By Steve Andersen
ARCADIA, Calif. - The road to the Kentucky Derby begins in earnest for trainer Bob Baffert on Saturday.
He has entered five 3-year-olds in two important races at Santa Anita, including Point Given, the Hollywood Futurity winner, who will make his seasonal debut in the $250,000 San Felipe Stakes over 1 1/16 miles.
A prep to the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 7, the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes has drawn eight entrants, including Gold Trader, the winner of the Golden State Mile, and Skip to the Stone, the winner of the Baldwin Stakes on Feb. 25. Baffert also starts Silvertongue Fox and Indy Lead, who are making their stakes debuts in the San Felipe.
Earlier in the day, Congaree, a five-length maiden winner for Baffert on Feb. 28, makes his first start against winners in a $56,000 allowance race over 1 1/16 miles. He faces five others, including the Baffert-trained Special Times, who was third in the restricted Sham Stakes on Feb. 9. A win by Congaree could lead to a start in a major stakes outside of California in mid-April.
Despite the full roster of entrants, Baffert's focus surrounds Point Given, who finished second by a nose behind Macho Uno in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs last November.
The San Felipe Stakes has produced three of the last four Kentucky Derby winners. Fusaichi Pegasus won last year's San Felipe, and Silver Charm (1997) and Real Quiet (1998), both of whom were trained by Baffert, finished second.
There is little room for error by Point Given in the next seven weeks. Baffert envisions only two preps before the Kentucky Derby - the San Felipe Stakes and Santa Anita Derby.
"He's got to show up," Baffert said. "We want to win. He's not souped up to run the best race of his life, but he's doing good."
With Macho Uno, the 2000 champion 2-year-old, out until summer, Point Given is considered a top contender for the Kentucky Derby, along with Monarchos, the winner of last weekend's Florida Derby. An impressive victory on Saturday would make Point Given the favorite in the minds of many.
For that to occur, jockey Gary Stevens needs a quick pace to aid Point Given's late kick. He closed from last in the 14-runner Juvenile to miss by a nose, but was closer to the pace in the Hollywood Futurity, beating Millennium Wind by a length.
"I like the way he looks right now," Stevens said. "His weight is coming around, he's lost his belly, and he's a handful around the barn, which is good. I wouldn't say he has to win this race, but it's going to be a little embarrassing if he doesn't."
Stevens will find himself behind Skip to the Stone for the first half-mile. A five-length maiden winner on Jan. 27, Skip to the Stone won his stakes debut in the Baldwin Stakes over 6 1/2 furlongs. He makes his first start in a route in the San Felipe. Trained by Mike Mitchell, Skip to the Stone figures to be chased by I Love Silver and Gold Trader, who both have shown speed.
"He needs a lot of things to go his way," Baffert said of Point Given. "He needs a strong pace in front of him. Skip to the Stone is pretty fast. I'll worry about him more than the others. I don't know how good he is. He looked awesome breaking his maiden."
Gold Trader, trained by D. Wayne Lukas, is unraced since winning the Golden State Mile Feb. 10. Gold Trader faces his toughest test in the San Felipe.
"I'm a little concerned with the five-week layoff, but I've never missed a work," Lukas said. "He could run fifth and it wouldn't change my attitude that he's a good horse. I'm anxious to get him out there and see how he does."
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by Blood-Horse Staff
From Santa Anita
Trainer Bob Baffert will take the wraps off Breeders' Cup runner-up Point Given when he sends out The Thoroughbred Corp.'s colt for his first effort as a 3-year-old in Saturday's grade II San Felipe Stakes at 1 1/16 miles.
"We've just been waiting, he's got a long road ahead of him," said Baffert in reference to the trail leading to Kentucky in early May.
Point Given finalized San Felipe preparations by breezing four furlongs in :47.80 Wednesday. The Kentucky-bred by Thunder Gulch has finished first or second in all six career starts, winning three, for earnings of $618,500, but is untested since winning the Grade I Hollywood Futurity Dec. 16.
If Point Given passes Saturday's exam, the Derby trail resumes in earnest April 7 in the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby.
D. Wayne Lukas will take a shot at the probable favorite with Gold Trader, who won the Golden State Mile on a wet-fast Golden Gate Fields surface Feb. 10 in his last start.
"It will be a good test for him," said Lukas assistant Randy Bradshaw. "Point Given will be tough to beat." Gold Trader worked six furlongs in 1:11.80 Sunday.
