced Wednesday, won his third Derby, the first two coming with Lukas-trained horses, Winning Colors in 1988 and Thunder Gulch in 1995. Silver Charm, the sixth gray to win the Derby and the first since Winning Colors, won three of five races with David Flores and Chris McCarron before Stevens picked up the assignment for the second-place finish, a head behind Free House, in the Santa Anita Derby.

Stevens rode a heady race, his biggest decision coming when the field made a crowded run into the first turn.

“That was the most critical point,” Stevens said. “Horses from the extreme outside dropped over, and I had a horse right next to me, but fortunately I was able to get up and save my position. When Chris [McCarron] had ridden the horse in the San Felipe [Stakes], he took hold in a spot like that and Silver Charm turned off his engines. I thought that if I took back [Saturday], I’d wind up with no position at all.”

Down the backstretch, Pulpit and Free House were the leaders, with Concerto third and Silver Charm next. The fractions were a modest :23 2/5 and :47 2/5 for the first half-mile.

When Silver Charm made the lead, with about an eighth of a mile to run, Stevens said that his ears popped up. Captain Bodgit, under Alex Solis, saved ground on the inside early and then launched his drive from the outside. Both at the eighth and sixteenth poles, Solis thought he was on the winner.

“When we got close, Silver Charm kicked in again,” Solis said. “Both horses were giving their all at the end. But it just wasn’t meant to be. My horse is still a champ in my heart.”

Inside the sixteenth pole, Silver Charm and Captain Bodgit almost brushed, but there was no contact. They’ll likely hook up again in the middle Triple Crown race, the Preakness, at Pimlico on May 17.

“I told somebody before the race that I thought this horse could win the Triple Crown,” Baffert said. “The way he worked here was the sign of a very good horse. But Captain Bodgit made him run, and a lot can happen when you get to the next town.”

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POST POSITIONS FOR 123RD DERBY

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PP HORSE JOCKEY TRAINER ODDS 1. Crypto Star Pat Day Wayne Catalano 10-1 2. Phantom On Tour Jerry Bailey Lynn Whiting 12-1 3. Concerto Carlos Marquez John Tammaro III 8-1 4. Captain Bodgit Alex Solis Gary Capuano 5-2 5. Silver Charm Gary Stevens Bob Baffert 5-1 6. Celtic Warrior Francisco Torres Danny Hutt 50-1 7. Pulpit Shane Sellers Frank Brothers 2-1 8. Hello Mike Smith Ron McAnally 12-1 9. a-Jack Flash Craig Perret Nick Zito 30-1 10. a-Shammy Davis Willie Martinez Nick Zito 30-1 11. Deeds Not Words Corey Nakatani Wayne Lukas 50-1 12. Crimson Classic Robby Albarado Forrest Kaelin 50-1 13. Free House David Flores Paco Gonzalex 8-1

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