Third time a charm for trainer Elliott Walden

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Posted: Saturday June 06, 1998 08:48 PM

Walden (left) won his first trainer's title last spring with 22 victories (AP)

ELMONT, New York (AP) -- Elliott Walden knew history hung in the balance as his Victory Gallop closed ground on Real Quiet in the Belmont Stakes.

Victory Gallop would either join Alydar, the only other horse to finish second in the three Triple Crown races, or enter a group with Easy Goer and Bet Twice as Triple Crown spoilers.

Spoiler it was, by a nose.

"I think it's fair to turn the tables," Walden said in the winner's circle at Belmont Park on Saturday. "Victory Gallop's a fighter. It's a great feeling."

It must be, after Walden had to settle for second to Real Quiet in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.

"He just keeps coming," Walden said of his 3-year-old Canadian bred, who became the 14th horse to spoil a Triple Crown try.

Before the Belmont, Walden spent the week discussing how he felt Victory Gallop should have won the Derby, but that having the outside post and being forced five horses wide was too much to overcome.

"I watched it on tape, and every time I watch it, it looks like we get closer," Walden joked.

In the weeks leading up to the Belmont, both Prestonwood Farms' Victory Gallop and Walden had setbacks. The horse developed a rash and the trainer broke his right ankle in a pickup basketball game.

"He lost weight after the Preakness much like Real Quiet," Walden said. "I did what I felt I had to do with the horse, which was cut back from two works in between to one work.

"He's really blossomed the last week. As the week went on, I gained more and more confidence in him."

Walden, based at Churchill Downs with a stable of 40 horses, won his first trainer's title last spring with 22 victories.

But the only title he cares about now is Belmont Stakes winner, and joining such spoilers as Easy Goer, who denied Sunday Silence a triple in 1989, and Bet Twice, who stopped Alysheba's bid in 1987.

"It's not about beating Bob Baffert, or beating Real Quiet or even beating Favorite Trick in the Arkansas Derby," Walden said. "I'm just happy for my connections."

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