The San Felipe Stakes will be shown live on Fox Sports Net Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
In other San Felipe developments:
--Wild And Wise, nominated to the San Felipe by Baffert, worked four furlongs Tuesday in :49.20.
--Silvertongue Fox drilled four furlongs in :46.60, also for Baffert.
Probable to the San Felipe Stakes, with jockeys: I Love Silver, Eddie Delahoussaye; Jamaican Rum, Alex Solis; Skip to the Stone, Corey Nakatani; Gold Trader, David Flores, and Point Given, Gary Stevens. Possibles include: Wild And Wise, no rider, and Silvertongue Fox, no rider.
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By Jay Privman
ARCADIA, Calif. - Bob Baffert has been saving what he hopes is the best for last.
Point Given, the co-favorite on Daily Racing Form's Derby Watch, will finally make his 2001 debut in Saturday's $250,000 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita, the first of only two races for the colt in preparation for May 5 Kentucky Derby.
Baffert decided in December to give Point Given just two starts before the Derby. He circled the San Felipe and the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 7, then worked back from there to map out a training schedule. Recent rain interrupted some of Point Given's training at Santa Anita, but Baffert has maintained that the colt would come to hand quickly, and his final workout Wednesday morning only served to reinforce that impression.
Breaking off behind a workmate in a half-mile drill, Point Given was always eager to do more, but had to be restrained severely throughout. He finally was given his head with a sixteenth of a mile to go, and surged past his workmate while striding out impressively. The track's official clockers timed his move in 47.80 seconds, and listed it as breezing.
"He wanted to get it on," Baffert remarked as Point Given galloped out. "He's a big, long-galloping dude."
Point Given is a physically imposing animal, weighing, Baffert estimates, close to 1,300 pounds. "He's huge. Bigger than Silver Charm," Baffert said.
Despite his size, and his apparent preference for distance racing, Point Given had a strong 2-year-old campaign. In six starts, Point Given never finished worse than second while racing at five different tracks. He won the Kentucky Cup Juvenile at Turfway Park, was second in the Champagne Stakes at Belmont, just missed catching Macho Uno when second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs, then closed out his year by capturing the Hollywood Futurity on Dec. 16.
While every other significant 3-year-old has been racing this winter, Baffert has been waiting with Point Given. Now, he's ready to take the wraps off of him.
"We made a plan and we stuck to it," Baffert said, referring to Prince Ahmed Salman, whose Thoroughbred Corporation owns Point Given, and Richard Mulhall, Thoroughbred Corp.'s racing manager. "We're on the same page. I've learned from experience how to get horses to the Derby. I'm not second-guessing myself."
Baffert said he did not want to run Point Given earlier in the year because of his experience in 1998 with Real Quiet, who struggled on an off track at Golden Gate Fields in January in his first start after winning the Hollywood Futurity. Real Quiet then used the San Felipe and Santa Anita Derby to prepare for his victory in the Kentucky Derby.
"I never should have run Real Quiet in that race," Baffert said. "I had just gotten my first Eclipse Award. They should have taken it away from me."
Baffert said Point Given "is still a playful son of a gun." He thinks the San Felipe will be a perfect launching pad toward the Kentucky Derby, but he will be holding his breath until the first Saturday in May.
"This will tighten him up for the next one," Baffert said. "The races will put the serious conditioning into him. There's a lot of pressure with a horse like this. I just want to get an out into him, get him and Gary," he said, referring to jockey Gary Stevens, "around there."
"The road to the Derby," Baffert added, "is like the road from Iraq to Kuwait. There are a lot of land mines out there. You've got to hope you're on the right path. The last three weeks before the race, that's when you know if you've got the horse. So many things can go wrong. You've got to be level-headed. I'm nervous every time he works or runs. I won't relax until the gate comes open on Derby Day."
In other Derby developments:
* Point Given will face a small field in the 1 1/16-mile San Felipe. Others expected are Gold Trader, I Love Silver, Jamaican Rum, Skip to the Stone, and Point Given's stablemate, Silvertongue Fox.
* Sunday's $200,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct features Scorpion, a new addition to Derby Watch. This will be a major test for Marciano, who has thrived this winter at Laurel.
* Burning Roma, who won the Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs two weeks ago in his 2001 debut, tops the probable field in Sunday's $200,000 Tampa Bay Derby at 1 1/16 miles. His main rival could be Free for Love, who has yet to be nominated to the Triple Crown. Trainer Elliott Walden said he is sending two colts there, Me And Thee and Phone Ruler.
