Three weeks to get 12 furlongs

ELMONT, N.Y. – Bob Baffert knows how to train a Triple Crown winner.

He hasn’t done it yet, but Silver Charm in 1997 ran a winning race in the Belmont, and so did Real Quiet the next year. War Emblem, Baffert’s third would-be Triple Crown winner, lost the Belmont when he stumbled at the start.

There is no right recipe for getting a horse from Kentucky Derby and Preakness wins to the Belmont, but methods have radically changed since Affirmed nipped Alydar in 1978 to become the most recent Triple Crown winner. Seattle Slew signaled his Belmont readiness by working a fast mile in 1:37, something no trainer of this era likely would consider. In 1973, Secretariat worked a mile and 1 1/4 miles between the Preakness and Belmont. Last year, California Chrome had one timed workout at a mere half-mile.

Across eras, one edict holds firm: Know your horse, say trainers who have been there. Train accordingly.

“Don’t overdo it, don’t under-do it,” said Baffert, who since the Preakness has put two sterling breezes into American Pharoah.

Whatever methods employed haven’t produced the desired result, but here’s a look at how the 13 horses with a Triple Crown chance trained between the Preakness and the Belmont.

SPECTACULAR BID – 1979

Preakness date: May 19

Belmont date: June 9

Works after Preakness: May 27 PIM – 6f, 1:14; May 31 PIM – 7f, 1:26; June 4 BEL – one mile, 1:39; June 8 – 3f, 34.20

Belmont finish: 3rd

The Bid harks back to the older era. A contemporary horse would get exhausted just looking at his workout pattern between the Preakness and Belmont, and that with two-mile gallops mixed in.

Within two weeks of winning the Preakness, Spectacular Bid had logged 13 more furlongs worth of workouts at trainer Bud Delp’s home base, Pimlico. No sooner did the colt arrive at Belmont than Delp put him through a one-mile drill.

That work caught the eye of New Yorkers, but not in a good way. Rain had fallen for three days. The track still was wet, and in the homestretch of the workout, Spectacular Bid was put to the crop.

“He needed this work. He got a little tired,” Delp proposed.

Bid got a lot tired in the Belmont, though surely not from lack of work.

PLEASANT COLONY – 1981

Preakness date: May 16

Belmont date: June 6

Works after Preakness: May 24 BEL – 5f, 59.80; May 30 BEL – 1 mile, 1:39.40; June 3 BEL – 4f, 46.20

Belmont finish: 3rd

How was Pleasant Colony training after the Preakness? Depends on when you asked his trainer, Johnny Campo.

After his quick half-mile blowout three days out from the race, Campo told Steven Crist of The New York Times that Pleasant Colony had worked “perfect.”

“He’s so good now. He didn’t get the least bit tired out there. The thing you have to love about him is that he likes to train. He gets better every time he works,” said Campo, who regularly was sending his charge through two-mile gallops.

Years later, reflecting on Pleasant Colony’s Belmont defeat, Campo said he ran a tired horse.

“To get him geared up, I worked him a mile one day, and I knew then that it was too much for him. But you had to run and hope you might get lucky,” Campo said.

Always remember: It’s one in a million trainers who will publicly admit that his horse for the big race isn’t thriving.

ALYSHEBA – 1987

Preakness date: May 16

Belmont date: June 6

Works after Preakness: May 25 BEL – one mile, 1:41.60; May 31 BEL – one mile, 1:44

Belmont finish: 4th

Alysheba for the most part had standard 1 1/2-mile gallops between the Preakness and Belmont. During that hot Belmont week, trainer Jack Van Berg told the press that his colt loved training at Belmont and that he had no concerns about the 12-furlong distance. “I think he’ll run from here to California,” Van Berg said, and seemed to train Alysheba for that very purpose.

Alysheba’s second post-Preakness work was officially recorded as one mile in 1:44, but that was merely the last mile of a 1 1/2-mile work in 2:39, a long, slogging drill averaging 13.25 seconds per furlong – three 53-second half-miles run together.

That came six days after Alysheba breezed one mile in 1:41.60, and Van Berg had planned on three works. He wanted to replicate Alysheba’s training into the Derby and Preakness, when he blew out a half-mile the Thursday before racing, but on Thursday of Belmont week, rain turned the track soupy.

“I didn’t want to burn his heels because of the slop,” Van Berg said, calling off the work and jogging Alysheba three miles with a pony. “He’s fit. A half-mile breeze isn’t going to make a difference.”

Fit or not, Alysheba never got anywhere near romping winner Bet Twice.

SUNDAY SILENCE – 1989

Preakness date: May 20

Belmont date: June 10

Works after Preakness: May 26 BEL – 3f, 37.40; May 31 BEL – 1 mile, 1:39.60; June 6 BEL – 3f, 37

Belmont finish: 2nd

Two years earlier, Jack Van Berg had proclaimed Alysheba’s stamina sufficient to run to California. Charlie Whittingham made a similar proclamation.

