Victory Gallop

HALLANDALE, Fla. -- In his first start as a 4-year-old, Belmont Stakes winner Victory Gallop overwhelmed four opponents in a 1 1/16-mile allowance race yesterday at Gulfstream Park.Ridden by Jerry Bailey, the 3-10 Victory Gallop circled the field entering the stretch to win by 2 3/4 lengths in 1 minute, 43 4/5 seconds.His next start is to be March 28 in the $5 million Dubai World Cup.Pub Date: 3/04/99

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.

In a day of almost mind-boggling changes in the field for the 123rd Preakness, Indian Charlie, the possible favorite, dropped out in Kentucky shortly after Halory Hunter fractured his left front cannon bone at Pimlico.Those defections unleashed a fury of activity, the most notable being the addition of Derby runner-up Victory Gallop to the field.Bob Baffert, trainer of Indian Charlie, said from Churchill Downs that the colt, undefeated entering the Derby, had not bounced back from his third-place Derby finish.

The scene was a blur: Lemon Drop Kid prancing into the packed winner's circle, state troopers whisking his owners through the boisterous crowd, the questions, the emotions, the reaction."

OCEANPORT, N.J. -- Before the Preakness Stakes, trainer Elliott Walden said he didn't want to run Victory Gallop, who had finished second in the Kentucky Derby, against Coronado's Quest.In fact, the day that trainer Shug McGaughey declared that Coronado's Quest would run, Walden responded by saying that Victory Gallop would not. Only after top contenders Indian Charlie and Halory Hunter dropped out -- and Victory Gallop flashed a readiness to race -- did Walden enter the bay colt.But then, the day before the Preakness, Coronado's Quest bruised a foot and was scratched.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. -- At Del Mar, the mission-style track on the shore of the Pacific, the great Cigar became embroiled in a speed dual and wound up bushed. He lost the 1996 Pacific Classic, and his 16-race winning streak ended.Yesterday at Oaklawn Park, a cozy track nestled in the hills of Arkansas, Favorite Trick embarked on an uncharacteristic speed blitz early and, like Cigar, succumbed to fatigue at the end. The defeat at odds of 2-5 in the Arkansas Derby cost Favorite Trick his unbeaten status.

NEW KENT COUNTY, Va. -- This time last year, Mary Eppler trained one of the top 2-year-olds in the country.Traitor had won the Grade I Futurity Stakes and finished second in the Grade I Moet Champagne Stakes -- both at Belmont Park. He was an early favorite for the Kentucky Derby.But this year wasn't kind to Traitor. A freak accident in Florida and a torn suspensory ligament forced him to the sideline shortly before the Preakness Stakes. (Traitor is back in light training; see the "On Horse Racing" column on this page.

The entrance of Coronado's Quest into the Preakness meant the exit of Victory Gallop, second in the Kentucky Derby.Elliott Walden, trainer of Victory Gallop, said yesterday that his colt will wait for the Belmont Stakes."

ELMONT, N.Y. -- In one of the most crushing defeats in Triple Crown history, Real Quiet lost his bid for immortality yesterday in an excruciating photo finish in the 130th Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park.Victory Gallop, flying down the stretch before a delirious crowd of 80,162 -- the second-largest at Belmont Park -- nipped Real Quiet by the narrowest of margins after a rough and dramatic stretch duel. The nose defeat derailed Real Quiet's quest to become the Triple Crown's 12th winner.None of the 13 previous winners of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness who contested the Belmont lost the coveted crown by so little.

ELMONT, N.Y. -- After the Preakness, Elliott Walden said his horse, the beaten favorite Victory Gallop, lost fair and square.Then Victory Gallop, stabled last year in Maryland, broke out in a rash. And Walden, the articulate Kentucky trainer, broke his ankle playing basketball.You'd think that might be enough to discourage anybody.But Walden, holed up in a tack room at Belmont Park, bubbled with enthusiasm yesterday as he discussed Victory Gallop's chances of turning the tables on Real Quiet -- to whom he also lost the Kentucky Derby -- and spoiling his chances for a Triple Crown.

Real Quiet, the 1998 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, was sidelined in California yesterday for at least the remainder of the year with a cracked splint bone in his right front leg.Real Quiet's injury was announced just five days after Victory Gallop -- the horse that denied him the 1998 Triple Crown with victory by a nose in the Belmont Stakes -- was retired because of a torn suspensory ligament, a serious lower-leg injury.Mike Pegram, Real Quiet's owner, and Bob Baffert, his trainer, said the 4-year-old colt will be given 90 days to heal on his own.After that, they said, they will decide whether he can return to racing or will be retired.