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Unquestionably one of the country's best 3-year-olds, Point Given has been an illusion, lurking in Santa Anita's morning shadows while others of his generation have been slugging it out in prep races for the Kentucky Derby.
Since his last race, in mid-December, the legions of future-book bettors have been able to assess Point Given only through a series of workouts under the supervision of his Derby-tested trainer, Bob Baffert.
Finally, it's time for the effusive Baffert to shut up and for Point Given to suit up. What is arguably the most eagerly awaited race of the year comes Saturday, when Baffert unveils Point Given--the 2001 model--in the $250,000 San Felipe Stakes. There will be a small field, but the San Felipe will be one of those early barometers vis-a-vis the 127th running of the Derby at Churchill Downs on May 5.
If Point Given survives a two-race, no-room-for-error program that's supposed to get him to Louisville, waiting there in the starting gate will be a collection of horses with three or more races as 3-year-olds. None, it can be presumed, will have waited until St. Patrick's Day to make its 3-year-old debut.
Baffert, who has won the Derby twice in the last four years after missing by a nose in 1996, is unfazed by the reminder that Point Given would be accomplishing a rare feat, winning the Derby off merely two late prep races.
"He had six races as a 2-year-old," Baffert said of the hulking colt. "That's a good-sized campaign. I'm getting him ready this year the way that's best for the horse, and I think I know what I need to do."
When trainers are asked to name the toughest race to win, many would single out the Derby. Yet, since 1972, an exceptionally large number of conditioners--eight--have been multiple winners of the race. It seems that once you've won the Derby, it's not that much of an oddity to repeat. This phenomenon started with Lucien Laurin, who had Riva Ridge in 1972 and Secretariat in 1973, and continued with Woody Stephens (Cannonade and Swale), LeRoy Jolley (Foolish Pleasure and Genuine Risk), Laz Barrera (Bold Forbes and Affirmed), Charlie Whittingham (Ferdinand and Sunday Silence), Nick Zito (Strike The Gold and Go For Gin) and Baffert (Silver Charm and Real Quiet).
The eighth, Wayne Lukas, needs to be isolated, because he has won the Derby four times, two short of Ben Jones' record. After Lukas' first win, with Winning Colors, in 1988, there was a six-year gap, but now he's won the brightest jewel in the Triple Crown with Thunder Gulch, Grindstone and Charismatic in the last six years.
The result of a mating between Thunder Gulch and Turko's Turn, a Turkoman mare, Point Given was bred by the Thoroughbred Corp., which is the stable name for Ahmed Salman, a 42-year-old Saudi Arabian prince who also spends freely at auctions to buy top horses.
He has finished an unlucky 13th with both of his Kentucky Derby starters, the most recent juvenile champion Anees' unsuccessful effort last year. Anees was trained by Alex Hassinger Jr., who left Salman's employ last summer. To say the least, Salman has moved around in the California training ranks--Lukas has trained two of his best distaffers, Sharp Cat and Spain--and when Point Given was among a small group of horses that went to Baffert early last year, the timing couldn't have been better for the silver-haired trainer. He had just lost all the horses he trained for Aaron Jones, another moneybags owner who spends freely at sales.
It took only two races at Del Mar last summer--a second followed by a maiden win on Aug. 26--before Baffert tossed Point Given into stakes company. At Turfway Park, about 100 miles up the road from Churchill Downs, the colt broke awkwardly and still won the Kentucky Cup Juvenile by 3 1/2 lengths.
A month later, Point Given was at Belmont Park for the Champagne, a race he lost by 1 3/4 lengths to A P Valentine, the Rick Pitino-owned, Nick Zito-trained colt.
Their rematch came Nov. 4, in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs. A P Valentine hurt his shins and was never a factor. Gary Stevens, who had won the Derby with Thunder Gulch, was aboard Point Given for the first time and faced with the worst post position--the inside--in the 14-horse field. After Stevens throttled his mount leaving the gate, they trailed the field by 10 lengths down the backstretch.
"It was a tough race to sacrifice to teach him something," Stevens said, "but we almost won the race, anyway. But he learned that he's got to relax early on in a race."
Point Given, running out of real estate at the end of the 1 1/16-mile trip, was a nose and one jump shy of beating Macho Uno. Voted the Eclipse Award, Macho Uno has been injured and will miss the Triple Crown. Dismounting in the Breeders' Cup, the first words Stevens said were: "I don't have to look any farther for my Kentucky Derby mount."