“I’ve been galloping this horse long all spring,” he told Bill Nack of Sports Illustrated. “He could run from here to Baltimore today.”

Compared to his training between the Derby and the Preakness, when a bruised foot and rain cost him two works, preparation for the Belmont was a breeze. His last work at Belmont on June 6 might have been something more like five furlongs in 59 seconds. It was too foggy to tell, but the key point was how good the colt looked.

“Sunday Silence did not look like a horse weathering so rigorous a campaign as the Triple Crown,” Nack wrote.

He was ready, he was willing, but Sunday Silence was unable to get anywhere near Easy Goer and lost the Triple Crown.

SILVER CHARM – 1997

Preakness date: May 17

Belmont date: June 7

Works after Preakness: May 28 CD – 6f, 1:14.80; June 3 CD – 5f, 1:01

Belmont finish: 2nd

Even with two Classics bagged, Silver Charm took some training.

“I had to do more with him,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “He was a heavy and really lazy horse.”

Back at Churchill – a break with tradition, that move – Silver Charm trained forwardly from his first day back at the track. Baffert gave him a long first post-Preakness drill, and though the June 28 work went down as six furlongs, it could have been called seven in 1:27 and change, out a mile in 1:42.

“He was just going so smooth I couldn’t believe it. [Exercise rider] Joe Steiner said it feels to him like he’s getting stronger and stronger,” Baffert said afterward.

A horse spooked into Silver Charm’s path before his final work. Disaster avoided, Baffert – using his catchphrase of that season – afterward proclaimed, “Show me the money!”

Baffert said he’d put the horse in a position to win the Triple Crown. Jockey Gary Stevens said he had more horse under him in the Belmont than in the Derby or Preakness. It didn’t matter.

REAL QUIET – 1998

Preakness date: May 16

Belmont date: June 6

Works after Preakness: May 28 CD – 5f, 59.80; June 2 CD – 5f, 1:01

Belmont finish: 2nd

Real Quiet’s post-Preakness training pattern makes one wonder how much all of what happens during the early mornings at the track really matters.

The narrow-framed horse – nicknamed “The Fish” because of it – came out of the Preakness dehydrated and skinnier than ever. Baffert didn’t even attempt to train him for four days afterward, finally sent him to the track Thursday, and had this to say following that session: “He was drawn up, really sucked up. His energy wasn’t there.”

Baffert put Real Quiet on barn lockdown for three more days, meaning for the first eight days after the Preakness, with a 1 1/2-mile race looming, the colt had just one gallop.

Early the second week, Real Quiet was “back on his game,” Baffert said, to the point that at the start of his final work June 2, Baffert radioed exercise rider Dana Barnes to slow Real Quiet down after a quick opening furlong in 11.20 seconds.

Real Quiet ran strongly in the Preakness, earning a 111 Beyer Speed Figure, and he nearly reproduced it (110) in the Belmont. Not enough: The Fish got caught.

CHARISMATIC – 1999

Preakness date: May 15

Belmont date: June 5

Works after Preakness: May 25 CD – 6f, 1:15.40; June 1 CD – 5f, 1:00.40

Belmont finish: 3rd

D. Wayne Lukas followed the Baffert pattern and took Derby and Preakness winner Charismatic back to Churchill for the bulk of his Belmont preparation.

Even after his Classic double, Charismatic – a bear of a horse – had lost only about 75 pounds off his 1,200-pound frame. “He’s a little racier now,” Lukas said.

Lukas had turned a corner with Charismatic that spring by putting him on a demanding racing schedule while working hard in the morning. After the Preakness, he returned to his standard two-mile gallops, and his pair of works – both at Churchill – were met with general satisfaction.

But rival trainer Elliott Walden, second in the Derby and Preakness that year with Menifee, predicted trouble beneath the glowing exterior.

“At some point, all this racing has to catch up with Charismatic,” Walden said. “Charismatic’s a big physical specimen – he’s as wide as he is tall – and that’s why he’s well suited to running as often as he does. But I still believe that at some point, the bubble will burst.”

WAR EMBLEM – 2002

Preakness date: May 18

Belmont date: June 8

Works after Preakness: May 29 CD – 5f, 1:00.60; June 4 CD – 5f, 1:01

Belmont finish: 8th

“The farther they go, the better he is,” Baffert said after getting War Emblem – purchased privately just weeks before the Derby – returned to Churchill from Pimlico. “That’s why I’ve always thought the Belmont would be the easiest.”

War Emblem wasn’t the soundest horse – he reportedly had bone chips in three joints when he was sold after the Illinois Derby – but he went well enough for the Belmont. War Emblem had worked slowly by Baffert standards, five furlongs in about 1:03, before the Preakness, and Baffert wanted something stronger pre-Belmont. The colt’s second Churchill drill was recorded as five furlongs; Baffert had it as six furlongs in 1:14.60.

“I shut him down before the turn,” Baffert said. “I didn’t want him to go too strong.”

In the end, none of the post-Preakness training mattered when War Emblem face-planted leaving the Belmont starting gate.

