Real Quiet real sharp in final workout

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Posted: Tuesday June 02, 1998 10:46 PM

Should Real Quiet become the 12th Triple Crown champion, he will earn a $5 million bonus offered by Visa. (AP)

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (AP) -- Real Quiet gave Bob Baffert the message, and the trainer relayed it to Mike Pegram, the colt's owner.

"Well, Michael, you're looking good, my man," Baffert said.

The trainer spoke Tuesday after watching from the Churchill Downs stands as Real Quiet went five-eighths of a mile in 1:00 4-5 and galloped out three-quarters in 1:13 3-5 in the final workout for Saturday's Belmont Stakes. The official clocking for five furlongs was 1:01.

"It was nice and easy," Baffert said. "I just didn't want him to do too much. He's really fit. He wanted to go. Dana [Barnes, the exercise rider] said he was just galloping. The main thing is just keeping him happy. If they're happy and sound, those good horses get there."

The Kentucky Derby-Preakness winner will be flown to New York Wednesday. Baffert said the colt should arrive at Belmont Park about 10 a.m. EDT.

Baffert will fly with the horse and wear a mask because he is allergic to straw and hay. The only other time the trainer flew with a horse was when he accompanied Silver Charm to New York for the colt's unsuccessful bid to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978. He finished second in the Belmont last year.

In his final work, Real Quiet zipped the first eighth of a mile in 11 4-5 seconds, and Baffert, communicating with Barnes by radio, told her, "Easy. Slow him down. Let's keep the juice in the tank."

In the 1 1/2-mile Belmont, Real Quiet could meet as many as 11 other 3-year-olds. Two of them, Victory Gallop and Basic Trainee, also ran in the Derby and Preakness. Victory Gallop finished second in both races. Basic Trainee finished last in the 15-horse Derby and was eighth in the 10-horse Preakness.

"That's what a million dollars [the Belmont purse] will do," Pegram said of the Belmont field.

Should Real Quiet become the 12th Triple Crown champion, his purses for the three races will total a little more than $2 million and he will earn a $5 million bonus offered by Visa.

Pegram bought the colt as a yearling for $17,000. He already was named Real Quiet, and then was nicknamed The Fish by Baffert because of his narrow build.

Pegram said if he had renamed the colt, "It would have been Tropical Fish, but I'm superstitious about changing names.

"The better horses I have, the fewer superstitions I have," Baffert said.

According to one of his superstitions, throwing a hat on a bed is bad luck. That's what his wife, Sherry, did during the week of Silver Charm's loss by three-quarters of a length to Touch Gold in the Belmont.

She also threw a hat on a bed before Real Quiet won the Preakness, but Baffert decided that since the hat landed on a dress it didn't actually touch the bed.

Baffert also said if he is wearing a necktie while one of his horses is badly beaten, he won't wear the tie again.

One more thing:

"I get very religious before a big race," Baffert said.

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