Many trainers end their horses' seasons after the Breeders' Cup, but, in effect, Baffert traded an early start in 2001 for one more race in December. Point Given won the Hollywood Futurity, just as Real Quiet had done about five months before his Derby win.
Now, three months later, Point Given leaps from the morning work tabs to the starting gate. Baffert seems comfortable with his position, as counter to Derby traditions as it is.
Horses with only two starts as a 3-year-old occasionally win the Derby, but it hasn't happened since Sunny's Halo, winner of the Rebel Handicap and the Arkansas Derby before his Kentucky Derby victory in 1983. Trainer David Cross also waited until March 26--later than Baffert's first move with Point Given--before testing Sunny's Halo as a 3-year-old.
The last 11 winners of the Derby have made their 3-year-old debuts in either January or February. The last Derby winner to start his season in March was Sunday Silence in 1989. His first of three pre-Derby preps came March 2.
"I'm really not doing anything different with this horse than I did with Real Quiet," Baffert said. "Real Quiet had a race in January at Golden Gate Fields, but you really can't count it. He hated the [muddy] track up there, he was eased, and he got absolutely nothing out of the race. Then he got sick on me. So he really had only two races before the Derby."
On his return, Real Quiet ran a pair of solid seconds. Artax beat him by a head in the San Felipe and Indian Charlie, his stablemate, was 2 1/4 lengths better in the Santa Anita Derby. The April 7 Santa Anita Derby is to be Point Given's launching pad to Louisville.
"The Kentucky Derby is a survival of the fittest," Baffert said. "Point Given is a very good horse, but he's also a very big horse and I want to make sure he doesn't hurt himself before we get there.
"These two races--one at a mile and a sixteenth, the other one at a mile and an eighth--and he should be ready. You can get caught up in all these prep races and not have anything left by the time you get to the one that counts. If I can get this horse in the gate at Churchill Downs, I think we'll be in real good shape."
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By Steve Andersen
ARCADIA, Calif.-Point Given confirmed his status as California's top Kentucky Derby prospect with an impressive win in Saturday's $250,000 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita.
Making his first start since winning the Hollywood Futurity last December, Point Given rallied five-wide on the final turn to win by 2 1-4 lengths over I Love Silver in a key prep for the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 7.
But Saturday's race was not without tragedy. Gold Trader, the winner of the Golden State Mile at Golden Gate Fields in early February, was euthanized as the result of injuries suffered to his right hind cannon bone. A Storm Cat colt trained by D. Wayne Lukas, Gold Trader was pulled up before the finish after contending for the early lead.
The Grade 2 San Felipe was Point Given's third stakes win.
Owned by Ahmed Salman's Thoroughbred Corp. and trained by Bob Baffert, Point Given ($2.80) ran 1 1-16 miles in 1:41.94 before an ontrack crowd of 31,494.
"He got the type of race I thought he would get without brutalizing him," jockey Gary Stevens said. "Today wasn't the day you wanted to go to the bottom of the tank. He felt like he was a 5-year-old against a bunch of 2-year-olds."
Breaking from the outside in the field of 8, Stevens kept Point Given wide throughout.
In the first turn, Silvertongue Fox, Gold Trader and Bank Street dueled for the lead with Point Given racing in the four-path. Point Given remained wide on the backstretch when Stevens decided to move forward.
"I didn't want to go seven or eight-wide, so I moved up and engaged," Stevens said. "He was aggressive on the backstretch."
At the three-eighths pole, Point Given was outside of four horses when he took the lead. By the time the field reached the stretch, Point Given was clear and was not threatened in the final quarter-mile. Despite a two-length lead at the eighth-pole, Stevens kept Point Given focused under right handed urging.
"When he got to the eighth pole, he started playing. It was like he was saying, 'This is not my league,'" Salman said. "The things that makes it sentimental is that I bred him."
Second by a nose to Macho Uno in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile last November, Point Given has won 4 of 7 starts and $768,500.
I Love Silver, who was making his stakes debut, closed from seventh to finish second, 1 1-2 lengths in front of Jamaican Rum, who was followed by Bank Street, Indy Lead, Skip to the Stone, and Silvertongue Fox.
The San Felipe marked the stakes debut of I Love Silver, who is owned by Kirk and Judy Robison and trained by Dean Greenman.
"I'm unbelievably happy," Greenman said. "I've never been so happy to run second in my life."