FUNNY CIDE – 2003

Preakness date: May 17

Belmont date: June 7

Works after Preakness: May 28 BEL – 5f, 59.43; June 3 BEL – 5f, 57.82

Belmont finish: 3rd

The day after the Preakness, already back at trainer Barclay Tagg’s Belmont barn, Funny Cide was taken out to graze by assistant trainer Robin Smullen. He was rearing up and striking out. Smullen hardly could believe that a horse who just had gone through the second third of the Triple Crown grind could act so fresh.

If anything, Funny Cide was too sharp.

“He was a big, stout horse, solid as a rock, but he had a little bit of a frail temperament: He wanted to go,” Tagg said. “We were careful with him [just after the Preakness], but you have to do a little something, he liked his workouts, and I didn’t want to change things.”

Tagg planned all along for two post-Preakness works and got them. What he hadn’t counted on was Funny Cide ripping through five furlongs in 57 seconds and change four days from his race.

“We’d have been perfectly happy with a minute or 59 on both occasions, but you don’t always get what you want,” he said.

SMARTY JONES – 2004

Preakness date: May 15

Belmont date: June 5

Works after Preakness: May 28 PHA – 7f, 1:29.20

Belmont finish: 2nd

After Smarty Jones cleaned the clocks of nine Preakness rivals, he returned to his home base, Philadelphia Park (now Parx), and trainer John Servis had a single-minded concern in training.

“The one thing I wanted to concentrate on doing was keeping him settled,” Servis said. “I knew he was dead fit. He was the kind of horse that galloped strong. Most days, he did two miles, some 1 1/2. Into the Belmont, that was a slow seven-furlong breeze with a strong gallop-out. He was the kind of horse, he could get on the bit if you didn’t keep him settled.”

Smarty Jones settled beautifully in his lone Belmont work, but in the race itself, he grabbed the bit and started blazing, training lessons be damned.

Servis, like Campo with Pleasant Colony, put a glossy spin on Smarty Jones’s post-Preakness preparation, telling the press that the colt trained stronger coming out of the Preakness than going into it. Now, he says he could see Smarty Jones tailing off. “He was showing some wear and tear, which is why we made the decision right after the Belmont to give him a month off.”

BIG BROWN – 2008

Preakness date: May 17

Belmont date: June 7

Works after Preakness: June 3 – 5f, 1:00.03

Belmont finish: Distanced

Big Brown, his hooves chronically problematic, developed a quarter crack during the week after he won the Preakness.

Trainer Rick Dutrow always planned to work Big Brown just once between the two races. Still, it’s hard to believe the bum foot didn’t bedevil his Belmont preparation.

Returning to New York from Baltimore, Big Brown got a couple of walk days and jogged, but five days after the Preakness, he came back with “a little bit of blood around his coronet band after his first gallop at Belmont,” Dutrow said this week.

Whenever Dutrow had an important horse with a quarter crack requiring patching, he called ace hoof man Ian McKinlay. McKinlay’s ministrations worked, and within five or six days, the foot no longer was a concern, Dutrow said.

“I wanted to breeze him five days out, and I did,” Dutrow said. “I was happy with things when I walked over to the paddock that day.”

Big Brown didn’t seem happy, eased on the Belmont’s second turn.

I’LL HAVE ANOTHER – 2012

Preakness date: May 19

Belmont date: June 9

Works after Preakness: None

Belmont finish: Scratched

I’ll Have Another was the horse who never worked, yet to watch him train, he was doing more in daily gallops than any other horse in the Triple Crown. Those gallops often would conclude at a pace so quick that I’ll Have Another almost looked like he was breezing.

“He galloped 1 1/2 miles, but he would put in almost a two-minute lick for six furlongs to a mile every day,” trainer Doug O’Neill said. “He’d blow good, but within a few minutes, he’d recover.”

O’Neill wasn’t changing anything between the Preakness and Belmont, and the only “work” the colt had after shipping straight to New York after the Preakness was an unrecorded end-of-gallop blowout one week out.

No one found out if the no-workout routine worked. I’ll Have Another was injured and scratched the day before the race.

CALIFORNIA CHROME – 2014

Preakness date: May 17

Belmont date: June 7

Works after Preakness: May 31 BEL – 4f, 47.61

Belmont finish: 4th

One lonely little half-mile workout on the path to racing immortality.

Nearly four decades earlier, a horse like Spectacular Bid was doing work like that in his sleep. The irony: California Chrome’s trainer, Art Sherman, is no spring chicken. He was around back in the day, but to Sherman, the less-is-more approach was the obvious one to take after the Preakness.

“If he wasn’t fit by then, he never was going to get fit. If you run a horse back three times in five weeks, you better light-train him,” Sherman said.

“We did regular gallops, a good mile and a half every day. Let him start off easy, finish strong,” said Sherman. “After the two races, they will lose a little weight on you. I thought the right pattern was there. If I had a horse like Chrome again coming into it, I wouldn’t hesitate to do the same thing again.”