Silverbulletday

The field for the 124th Preakness Stakes next Saturday at Pimlico could feature two fillies -- the first time since 1921 more than one filly has contested the race.Bob Baffert said yesterday that he plans on entering Silverbulletday and Excellent Meeting in the Preakness. He had said earlier he was considering Silverbulletday, but not Excellent Meeting.Silverbulletday has never run against males. Against fillies, she has won 10 of 11 races, including the Kentucky Oaks April 30 at Churchill Downs.

STANTON, Del. - Mike Pegram searched Delaware Park in vain for a can of beer. He found plenty of draft, but Pegram, the down-to-earth owner of champions, drinks his beer only from cans. He named his favorite horse after the cans known as "silver bullets." And yesterday, Silverbulletday, Pegram's two-time Eclipse-Award-winning filly, attempted to make history in the Delaware Handicap at Delaware Park. A crowd of 19,511 watched, the most to attend the races at Delaware Park since it reopened in 1984 after financial problems had shut it down.

After Silverbulletday scorched Churchill Downs in a morning workout, her trainer, Bob Baffert, said yesterday that he has begun leaning toward running the filly in the Belmont Stakes."

Silverbulletday could become the leading money-earning female in the history of horse racing Sunday if she wins the $600,000 Delaware Handicap at Delaware Park. The 4-year-old filly heads the field of eight entered yesterday for Delaware Park's signature event, a 1 1/4 -mile Grade III stakes for fillies and mares. A winner of 15 of 22 races, Silverbulletday has earned $3,027,207. The $360,000 winner's share of Sunday's purse would catapult her past Serena's Song, the richest filly or mare with earnings of $3,283,388.

When Bob Baffert and Carl Nafzger decided to flip a coin for post position, you knew the Preakness was in trouble.The post-position draw yesterday at ESPN Zone likely cost the race two of its best horses: the Nafzger-trained Vicar and Silverbulletday, the outstanding filly trained by Baffert.After winding up with the two outside posts in a full field of 14, both trainers said they'll probably scratch their horses. Silverbulletday is 7-2 in the morning line and by post time -- 5: 27 p.m. Saturday -- might even have been favored over Menifee, the 5-2 early choice.

It wasn't yet noon, but Mike Pegram said the heck with it. He popped a Coors Light ("the silver bullet") at the stakes barn, not far from where his filly, Silverbulletday, stood and munched hay.(Yes, the filly is named for the beer, which Pegram prefers except in the company of fellow horse owner Bob Lewis, who owns a large Budweiser distributorship.)Pegram talked about denial. He talked about disappointment. He talked about the decision to withdraw Silverbulletday from tomorrow's Preakness and run her in today's Black-Eyed Susan Stakes.

Does the word walkover ring a bell? It wasn't exactly the situation in which no one wants to challenge a lopsided favorite who is awarded victory by default, but Silverbulletday's gallop through the Grade II, $200,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes yesterday was about as close as it comes.Mike Pegram's filly showed why she was undoubtedly of Triple Crown caliber by running away from six rivals and setting a stakes record of 1 minute, 47 4/5 seconds for 1 1/8 miles. The winning time was just three-fifths of a second off the track record held by Private Terms.

A Preakness without Bob Baffert?That seems almost unthinkable after Baffert trainees Silver Charm and Real Quiet captured the last two runnings of the Triple Crown's middle jewel. But it's a real possibility in the aftermath of the disappointing, 4-5-11 finishes of his three Kentucky Derby entries.General Challenge (11th) was shipped home to California. Excellent Meeting (fifth) will stay in Kentucky. Prime Timber is at Churchill Downs, but still on the fence. And the outstanding filly, Silverbulletday, will come here with a rider, but isn't certain to run.Baffert will wait until workouts Monday in Kentucky before deciding the agenda of Prime Timber, who raced wide with a host of others in the Derby before rallying for fourth money.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The pressure's off.Bob Baffert and his buddy, Mike Pegram, are flying to the Big Apple this year to have a good time, participate in a great and perhaps historic race and, as Pegram said yesterday, "get a down payment on that $5 million we left last year."That $5 million was the Visa bonus for a Triple Crown winner. Pegram's Real Quiet just missed last year, losing the Belmont by a heart-crushing nose after winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.This year it's Charismatic pursuing the Triple Crown and his owners, Beverly and Bob Lewis, eyeing the bonus.

Silverbulletday, the country's top 3-year-old filly, will challenge the top 3-year-old colts -- including Triple Crown hopeful Charismatic -- June 5 in the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park, trainer Bob Baffert said.By frequently changing his mind and misleading reporters about plans for his horses, Baffert has become one of racing's least reliable sources of information. But this time he seems definite about plans for Silverbulletday."We're in. Jerry Bailey's riding. Mark it down," Baffert told the Daily Racing Form.