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by Blood-Horse Staff
Point Given rallied while five wide on the backstretch en route to winning Saturday's $250,000 San Felipe Stakes (gr. II) by 2 1/4 lengths. Ridden by Gary Stevens, the Bob Baffert-trained 3-year-old completed the 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.94 on a fast track at Santa Anita.
"I thought (Corey) Nakatani might take his horse (Skip to the Stone) back and he did," said Stevens. "He was trying to bait me up inside him down the backside -- he just kept moving out and out and out -- I wasn't going to go up in there. I was wide the whole trip and when we got to the turn, I asked my horse to accelerate because I was losing so much ground I had to get my horses mind on running. He blew to the lead without really being asked. I let him canter to the quarter pole and when we straightened out, I went ahead and asked him. And he responded the right way."
I Love Silver closed well to finish second, 1 1/2 lengths ahead of another fast-closing runner Jamaican Rum. Bank Street came home fourth, followed by Indy Lead, Skip to the Stone, and Silvertongue Fox. Third betting choice Gold Trader, who dueled with Silvertongue Fox for the early lead, suffered a fractured cannon bone in a hind leg and was euthanized.
Point Given (Thunder Gulch -- Turko's Turn, by Turkoman) won for the fourth time in seven starts while earning $150,000 for the Thoroughbred Corp. Aside from the San Felipe, the Bob Baffert-trained colt's wins include the Hollywood Futurity (gr. I) and the Kentucky Cup Juvenile (gr. III). In each of his three career defeats, including the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) Point Given has finished second.
"He's known for getting a little lazy when he gets in front, he wasn't near as lazy as he has been in the past," said Stevens. "He's much more mature, much stronger. He had good acceleration last year but the power that I felt at the three-eighths pole was unbelievable. I was really, really impressed. I would imagine he would get a good (speed rating) off this race, with the ground he lost around the first turn, down the backside, around the last turn and still winning with daylight to spare. He galloped out another strong eighth of-a-mile after the race. It was the first time I've actually heard the horse blow, not much of a blow but he turned around, took two deep breaths and galloped back strong."
The 2-5 choice in the wagering, Point Given returned $2.80, $2.20, and $2.10. I Love Silver paid $5.60 and $2.80. Jamaican Rum was worth $2.60 to show. The $1 exacta paid $8.60.
Baffert, who also conditions Indy Lead and Silvertongue Fox, said the Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) will be the next start for Point Given.
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Point Given’s run at the Triple Crown remained on course Saturday with a 2 ¼ length win over I Love Silver in the $250,000 San Felipe Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park.
Owned by The Thoroughbred Corp. and trained by Bob Baffert, Point Given relaxed in fifth, four lengths behind pacesetter Bank Street thorough an opening half of 46.25. Entering the far turn, jockey Gary Stevens and Point Given made a five-wide move and had taken the lead from Bank Street by a head at the quarter pole. By midstretch, Point Given was two lengths clear of I Love Silver, who had made a strong four-wide move from sixth entering the stretch.
"I was wide the whole trip and when we got to the turn, I asked my horse to accelerate because I was losing so much ground I had to get my horses mind on running," Stevens said. "He blew to the lead without really being asked. I let him canter to the quarter pole and when we straightened out, I went ahead and asked him. And he responded the right way."
The son of Thunder Gulch covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.94 as the .40-to-1 favorite. I Love Silver finished 1 ½ lengths ahead of Jamaican Rum. Gold Trader, a son of Storm Cat trained by D. Wayne Lukas, suffered a fracture to his right rear ankle and was vanned off the track after being pulled up about 100 yards from the finish line.
The $150,000 victory is Point Given’s fourth in seven starts and upped his earnings to $768,500. It was his first start since winning the Hollywood Futurity (G1) in mid-December. In Point Given’s three defeats, he finished second, including last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1). Baffert said after the race that Point Given would return in the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby (G1) on April 7 in his final prep for the Kentucky Derby (G1).
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ARCADIA, Calif. (Mar. 17) - Point Given enhanced his status as the early favorite for the Kentucky Derby as he powered to a 2-1/4 length victory Saturday in the $250,000 San Felipe Stakes for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita Park.
Ridden by Gary Stevens at 122 pounds, Point Given ran a mile and-a-sixteenth in 1:41.94 on a fast main track and paid $2.80, $2.20 and $2.10. Bob Baffert is the trainer for The Thoroughbred Corporation.