ELMONT, N.Y. -- Elliott Walden considers the score tied, same as last year.The trainer from Kentucky acknowledges that his horse, Menifee, finished second to Charismatic in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. But because Menifee encountered a wide, rough trip in the Derby, Walden says, he believes Menifee was the better horse."In my mind the score's one-to-one," Walden said, "even though I know it's actually zero-to-two."Walden said the same thing last year after his Victory Gallop finished second to Real Quiet in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, races remarkably similar to this year's versions.

Minus the fierce bumping, the outside route and the furious finish of two weeks ago, Preakness favorite Menifee still finished second to Charismatic yesterday.With no excuses and virtually no complaints."When you're second in Grade I's and first in Grade I's, your horse runs a great race," said trainer Elliott Walden, who arrived at Pimlico last week with the hottest horse and left with another near-victory.The Preakness jinx?For the second straight year, Walden saddled the favorite here.

Silver Charm, the defending champion, drew post No. 3 and the favorite's role yesterday in the $5 million Dubai World Cup on Sunday at Nad Al Sheba Racecourse in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.Despite two consecutive third-place finishes in Florida and California, Silver Charm was dubbed the early 2-1 favorite by a British bookmaker. The 5-2 second-choice is Victory Gallop, who drew post No. 4.Eight horses will contest the 1 1/4-mile race under the lights and compete for the world's largest purse.

HALLANDALE, Fla. -- In his first start as a 4-year-old, Belmont Stakes winner Victory Gallop overwhelmed four opponents in a 1 1/16-mile allowance race yesterday at Gulfstream Park.Ridden by Jerry Bailey, the 3-10 Victory Gallop circled the field entering the stretch to win by 2 3/4 lengths in 1 minute, 43 4/5 seconds.His next start is to be March 28 in the $5 million Dubai World Cup.Pub Date: 3/04/99

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- A man turning 50 might choose to put his feet up, take a deep breath and relax.But yesterday at Saratoga, in the final moments of the Travers Stakes, Stuart S. Janney III's heart nearly burst out of his chest. Coronado's Quest, his horse through good times and bad, surged toward the finish line as two powerful thoroughbreds, Victory Gallop and Raffie's Majesty, charged relentlessly, closing the gap with each heart-pounding stride.When the three game horses passed under the wire separated by inches, Coronado's Quest was a nose in front.

Standing in the sun at Pimlico yesterday morning, Mary Eppler was asked how it felt to have Victory Gallop back in her barn."He's not my horse," she said with a shrug.Her simple answer disguised a set of circumstances more suited to the opera than the racetrack, a story of fate, temptation and gratification.Eppler, a Maryland-based trainer who operates out of a quiet barn across the track from Pimlico's grandstand, was in charge of the bay, Canadian-bred colt named Victory Gallop for seven months in 1997.

OCEANPORT, N.J. -- Coronado's Quest, the one-time rogue owned by Stuart S. Janney III, shed his bad-boy label yesterday in winning the $1 million Buick Haskell Invitational Handicap at Monmouth Park.The striking 3-year-old chestnut colt held off Victory Gallop's charge down the stretch to capture the 1 1/8 -mile race by 1 1/4 lengths. The victory for Janney, who lives in Butler, was his first of a Grade I stakes -- and his first of a $1 million purse.After receiving a champagne toast by track officials in the lovely Parterre Lounge, Janney said: "This makes up for a lot. I'd have loved to have gone in the Preakness, and I think the horse would have done great.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Saratoga's festive atmosphere, friendly people, gorgeous horses and the country's most prestigious racing epitomize the charm and spirit of a day at the races.And the Travers Stakes, scheduled for 5: 10 p.m. today, is the most prestigious of those races at the oldest track in the land. Its sobriquet, "the midsummer Derby," describes it aptly, especially this year.For Coronado's Quest, this is the Kentucky Derby. The chestnut colt owned by Stuart S. Janney III missed the Derby this spring because Janney and his trainer, Shug McGaughey, did what few with a potentially great horse ever do: Resist the tremendous lure of the race for what was best for their horse.

OCEANPORT, N.J. -- Coronado's Quest, the one-time rogue owned by Stuart S. Janney III, shed his bad-boy label yesterday in winning the $1 million Buick Haskell Invitational Handicap at Monmouth Park.The striking 3-year-old chestnut colt held off Victory Gallop's charge down the stretch to capture the 1 1/8 -mile race by 1 1/4 lengths. The victory for Janney, who lives in Butler, was his first of a Grade I stakes -- and his first of a $1 million purse.After receiving a champagne toast by track officials in the lovely Parterre Lounge, Janney said: "This makes up for a lot. I'd have loved to have gone in the Preakness, and I think the horse would have done great.