HALLANDALE, Fla. -- Six months after surviving a bizarre incident at Pimlico, Artax reached the pinnacle of his career yesterday at Gulfstream Park.He won the $1 million Breeders' Cup Sprint, matching the track's 26-year-old six-furlong record of 1 minute 7 4/5 seconds by Mr. Prospector. It was the third track record Artax had matched or broken this year."Artax is a spectacular horse," said his New York-based trainer Louis Albertrani.On Preakness day at Pimlico, Artax and his jockey Jorge Chavez rounded the final turn of an early race and there, standing in the middle of track, was a man from the infield.

HALLANDALE, Fla. -- In the Breeders' Cup Distaff, the race that kicks off today's eight-race series of Breeders' Cup races, three fillies lay their reputations on the line.The 3-year-old Silverbulletday, who has won 14 of 17 races, lost her last start, the Beldame Oct. 10 at Belmont Park, to the 4-year-old Beautiful Pleasure. In her race before that, the Gazelle Handicap Sept. 11, also at Belmont, Silverbulletday won, but not with her usual authority.Meanwhile, Beautiful Pleasure won her last two starts convincingly -- the Beldame over Silverbulletday and the Personal Ensign Handicap at Saratoga over Banshee Breeze.

ELMONT, N.Y. -- Whether the horse's best interests are being served is debatable, but there's no doubt racing's best interests are being served by Silverbulletday's presence in the Belmont Stakes.Take her away, and the challenge to Charismatic's Triple Crown bid falls somewhere between commonplace and unimpressive.With her running, the challenge is appropriately forbidding.A Triple Crown should be won against daunting opposition that upholds the high standard of the feat, which has been accomplished only 11 times since 1919, most recently during Jimmy Carter's presidency.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The pressure's off.Bob Baffert and his buddy, Mike Pegram, are flying to the Big Apple this year to have a good time, participate in a great and perhaps historic race and, as Pegram said yesterday, "get a down payment on that $5 million we left last year."That $5 million was the Visa bonus for a Triple Crown winner. Pegram's Real Quiet just missed last year, losing the Belmont by a heart-crushing nose after winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.This year it's Charismatic pursuing the Triple Crown and his owners, Beverly and Bob Lewis, eyeing the bonus.

Silverbulletday, the country's top 3-year-old filly, will challenge the top 3-year-old colts -- including Triple Crown hopeful Charismatic -- June 5 in the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park, trainer Bob Baffert said.By frequently changing his mind and misleading reporters about plans for his horses, Baffert has become one of racing's least reliable sources of information. But this time he seems definite about plans for Silverbulletday."We're in. Jerry Bailey's riding. Mark it down," Baffert told the Daily Racing Form.

After Silverbulletday scorched Churchill Downs in a morning workout, her trainer, Bob Baffert, said yesterday that he has begun leaning toward running the filly in the Belmont Stakes."

First, Bob Baffert's driver lost their car in the parking lot at BWI yesterday morning.Then, Baffert took a cab to Pimlico, paid the fare and left a brand new jacket lying on the back seat.The signs were there early, in other words, before a Preakness post position draw that proved so unlucky and disappointing for Baffert last night."Somebody's trying to tell us not to run," Baffert said after his star filly, Silverbulletday, ended up with the No. 14 post in a 14-horse field and thus became a doubtful participant.

ELMONT, N.Y. -- Whether the horse's best interests are being served is debatable, but there's no doubt racing's best interests are being served by Silverbulletday's presence in the Belmont Stakes.Take her away, and the challenge to Charismatic's Triple Crown bid falls somewhere between commonplace and unimpressive.With her running, the challenge is appropriately forbidding.A Triple Crown should be won against daunting opposition that upholds the high standard of the feat, which has been accomplished only 11 times since 1919, most recently during Jimmy Carter's presidency.

Does the word walkover ring a bell? It wasn't exactly the situation in which no one wants to challenge a lopsided favorite who is awarded victory by default, but Silverbulletday's gallop through the Grade II, $200,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes yesterday was about as close as it comes.Mike Pegram's filly showed why she was undoubtedly of Triple Crown caliber by running away from six rivals and setting a stakes record of 1 minute, 47 4/5 seconds for 1 1/8 miles. The winning time was just three-fifths of a second off the track record held by Private Terms.

IF THE weather holds, and no mishaps befall any of the thoroughbreds in their stalls or during their exercises, the stage could be set for a dramatic and crowded Preakness Stakes this afternoon.As many as a baker's dozen could run in this history-laden race that dates to 1873. This might create a traffic jam of fast-moving horse flesh out of the starting gate, and also when they hit the tight clubhouse turn. But we're unlikely to see the sort of dangerous stampede of 19 horses that marred the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago.Charismatic, trained by D. Wayne Lukas, won that race, despite 31-1 odds.