Point Given has a 4-3-0 record from seven starts and the $150,000 first prize increased his earnings to $768,500. It was the winner's first start since a victory in the Hollywood Futurity last Dec. 16.
I Love Silver, Eddie Delahoussaye riding at 116 pounds, rallied strongly to finish second and paid $5.60 and $2.80. Jamaican Rum, Alex Solis aboard at 119 pounds, finished third and returned $2.60.
Bank Street, Indy Lead, Skip To The Stone and Silvertongue Fox completed the order of finish. Gold Trader, who dueled with Silvertongue Fox for the early lead, suffered a fractured cannon bone in a hind leg and was euthanized.
Point Given took the overland route to victory. The strapping son of Thunder Gulch rallied while racing five-wide on the last turn, gained the lead entering the stretch and finished strongly.
"I was wide the whole trip," Stevens said. "When we got to the turn, I asked my horse to accelerate because I was losing so much ground and I wanted to get my horse's mind on running. He responded the right way. He's known for getting a little lazy when he gets in front, but he wasn't nearly as lazy as he's been in the past. I was really, really impressed."
Next for Point Given, according to Baffert, is the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 7.
"He was fit and he was ready for this race," Baffert said. "When he made the lead last year, he'd just sort of throw his head up and wait on horses. Today, he took off. But like I said, he's a really good horse. He'll run much better next time."
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Pollsters, handicappers and railbirds from coast to coast might be debating today whether Monarchos, the best in the East, or Point Given, California's finest, deserves to be the early favorite for the Kentucky Derby, but the best opinion, up close and impersonal, might come from trainer Dean Greenman.
"That's the best horse in the world," Greenman said Saturday, after he had saddled I Love Silver for a second-place finish in the $250,000 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita. Greenman was talking about Point Given, who emerged from a three-month hibernation to score a 2 1/4-length win in a prep that has produced three of the last four Derby winners.
Point Given, ridden by Gary Stevens, might not have run since his win in the Hollywood Futurity, but there were no cobwebs. Five wide down the backstretch, trainer Bob Baffert's powerful colt unleashed a ground-gobbling move as he went from fifth to the lead by the far turn, then he easily held off late finishers such as I Love Silver for the most convincing of victories before a crowd of 31,494. The time for 1 1/16 miles was 1:41 4/5, second-fastest out of the last 10 runnings of the stake and four-fifths of a second faster than last year's winner, Fusaichi Pegasus, who went on to win the Derby.
Trainer David Hofmans, who trains Millennium Wind, another Derby contender and a colt that couldn't beat Point Given at Hollywood Park, shipped his horse all the way to Louisiana last week to avoid Baffert's 1,260-pound giant. Hofmans didn't win the Louisiana Derby, either--Millennium Wind finished second--but at least he didn't have to mess with the supercharged exhausts of Point Given.
"He had good acceleration last year," Stevens said, "but the power that I felt at the three-eighths pole was unbelievable. I was really, really impressed. . . . He lost [ground] around the first turn, down the backside, around the last turn and still won with daylight to spare. He galloped out another strong eighth of a mile after the race."
Baffert took time after the race to commiserate with the handlers of Gold Trader, the richly bred son of Storm Cat, who challenged the pace through six furlongs before cracking his right front cannon bone in the stretch. Gold Trader, winner of the Golden State Mile and making only his fourth start, was euthanized.
"I feel very bad for [William T. Young, Gold Trader's breeder and owner]," Baffert said. "He's a great guy, and you hate to see him lose a horse like that."
Baffert's day was percolating well before the eight starters were loaded into the gate for the San Felipe. The second race marked the third start for Congaree, the son of Arazi who is a late-blooming Derby candidate. Ridden by Victor Espinoza, Congaree also won at 1 1/16 miles, his 1:42 clocking just a fifth of a second slower than Point Given. His eight-length win came about two weeks after he had gone a mile to break his maiden by five lengths.
Asked which colt was better, Baffert smiled.
"[Point Given] is still the No. 1 horse," he said. "The other horse still has some catching up to do. Congaree ran a great race today, but they're two different types of horses. They won't meet each other in the next prep. Point Given will come back in the Santa Anita Derby [April 7] and the other horse will probably go in the Wood [Memorial at Aqueduct April 14] or somewhere like that."
Baffert's two Kentucky Derby winners--Real Quiet in 1998 and Silver Charm in 1997--finished second in the San Felipe.
