Stevens could be Belmont spoiler
If Sunday Break wins next Saturday, the jockey twice will have denied a Triple Crown winner.
June 1, 2002
By LARRY BORTSTEIN
The Orange County Register
Gary Stevens has won all three Triple Crown races, but never more than two in the same year.
He won the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes with Thunder Gulch in 1995 and the Preakness and Belmont Stakes with Point Given last year.
The closest he has come to sweeping the series was in 1997, when he won the Derby and Preakness with Silver Charm, only to be denied the Belmont Stakes by Touch Gold and Chris McCarron.
But Stevens can make another kind of Triple Crown history June 8 when he gets up on Sunday Break for the race's 134th running.
Sunday Break, the Japanese-bred son of Forty Niner, is virtually certain to be the second choice in the betting. A victory by him would make Stevens the first rider to twice deprive other jockeys of sweeping the Triple Crown.
His target this year will be Victor Espinoza, who will be using all his skill to help War Emblem become the 12th Triple Crown winner - and first since Affirmed in 1978.
"If I can't win the race, I hope Victor does," Stevens said. "I think it would be great for racing to have a Triple Crown champion. But more than anything, I want to win another Belmont."
Stevens thwarted an attempt at a Triple Crown for the first time in 1998 when he piloted Victory Gallop to a head victory over Derby-Preakness champion Real Quiet.
Today, he still calls the ride "the best of my career."
Stevens and trainer Elliott Walden had a game plan going into the Belmont and, Stevens recalled, it worked perfectly.
"Victory Gallop had a big kick but he didn't get a chance to show it in the Preakness, because we laid too close to the pace," the Hall of Fame rider recalled.
"But before the Belmont, I told Elliott I thought we ought to take him back and Elliott agreed completely. We came flying on the outside."
A similar ride by Touch Gold beat Silver Charm by a half-length in the 1997 Belmont.
"McCarron rode a great race that day," Stevens said.
"Silver Charm loved a fight, and Chris knew that. So he swung his horse wide in the lane and Silver Charm didn't see him. I think if Silver Charm had known he was there, he would have fought back.
"As we got near the wire, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shadow behind me, and I knew it was Touch Gold. I think it's the worst feeling I've ever had."
If Sunday Break wins next Saturday, the jockey twice will have denied a Triple Crown winner.
June 1, 2002
By LARRY BORTSTEIN
The Orange County Register
Gary Stevens has won all three Triple Crown races, but never more than two in the same year.
He won the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes with Thunder Gulch in 1995 and the Preakness and Belmont Stakes with Point Given last year.
The closest he has come to sweeping the series was in 1997, when he won the Derby and Preakness with Silver Charm, only to be denied the Belmont Stakes by Touch Gold and Chris McCarron.
But Stevens can make another kind of Triple Crown history June 8 when he gets up on Sunday Break for the race's 134th running.
Sunday Break, the Japanese-bred son of Forty Niner, is virtually certain to be the second choice in the betting. A victory by him would make Stevens the first rider to twice deprive other jockeys of sweeping the Triple Crown.
His target this year will be Victor Espinoza, who will be using all his skill to help War Emblem become the 12th Triple Crown winner - and first since Affirmed in 1978.
"If I can't win the race, I hope Victor does," Stevens said. "I think it would be great for racing to have a Triple Crown champion. But more than anything, I want to win another Belmont."
Stevens thwarted an attempt at a Triple Crown for the first time in 1998 when he piloted Victory Gallop to a head victory over Derby-Preakness champion Real Quiet.
Today, he still calls the ride "the best of my career."
Stevens and trainer Elliott Walden had a game plan going into the Belmont and, Stevens recalled, it worked perfectly.
"Victory Gallop had a big kick but he didn't get a chance to show it in the Preakness, because we laid too close to the pace," the Hall of Fame rider recalled.
"But before the Belmont, I told Elliott I thought we ought to take him back and Elliott agreed completely. We came flying on the outside."
A similar ride by Touch Gold beat Silver Charm by a half-length in the 1997 Belmont.
"McCarron rode a great race that day," Stevens said.
"Silver Charm loved a fight, and Chris knew that. So he swung his horse wide in the lane and Silver Charm didn't see him. I think if Silver Charm had known he was there, he would have fought back.
"As we got near the wire, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shadow behind me, and I knew it was Touch Gold. I think it's the worst feeling I've ever had."
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