DVD - REAL QUIET's 1998 RUN for the TRIPLE CROWN...VICTORY GALLOP in BELMONT

On DVD or VHS: REAL QUIET battles VICTORY GALLOP in a 1998 Triple Crown nail-biter!!

 The year is 1998 and trainer BOB BAFFERT is about to experience dejavu - it's a year when the Derby is thought to be wide open and BAFFERT's real hope is supposed to be a horse named, INDIAN CHARLIE. But the Arizona trainer who had won the first two legs of the Triple Crown the year before with his beloved, SILVER CHARM, this time brings an insurance policy to Churchill Downs - REAL QUIET, an unimposing specimen with a crooked front end and a narrow fish-like frame. On top of that, BAFFERT discovers that his back-up horse, the bargain-basement priced $17,000 REAL QUIET, had screws and wires put in both knees when he was only six-months-old.

Coming into the Derby REAL QUIET was only two for twelve in lifetime starts but just a few weeks before the Santa Anita Derby he began to show real promise finishing a close second to INDIAN CHARLIE and on Derby day, KENT DESORMEAUX was sitting on a loaded gun as REAL QUIET was training superbly and looking svelte but fit.

SEE ALL THREE OF REAL QUIET's TRIPLE CROWN RACES FROM START TO FINISH in a Triple Crown year which also featured these memorable horses: CAPE TOWN, HALORY HUNTER, THOMAS JO, OLD TRIESTE, RAFFIE'S MAJESTY, FAVORITE TRICK, ROCK AND ROLL, YARROW BRAE, PARADE GROUND, CLASSIC CAT and GRAND SLAM!

REAL QUIET would just hold off the late charge of the fast closing VICTORY GALLOP to race out of the shadows of his stable mate, INDIAN CHARLIE, and to come into his own in the sunshine of Kentucky - giving BOB BAFFERT his second set of roses. What made REAL QUIET's victory even more noteworthy was his incredibly modest pedigree - no other horse since 1929 with the exception of STRIKE THE GOLD in 1991 had won the Derby with a dosage index above 4.0 - the classic guideline figure. The dosage index is a method of quantifying a horse's pedigree to predict his ability as a performer - REAL QUIET carried a 5.29 which further speculated his Derby win as a fluke.

VICTORY GALLOP was the favorite coming into the Preakness when the mount was given to GARY STEVENS; meanwhile BOB BAFFERT was seeking to become the first trainer to win double back-to-back Derbys and Preaknesses and KENT DESORMEAUX was coming home to the track that launched his career. In the Preakness, REAL QUIET dug in deep all the way to the wire - his lifetime effort was that day - once again VICTORY GALLOP finished second.

With a resounding victory in the Preakness, BOB BAFFERT comes into the Belmont on the edge of immortality but with no guarantees. Though REAL QUIET is finally the favorite at 3-5 he still has his critics; the colt's greatness will be determined at the grueling Belmont Stakes where only eleven horses before him had seized the Triple Crown. What's more...1998 marks three Triple Crown anniversaries: the golden anniversary of CITATION, the silver of SECRETARIAT, and AFFIRMED's 20th anniversary since he out-dueled ALYDAR. A rivalry has also developed in 1998 between REAL QUIET and VICTORY GALLOP and so the stage is set: will REAL QUIET be the 12th Triple Crown winner?

In one of the most emotional, agonizing, and controversial Belmont finishes in history, REAL QUIET was defeated by the narrowest, scantiest nose bob by VICTORY GALLOP in his tremendous stretch drive as he just caught REAL QUIET at the wire. The Belmont Stakes of 1998 was the most devastating, ""beats"", in the history of, "bad beats"; REAL QUIET missed by a couple inches a place in Triple Crown history/immortality and even worse for BOB BAFFERT who 50 yards from the finish in 1997 thought he was going to win the Triple Crown with SILVER CHARM - which was not to be. It was ironic that it was GARY STEVENS riding VICTORY GALLOP who would play the "spoiler" de-railing BOB BAFFERT's second consecutive Triple Crown bid. STEVENS who the year before rode the marvelous SILVER CHARM for BAFFERT had known what it was like to lose the Triple Crown in the stretch at the Belmont. "I saw the look on KENT's face and I know the feeling...it's heartbreaking...", said STEVENS. Heartbreaking too for BOB BAFFERT who for two straight years had been denied the ultimate prize in the final strides of the final race in the, "Run for the Crown."

AS AN ADDED BONUS... two superbly produced mini segments on REAL QUIET as featured on horse racing channel, HRTV's, "Inside Information", series in addition to a ""Past the Stands""segment are included after the main feature ends.   

39 Minutes.

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