"I was behind with Silver Charm that year," Baffert said. "This horse [Point Given] has got what it takes, but I'm not going to get too excited right now. This was just a prep, and I won't know if I've got the horse to beat until [the week of the Derby]. There's no specific way to win the Derby, it just takes a very, very good horse. Now I've got to keep him healthy and get a little lucky."
I Love Silver, making his first stakes start after two wins and one second in four previous races, finished 1 1/2 lengths ahead of Jamaican Rum, who was seven lengths better than Bank Street, the fourth-place finisher. Point Given, who has four wins and three seconds in seven starts, paid $2.80 to win and earned $150,000, hiking his purse total to $768,500. A son of Thunder Gulch, the 1995 Derby winner, and Turko's Turn, a Turkoman mare, Point Given races for his breeder, the Thoroughbred Corp. of Prince Ahmed Salman of Saudi Arabia.
Point Given, who drew the outside post, broke inwardly at the start, but Stevens was able to position him nicely. They were in fifth place, behind the speed, as Silvertongue Fox--also trained by Baffert--and Bank Street set legitimate fractions.
Baffert didn't mind that Stevens was out in the middle of the track.
"I wanted Gary to keep him out of trouble," the trainer said. "When you're the big favorite, they can try to box you in, and there was no reason to take chances."
Greenman was uncertain where he'd run I Love Silver next.
"The winner was just awesome," said Eddie Delahoussaye, who rode I Love Silver.
Jim Cassidy, who trains Jamaican Rum, hinted that he might run next at Keeneland, in the Lexington Stakes on April 21. The Kentucky Derby is May 5.
"We lost as much ground on the turn as I think he got beat," Cassidy said.
About five hours after Point Given's win, Baffert was at the airport, for the first leg of the long trip to Dubai. He'll run Captain Steve, the favorite, in the $6-million Dubai World Cup next Saturday. Flashbacks of Point Given's tour de force might have kept him awake.
"He weighed more in the Hollywood Futurity than he does now," Baffert said, "but he's still the biggest horse I've ever had. Thank God he's not mean."
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by Steve Schuelein
The picture was postcard perfect on St. Patrick’s Day at Santa Anita Park. Ahmed bin Salman, owner of The Thoroughbred Corp., wore a green sports jacket as he led his Point Given into the winner’s circle.
Jockey Gary Stevens, color-coordinated in the stable’s green-and-white-striped silks, sat aboard Point Given after the strapping chestnut colt opened his year on March 17 with a convincing victory in the $250,000 San Felipe Stakes (G2) to enhance his Kentucky Derby (G1) credentials.
However, nobody smiled more broadly than The Thoroughbred Corp.’s general manager, Richard Mulhall, a horseman of Irish descent who celebrated a rare and probably unprecedented San Felipe double. In 1987, Mulhall trained Chart the Stars to win the San Felipe, then a Grade 1 race, leaving eventual Kentucky Derby and Preakness (G1) winner Alysheba and eventual Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner Temperate Sil in his wake.
Unlike Chart the Stars, who reached the zenith of his career in the San Felipe, Point Given is just getting warmed up for bigger achievements, according to Mulhall. "He’s gotten stronger and filled out, but you didn’t see the real Point Given yet," he said, making a frightening prognostication about the colt expected to make his next start in the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 7.
Making his first start since winning the Hollywood Futurity (G1) on December 16, Point Given, under high weight of 122 pounds, was carried five wide much of the way in the San Felipe. He took charge at the top of the stretch and won by 2 1/4 lengths in 1:41.94 for 1 1/16 miles.
I Love Silver, stretched out to two turns for the first time, rallied to finish second, 1 1/2 lengths in front of Jamaican Rum, who also finished well, in a field of eight.
"He ran awesome, but he just ran into the best horse in the world right now," said Dean Greenman, trainer of I Love Silver.
"We lost as much ground on the turn as he got beat," said Jim Cassidy, trainer of Jamaican Rum, who was carried five wide on the far turn. Both trainers said they are shopping for spots outside the Santa Anita Derby as their horses’ next starts.
Stevens won the San Felipe for the first time in his 14th try, but the race did not go exactly as planned. Skip to the Stone, breaking from post seven just inside Point Given, was expected to use his speed to go to the front, but Corey Nakatani took the colt back, leaving Point Given even wider than anticipated.
Stevens did not panic on the 8-to-5 favorite. "He blew to the lead without really being asked," said Stevens. "He had good acceleration last year, but the power that I felt at the three-eighths pole was unbelievable."
