Silver Fox is on the prowl

"This is awful," wailed Baffert. "With Officer, we wanted to be on the outside to cruise and see what was developing. Down on the inside, you can get in a match race.

That's what makes the Breeders' Cup so tough. You can train the hell out of them and do everything right, but then you've got to deal with a bad draw."

His year has been one of luck in both guises. After a lifeless effort in the Kentucky Derby, his Point Given rapidly emerged as one of America's most exciting thoroughbreds of recent times.

He took the final two legs of the Triple Crown, running away with the Belmont by more than 12 lengths.

Nicknamed Big Red Train, he railroaded rivals in the Haskell Handicap and Travers Stakes to become the first horse to win four $1 million races in a row. The Classic beckoned.

But injury cut him down last month. Baffert was devastated.

"It really hurt me," he admitted. "Horses like him are so hard to come by. I'm just glad he did what he did before he got hurt. If he was here, we wouldn't even be talking about Officer - it'd all be Point Given.

"I was pretty depressed. Then 11 September happened and I got over it really quick.

"Coming back to New York three weeks ago, I went to Ground Zero and thought: What the hell am I crying about? It changed my outlook. The little things that go wrong? Don't worry about it."

But passionate Baffert replaced his restrained incarnation when yesterday's draw went against him.

Perhaps he fears a repeat of Point Given's Juvenile defeat for Officer, about whom he exuded quiet confidence sitting on that gate. He's the 'supa-stah' - the horse so good they named him four times.

"The first time I worked him, he was amazing," recalled Baffert.

"He was just cruising and I was timing him. I told Richard Mulhall (racing manager to owner Prince Ahmed bin Salman's Thoroughbred Corporation): 'We've got a good one here. I mean really, really good. We gotta change that name'."

Called Ashen when they bought him, the colt had already been renamed Pasquale's Best after a local restauranteur.

The next try was Thriving, but then the Prince's secretary got pulled over by the traffic police and inspiration struck.

Officer is now unbowed after five spectacular starts and considered 4-5 Stateside to net Baffert his third success in the event responsible for his chosen career.

"I was training quarter-horses and watching the Breeders' Cup on TV," recalled 48-year-old Baffert. "I thought: 'That's awesome: a guy might have a shot at winning one of those.' The Kentucky Derby - no way I could even win one, but this...

"The first time I came was 1991. It was so cold. I just had my sport coat and a shirt. My nipples were so hard I got irritation. I had to put BandAids on them. I vowed not to go back unless I had a really good chance."

A year on, Thirty Slews won him the Sprint. Come 1998, when Silverbulletday took the Juvenile Fillies, he'd even won successive Kentucky Derbies with Real Quiet that year and Silver Charm in 1997. Both doubled up in the Preakness. That March, Silver Charm rewarded Baffert's bold Dubaian raid by lifting the World Cup.

If the Fox trots away with another major prize this Saturday, you know he'll wear his jubilation on his sleeve. Just below his stetson.