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Point Given adds to Preakness legacy By Dave Johnson Special to ESPN.com The real Survivor in this year's Triple Crown is trainer Bob Baffert. His horses, Point Given and Congaree, both have showed the precocious talent of a Shirley Temple and the business like professionalism of a Harold Ickes. Now it is on to New York, no Granada for trainer Baffert, who lost two Triple Crown hopes in the final strides of the Belmont Stakes in 1997 and 1998. But this is a new day. The Vanguard of media now move their computers and television trucks to Long Island. More fun, especially if Baffert shows. If you bet Dollar Bill in the Preakness you don?t get a Refund. You should, just because of all his bad luck. D. Wayne Lukas, Sly Fox that he is, is lying in wait in the Belmont backstretch with Buckle Down Ben. Now that it is that sort of Half Time of this year?s Triple Crown, he makes a delayed entrance. Attention must be paid. He has been The Parader of three straight Belmont winners. Tabasco Cat in 1994, Thunder Gulch in 1995 and Editor?s Note the year after that. Gary Stevens is enjoying a comeback that every athlete must dream about. He retired in December of 1999, and un-retired in the fall of 2000. Since then he has won the Breeders? Cup Mile on War Chant, and the Preakness on Point Given among many many stakes races. Now he announces he will shift his tack to jolly Old England for the fortnight of racing known as Royal Ascot. Four days of thoroughbred sport that is unequaled in quality and competition. The Royal Meeting takes place Tuesday through Friday, June 19th. through 22nd. Gary will be a Royal Tourist of sorts, since he will ride a horse or two for Queen Elizabeth II. One of the highlights of his life was winning the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes on Blueprint, in June of 1999 for The Queen. This year it will not be a Holiday, but a working trip, with hopes Gary can secure a mount or two for Breeders Cup 18,to be held at Belmont Park on October 27th. this year. Horseplayers may be on a Vigil at the barn of Nick Zito, after A P Valentine finally came to life in the Preakness. This is a 3-year-old who didn?t seem to make the transition from top class 2-year-old into his sophomore year. His effort at Pimlico may promise more than he delivers at his home track in New York on June 9th. As a freshman runner, his Champagne stakes victory was a Display of gritty power for a young horse. It was a tough ninth to first tally. Zito now says he would not run in the Champagne if he had to do it again. If the aforementioned Lukas is the Sly Fox, Bob Baffert is the Gallant Fox. He was totally shocked when one of his charges did not win this year?s Kentucky Derby. I know he expected Point Given to win in Louisville, and if beaten it would be by Congaree. The latter was somewhat of an unknown quantity before and after the Wood. They still don?t know how good he is. But I think Congaree would win the Belmont if Baffert would enter him. The races Congaree ran in the Wood Memorial and the Kentucky Derby were awesome. Then he bounced in The Preakness. He would be like Bold Forbes, who nobody thought would get the mile and a half in the Belmont Stakes, but he did. Congaree would too, especially if Jerry Bailey were made his Mate. The lead up to racing?s third jewel is a bit of a Head Play for the trainers involved. I can remember Johnny Campo getting Pleasant Colony ready for his try at immortality after winning the Derby and Preakness in 1961. He was a great talker prior to a big contest, and the best guest at a press conference you could hope for. He tried to boast, frighten, and ridicule other conditioners from running against him. It didn?t work on Luis Barrera, who trained Summing, and denied Pleasant Colony the Triple Crown. It is a High Quest to start the rocky road to racing?s greatest prize. A Bold Venture that takes guts, courage, a great horse and a talented rider, and lady luck on your side. That lady has not smiled on Dallas Stewart and his steed, Dollar Bill. Lousy luck in Louisiana, Clubhouse turn chaos in Kentucky, backstretch blockage in Maryland. Stewart looked Pensive as his runner cooled out after The Preakness, then glanced at me and laughed. Seriously! He laughed and said ?How could one horse have this much bad luck in three straight big races?? I have no answer, but it seems he?s about due to pop a big one. The Assault on the next jewel is ahead for Dollar Bill, but he will have to be Faultless if he is to receive the Citation in the winners circle from Governor George Pataki on Long Island. Sometimes it takes Bold moves to win the big one. A Bold Ruler from Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed, has a rising star named E Dubai that could be trouble. In the Royal Orbit of Nad Al Sheba racecourse and Belmont Park, E Dubai has impressed all who have seen him run. His lone New York appearance had to make the Majestic Prince think he had a Belmont candidate when he crossed the line 10 lengths better than his rivals. This runner from the sands of Dubai has Personality and class. Monarchos Affirmed his Florida Derby form was no fluke when he took the roses in May. Can he come back from his sixth-place finish and mount a Spectacular Bid for 3-year-old of 2001 honors at Belmont Park? Monarchos was the Risen Star until Point Given eclipsed him two weeks later in the Sunday Silence, the day after the Preakness, Baffert was uncertain when Congaree or Point Given would start next. It may get Real Quiet after the Belmont, but this crop of 3-year-olds will make a lot of noise through the Summer Squall of The Travers and The Haskell. Who will wear the 3-year-old championship crown? No horse is as Charismatic as that Red Bullet known as Secretariat, but this correspondent thinks Point Given will be the champ, and give the other trainers a Bally Ache come Eclipse time. The following horses, mentioned above, have won the Preakness:
1873 Survivor
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