Suddenly, crowning blows in Belmont

Instant when quest ends has unforgettable sting

Everything is magnified when a Triple Crown is on the line, even the losses.

Seventeen horses have won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness and then faltered in the Belmont. That includes five starting in 1997.

They failed trying to join the immortal 11 who have swept the series known as the Triple Crown. On Saturday, Smarty Jones will try to become the 12th when he competes in the 136th Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Smarty Jones has never lost in his eight races. But good, even great, horses have won the Derby and Preakness, but lost the Belmont. Strange, freakish things sometimes happen in the Belmont. Spectacular Bid stepped on a safety pin before the race. A television camera in the starting gate spooked Pleasant Colony. Tim Tam broke his ankle charging for the wire.

The most recent five close calls drew considerable attention as racing fans clamored for a Triple Crown, the first since Affirmed in 1978. Record crowds jammed Belmont Park three of the five years, only to see their longed-for hero fail. The losses became headlines. They underwent the closest scrutiny, the harshest analysis. The cause was sometimes obvious, sometimes not.

But always, there was a moment when losing became inevitable, when winning the Triple Crown became a shattered dream. And sometimes, because humans are, well, human, opinions differ on when that moment occurred.

For Kent Desormeaux, the former Maryland riding star soon to be inducted into racing's Hall of Fame, the moment occurred a sixteenth of a mile from the finish of the 1998 Belmont. Desormeaux rode Real Quiet, who had surged to a wide lead in the stretch but was quickly fading.

"At that point, I look back," Desormeaux said, "and there's this horse coming at me like, oh, my God, and my depth perception is telling me there is no chance I'm going to win the race the way my colt is stopping and the colt is coming at me from behind."

The charging colt was Victory Gallop, who had waited patiently under Gary Stevens as Real Quiet had spurted away. Desormeaux yanked Real Quiet to the outside, and the horses bumped and bumped again. Stevens said after the race he would have claimed foul if Victory Gallop hadn't reached the wire first. He did - by a nose.

Desormeaux said after the race he pulled Real Quiet to the outside so he would see Victory Gallop. Now, he says, he did it "desperately, probably foolishly, to hinder his path."

Bob Baffert, Real Quiet's trainer, watched from the stands as the drama unfolded on the track in front of 80,162 patrons.

Baffert was stunned. He hadn't been sure Real Quiet would even make the Belmont because of a severe bout of dehydration and a 103-degree fever after the Preakness. Real Quiet had won the Preakness by 2 1/4 lengths, but that was the year of the Pimlico power outage, when temperatures soared into 90s.

"He was just totally dehydrated," Baffert says. "We got him back to Kentucky and hit him with antibiotics. We didn't train him for a week. I went back to California and told Mike [Pegram, Real Quiet's owner] that we might not be able to go to New York."

Appeared recovered

By the time Baffert returned to Kentucky, Real Quiet had perked up. And by the time the colt arrived at Belmont Park, he seemed fully recovered, Baffert said.

For Baffert, the moment of defeat didn't occur when Real Quiet got sick. Nor did it occur when Real Quiet and Victory Gallop bumped and battled to the wire. Oddly, for Baffert, the moment never occurred.

"I feel like I won it," he said. "The only time that other horse got in front was when they hit the wire. I feel like I won but just didn't get paid for it."

For Baffert and Desormeaux, their opinions of what went wrong changed over the years. After the race, Desormeaux accepted blame for the defeat, saying he allowed Real Quiet to move too soon. Baffert said no, Desormeaux rode him perfectly.

Now, Baffert said, "all he had to do was sit and cruise a little longer." And Desormeaux said his mistake wasn't in moving too soon but not in moving soon enough.

"It's one of those things that, sure, I'd love to do again," Desormeaux said. "When we fell into the turn at Belmont, well, he wanted to go. I didn't let him, which, quite frankly, I think I failed at.

"With the benefit of hindsight, I would have just let Real Quiet be himself. I probably would have been some 30 lengths in front. And maybe I would have won by only two, but he would have won if I'd just let him go."

Baffert's other two Triple Crown losses each had a factor Real Quiet's did not: clarity. Baffert trained Silver Charm, who lost the 1997 Belmont when Touch Gold swept by on the outside, and War Emblem, who lost in 2002 when he stumbled coming out of the gate.

"He lost it right there," Baffert said of War Emblem. "He had a mind of his own. He was a mental case. He wanted to be out there on the lead by himself. That took him right out of his game. He didn't have a chance after that."