War Emblem Definitely Has His Charms

Silver Charm won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 1997 and Real Quiet took the first two legs of the Triple Crown in 1998. Their trainer, Bob Baffert, says his newly acquired Kentucky Derby winner, War Emblem, is “as good as a Real Quiet or a Silver Charm.”

“He’s as good as any horse I brought there,” continued Baffert, recalling all 11 of his previous starters in America’s most famous race. “But I’d like to have Point Given for the last two legs.”

Point Given, the trainer’s most highly touted Kentucky Derby candidate, failed to deliver on the first Saturday in May 2001. But after finishing fifth in the Kentucky Derby, Point Given won the Preakness and Belmont, and was voted North America’s horse of the year.

Going into the Derby, War Emblem didn’t appear to be in the class of Silver Charm, Real Quiet and Point Given.

And, despite the good game that Baffert has been talking since the Derby, the jury is still out going into Saturday’s Preakness at Pimlico.

Before the Derby, Silver Charm had won two graded stakes in Southern California and had run a close second in two others. Real Quiet had won the Grade I Hollywood Futurity and, like Silver Charm, had placed in the Grade II San Felipe and Grade I Santa Anita Derby. Point Given had won all three of those high-profile races plus the Grade III Kentucky Cup Juvenile and had been a strong runner-up in the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the Grade I Champagne.

As for War Emblem, his lone pre-Derby stakes victory in seven starts for his previous owner, Russell Reineman, had been a six-length runaway in the Grade III Illinois Derby at Sportsman’s Park, a race in which he had no competition for the lead. In his two earlier stakes ventures at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans, he had faded to sixth in the Grade III Risen Star and had fallen back to fifth in the ungraded Lecomte.

For Baffert and Prince Ahmed Salman of Saudi Arabia, seeing the Illinois Derby on TV at different locations was believing War Emblem could do what he did in the Kentucky Derby.

Four days after the Illinois Derby, Baffert and Richard Mulhall, racing manager for the prince’s Thoroughbred Corp., watched while Reineman’s trainer, Frank Springer, had War Emblem audition by working out at Keeneland.

Springer had given Baffert a rundown on War Emblem’s physical problems. But Baffert was undaunted and asked Mulhall to recommend to the prince that they make the $900,000 deal that gave Thoroughbred Corp. its 90% ownership of the colt and allowed Reineman to retain 10%.

“This horse had just won that big race in Illinois and was full of himself,” Baffert said. “If the prince had passed on the horse I would have bought him for somebody else. This is a very good horse.

“I bought this horse from experience. They all have problems, like any athlete. I was buying a horse that was 20-1 [in the Kentucky Derby]; I wasn’t buying a horse that was 1-2.”

The problems were bone chips in both ankles and possibly in his left knee.

“A lot of my good horses have had chips,” Baffert said. “Real Quiet had a chip in his ankle. Silver Charm had a little chip.

“This horse was sort of a project. He’s a one-dimensional horse in that he wants to run on the lead. My other ones weren’t like that. I had to get him to relax. Basically, we were working on how we would handle it if he got into a speed duel.”

No speed duel materialized in the Derby. After setting a moderate pace into the stretch, War Emblem accelerated and drew away to win the 18-horse race by a widening four lengths over Proud Citizen, who was second all the way.

But Baffert believes a speed duel may be forthcoming Saturday.

“The next race is going to be totally different,” he predicted. “Booklet [who didn’t run in the Derby] is really fast. He’s a good mile horse and a good mile-and-a-16th horse. And with [frequent front-runner] Medaglia d’Oro breaking badly in the Derby, he didn’t really get a chance to run the way he can.”

Baffert says he’s more worried about Derby runner-up Proud Citizen than Booklet.

“He’s the one I fear in the Preakness,” said War Emblem’s trainer.

Silver Charm and Real Quiet each had nine opponents in the Preakness and Point Given raced 10 foes. War Emblem is expected to have to cope with 11 or 12 but Baffert believes that will work to his advantage.

“A large field won’t hurt a horse like mine,” he predicted. “He’s a speed horse. He’s going to be out there in front of them. If I had a Real Quiet or a Point Given, I’d worry about a large field. With War Emblem, the more traffic the better. Horses that close will have a tougher time getting there.”

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