HI HO SILVER CHARM

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Days before that wrenching finish, Baffert received a videotape of a 2-year-old gray that was up for sale in Ocala, Fla. According to Baffert, "he had a beautiful long stride, absolutely effortless, and a quarter-mile time that was pretty damn good. But I hadn't seen him in person, so this was like buying on the Home Shopping Network." Baffert's offer of $85,000 was accepted, and Silver Charm was his. The horse had been overlooked for a number of reasons. He was literally an ugly yearling, hairless because of mange. His breeding wasn't very special. But lurking in his pedigree was his dam's sire, Poker, who was also the maternal grandfather of 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew.

One of the more refreshing aspects of Baffert's personality is his willingness to admit his mistakes. He also puts a lot of stock in fate, and he truly believes Silver Charm would not be racing for the $5 million Visa bonus that goes with winning the Triple Crown had it not been for owner Bob Lewis, a Budweiser distributor who has invested a lot of money and love in Thoroughbreds. "Bob is driving the bus," he says. "Gary and I are just along for the ride." The bus ride began when Baffert ran into the Lewises at a Huntington Beach, Calif., restaurant the week before last year's Derby. He talked them into entering Criollito in the 1996 Churchill Downs Handicap on Derby Day. While discussing Criollito's training with Lewis later that week, Baffert sold him on Silver Charm. Criollito won, but the Lewises had to watch the race at the Louisville Airport because they were on their way back to California to be with their daughter Nancy, who was in labor. So the way Baffert figures it, Silver Charm is a reward for the Lewises.

In some ways Baffert is a reward for horse-racing writers. They loved it when he told them the week before this year's Derby, "This time I brought a horse with a longer nose." They loved it when he filled out a questionnaire at a local hair salon and, under occupation, wrote down "porn star." They loved it when he helped Stevens up onto Silver Charm just before the Derby and told him, "May the horse be with you." Most of all, they loved it when his horse won a sensational stretch drive with favorite Captain Bodgit. In the winner's circle Baffert literally danced with the trophy. At the victory party afterward, Baffert kept telling Lewis, in homage to the ad campaign for one of the owner's beers, "I love you, man." After the Derby, Baffert says, he felt like the Robert Redford character in The Candidate who asks, after winning the Senate race, "What do we do now?"