Columnist Ralph Siraco: Point Given emerges as clear Derby favorite

Ralph Siraco

Monday, April 9, 2001 | 9:28 a.m.

Ralph Siraco's horse racing column appears Monday, and his Southern California selections run Tuesday through Friday. Reach him c/o Las Vegas Sun, 2275 Corporate Circle Drive, Suite 300, Henderson, NV 89014.

We are now less than a month away from the 127th Kentucky Derby.

Several Derby prep races were run over the weekend, and the final series of Kentucky Derby steppingstones will come Saturday when the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct and the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park will be held.

This past Saturday's Derby eliminations included the Flamingo Stakes at Hialeah, the Illinois Derby at Sportsman's Park, the Lone Star Derby at Lone Star Park and the Santa Anita Derby.

But after the awesome display by Santa Anita Derby winner Point Given, one would wonder why any of the other winners would bother showing up at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.

Point Given, a son of 1995 Kentucky Derby winner Thunder Gulch, destroyed the best in the West in a one-sided procession that heads right to Louisville. His 5 1/2-length victory over Crafty C.T. and I Love Silver has put the Kentucky Derby future book favorite right on target for the "Run for the Roses."

Jockey Gary Stevens, who tied Bill Shoemaker with his eighth Santa Anita Derby win, said the only instruction trainer Bob Baffert gave him before the race was to get Point Given really tired so the trainer didn't have to do much with him between the race and the Kentucky Derby. Winning the Santa Anita Derby was the easy part, but getting Point Given tired in the process would have needed at least two more laps around the Arcadia oval.

Baffert is back in the limelight with yet another shot at the Derby, and what many observers believe is a legitimate chance for yet another crack at the Triple Crown. There is no doubt that Point Given now goes to the top of the class as the pre-Derby favorite. In fact, the final pari-mutuel Kentucky Derby future book pool closed on Sunday afternoon with Point Given a 2-1 choice to take the roses and give Baffert his third Kentucky Derby win in five years.

In 1996, Baffert saw his Santa Anita Derby winner Cavonnier miss winning in Kentucky by a nose (to Grindstone). The following year, his Silver Charm finished second to Free House at Santa Anita and parlayed that effort into Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes wins. In 1998, Baffert won the Santa Anita Derby with Indian Charlie and won the Kentucky Derby with runner-up Real Quiet.

This year, the way Point Given performed on Saturday, Baffert finds himself with a fit running machine that is relatively fresh for a grueling five-week run at the Triple Crown.

Point Given started the campaign on August 12 with a runner-up effort at Del Mar. His next start was a maiden-breaking outing two weeks later. A trip to Kentucky produced a Kentucky Cup Juvenile victory at Turfway Park. Then, Point Given finished second in the Grade I Champagne at Belmont Park on October 14, a showing that garnered him a trip to Churchill Downs for the Breeders' Cup. A stirring stretch charge found Point Given falling a nose short of victory to Macho Uno in the BC Juvenile on November 4.

Two weeks later, Point Given won the Grade II Hollywood Futurity at the Inglewood track with a solid performance. Now, with the March 17 Grade II San Felipe stakes and the Santa Anita Derby in tow, the huge-framed muscular colt rolls into Kentucky in top form: Eight lifetime starts over six different tracks with five victories and three runner-up outings. And, it should be noted, he has raced over two of the three Triple Crown tracks as a 2-year-old.