Closer Look

War Emblem stumbles from the start

War Emblem (right) nearly crashed into Magic Weisner coming out of the gate. AP

By David Seigerman, Special to CNNSI.com

ELMONT, NY -- Bob Baffert didn't have to wait for a photo finish this time to find out his horse had not won a Triple Crown. He knew immediately.

War Emblem stumbled badly while breaking from the starting gate, and his unlikely quest to become the 12th Triple Crown winner in front of the largest crowd in Belmont Stakes history was effectively over.

"From the start, I knew we were doomed. It was gut-wrenching to watch the rest of the race," said trainer Bob Baffert, whose colt Real Quiet lost the 1998 Belmont Stakes to Victory Gallop by a nose. "He lost his footing, stumbled a bit, got behind and he can't run like that."

No, War Emblem showed in his nine career starts he needs to run on the lead. He wired the field in winning the Kentucky Derby and was never farther than a head from the lead during his Preakness victory. Coming into Belmont Saturday, War Emblem had won four races in a row and never had a horse fully in front of him in any of them.

But the anticipated speed duel with Wiseman's Ferry never materialized.

"He got up and got all that sand in his face," said Baffert. "He's a courageous horse, he tried to run, he tried to race. It was a tough loss, because I really expected him to do it."

"He needs to break sharp, and that may have cost him in a big way," said trainer Ken McPeek. Ironically, his colt, Sarava, actually broke on the wrong lead but recovered quickly and went on to become the longest of longshots ever to win the Belmont Stakes.

Jockey Victor Espinoza was lucky even to stay aboard as War Emblem nearly went to his knees in his first steps onto the track and then nearly bumped with Magic Weisner, who broke from the gate outside him. Espinoza was able to move War Emblem to the rail and eventually maneuvered him into the lead, getting a head in front of Medaglia D'Oro near the half-mile pole. Getting back into the race took too much out of the 6-5 favorite. Along the far turn, with only about four furlongs left, War Emblem faded. He wound up eighth in the 11-horse field, 30 3/4 lengths behind Sarava.

"If I had a walkie-talkie, I'd have told Victor just to pull up," Baffert said.

"I was thinking about where I could save him. I didn't want to use my horse too early," said Espinoza. "Obviously, it cost me everything at the start."

It was expected that War Emblem's chances of winning the first Triple Crown in 24 years would be determined in the early stages in the 1 1/2 -mile race. Most trainers this week wondered whether a hot battle for the lead between the two projected pace-setters, War Emblem and Wiseman's Ferry, would leave him too spent to handle Belmont's extensive homestretch. But that stumbled start reduced strategy and stamina to speculation.

"Before the race, I told Victor that the only thing that could beat us was a bad break," said Baffert, whose first Triple Crown flirtation ended a length shy when Silver Charm finished second in the 1997 Belmont.

Baffert said there was nothing Espinoza or the gate-man could have done to prevent the costly bobble, calling it just "bad racing luck." But he did suggest that the Belmont track surface could have contributed. Heavy rains Thursday night and Friday night had softened the track, but by Saturday afternoon it had dried out and was officially listed as fast.

"Yesterday would have been ideal conditions for him," said Baffert. "With all the wind, it dries out and everything's a little looser. But he just can't be behind horses."

Baffert said afterward that this 30-length loss was the second-most disappointing in his training career. Cavonnier losing the 1996 Kentucky Derby by a nose tops the list, primarily because it was Baffert's first near-miss in such a prestigious race; he never knew if he'd ever be so close to winning a Triple Crown event again.

After Saturday, Baffert has now come within one win of winning an actual Triple Crown four times since 1997 (Point Given lost the Derby last year, but won the Preakness and Belmont). But for such a literal bad break, he may actually have found out what history feels like.

 

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