Trainer Bob Baffert, who also sent out fifth-place finisher Indy Lead and seventh-place finisher Silvertongue Fox, won the San Felipe for the second time in three years. Baffert, who won the race with Prime Timber in 1999, might be better remembered for two runners-up he saddled in the race: Silver Charm and Real Quiet, who went on to win the Kentucky Derby in 1997 and ‘98, respectively.
"When he made the lead last year, he would just sort of throw his head and wait on horses," said Baffert of Point Given, who was nosed out of a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) by champion Macho Uno. "Today, he just took off. And he will run much better next time."
Point Given, a homebred by Thunder Gulch out of the Turkoman mare Turko’s Turn, scored his fourth victory in seven starts and raised his earnings to $768,500. Last year, he also won the Kentucky Cup Juvenile Stakes (G3) at Turfway Park and was second to A P Valentine in the Champagne Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park.
Five races before the San Felipe, Baffert sent out a late-developing Derby threat named Congaree to an impressive victory.
Also wearing green silks, this time the forest shade of breeder and owner Robert and Janice McNair’s Stonerside Stable, Congaree romped to an eight-length victory under Victor Espinoza in a $56,000 allowance race for three-year-olds.
The Arazi colt covered 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.16, only :0.22 slower than Point Given’s time in the San Felipe. Out of the Mari’s Book mare Mari’s Sheba, Congaree scored his second straight overpowering victory after breaking his maiden here at a mile on February 28 in 1:34.37.
"He’s my Indian Charlie," said Baffert, comparing Congaree to his lightly raced 1998 Santa Anita Derby winner who finished third in the Kentucky Derby.
"Congaree had been out with a chipped knee. He will come back in something big, maybe the Wood (Memorial Stakes [G2] on April 14 at Aqueduct), but definitely not in the same race as Point Given."
The San Felipe was marred by the breakdown in deep stretch of Gold Trader, who was euthanized because of a fractured right hind cannon bone. Winner of the Golden State Mile Stakes at Golden Gate Fields on February 10, the colt battled for the early lead and was still in contention at the top of the stretch before tiring and breaking down. The Overbrook Farm homebred son of Storm Cat out of champion Golden Attraction had won two of three previous starts and earned $81,125 for trainer D. Wayne Lukas. He was ridden by David Flores.
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GARY STEVENS, POINT GIVEN, WINNER: "You kind of have to expect the unexpected. I thought (Corey) Nakatani might take his horse (Skip to the Stone) back and he did. He was trying to bait me up inside him down the backside - he just kept moving out and out and out - I wasn't going to go up in there. I was wide the whole trip and when we got to the turn, I asked my horse to accelerate because I was losing so much ground I had to get my horses mind on running. He blew to the lead without really being asked. I let him canter to the quarter pole and when we straightened out, I went ahead and asked him. And he responded the right way. He's known for getting a little lazy when he gets in front, he wasn't near as lazy as he has been in the past. He's much more mature, much stronger. He had good acceleration last year but the power that I felt at the three-eighths pole was unbelievable. I was really, really impressed. I would imagine he would get a good (speed rating) off this race, with the ground he lost around the first turn, down the backside, around the last turn and still winning with daylight to spare. He galloped out another strong eighth of-a-mile after the race. It was the first time I've actually heard the horse blow, not much of a blow but he turned around, took two deep breaths and galloped back strong."
BOB BAFFERT, POINT GIVEN, WINNER: Asked which horse was better, Congaree or Point Given: "I go by the NTRA poll (joking). He's (Point Given) still the No. 1 horse. The other horse (Congaree) has some catching up to do. The other horse (Congaree) ran a great race today, but they're two different types of horses. But they're big, and they will not meet each other in the next prep (race). Point Given will come back in the Santa Anita Derby. The other horse (Conagaree) will probably go in the Wood (April 14 at Aqueduct) or somewhere like that."
On tactics, with Skip to the Stone not taking the lead: "You never what's going to happen. You never know what's going to go through their minds when the gate opens. I was trying to steal it with Silvertongue Fox, but unfortunately, that one horse (Bank Street) went with us in there. He sort of hurt us in that deal. He (Point Given) was fit, he was ready (for this race), but I didn't want him to get hurt. When he made the lead last year, he'd just sort of throw his head up and wait on horses. Today, he took off. But like I said, he's a really good horse. He'll run much better next time."
Asked if Point Given is the horse to beat in the Kentucky Derby: "We won't know that until that week (May 5). It's a long ways off."
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