Forever Charming
Hall of Fame member Silver Charm, now living at Old Friends in Kentucky, continues to be a fan favorite 20 years after winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes
In the spring of 1997, a sensational gray colt captivated the sport of thoroughbred racing by winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. All eyes were on Silver Charm as the days leading up to the Belmont Stakes dwindled.
The fairytale ending, however, did not come to fruition at least not then. In his bid for the game’s holy grail, Silver Charm was denied the Triple Crown by the cruel margin of only three-quarters of a length. Touch Gold, ridden by Chris McCarron, rallied past Silver Charm and Gary Stevens to win a nail-biting renewal of the Belmont, silencing the raucous crowd of 70,682.
Although he didn’t get to carry the title of America’s 12th Triple Crown winner, Silver Charm’s story has been remarkable nonetheless. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007, Silver Charm continues to be adored by countless racing fans throughout the world. Now settled into a life of leisure at Old Friends, a thoroughbred retirement farm near Georgetown, Ky., Silver Charm is as popular now as he was during his heyday on the track 20 years ago if not more so. His fame has been anything but fleeting.
Silver Charm’s impact on Old Friends has gone beyond what the farm’s founder and president, Michael Blowen, ever imagined.
“He’s Elvis,” Blowen said. “I knew people would love seeing him, but never in my wildest dreams thought it would be like it has. Our number of visitors has basically doubled since he arrived. We got listed on Expedia. com as a top tourist attraction in Kentucky. Silver Charm is the biggest reason why these things have happened.
“People love him. He’s easy to love … just so genuine and honest. He’s a big puppy dog around everyone. You’ll never meet a kinder horse. That said, he knows he’s the boss around here. He has that regal mystique all the great ones possess.”
Campaigned by Bob and Beverly Lewis and trained by Bob Baffert, Silver Charm compiled a record of 12-7-2 from 24 starts and earned $6.9 million. A son of Silver Buck Bonnie’s Poker, by Poker, he was bred in Florida and sold as a yearling for a mere $16,500. On the advice of J.B. and Kevin McKathan, Baffert purchased Silver Charm privately for $85,000 as a 2-year-old and convinced the Lewises he had a prospect worth investing in. Baffert, as he often is when it comes to talent evaluation, was right.
Both Baffert and Stevens have made multiple visits to Old Friends to catch up with their old teammate. Silver Charm gave Baffert his first wins in both the Derby and Preakness. Baffert also won those two races in 1998 with Real Quiet and in 2002 with War Emblem, another Old Friends resident, before finally winning the Triple Crown with American Pharoah in 2015. Even with all his success in the years since Silver Charm, Baffert still has a hard time ranking any horse above his first classic winner.
“I get emotional when I see him. He really means a great deal to me,” Baffert said. “Silver Charm is such a noble horse. He’s right there with Pharoah among the favorite horses I’ve been fortunate to train. I’m so thrilled he’s at Old Friends. He looks fantastic. They really take great care of him and he’s become such a wonderful ambassador for racing.”
Stevens also fondly recalls his experiences with Silver Charm.
“He was a real fighter. He had talent for sure, but it was his determination that made him special,” said Stevens, who has won more than 5,000 races, including nine Triple Crown events, in his Hall of Fame career. “You always knew he was going to give everything he had. Silver Charm is one of my all-time favorites … really great memories with that guy. It’s meant a lot to me to have a chance to be around him again.”
Following his retirement in 1999, Silver Charm spent five years as a stallion at Three Chimneys in Kentucky before a 10-year stint in Japan at the JBBA Shizunai Stallion Station. In 2014, the Lewis family paid to bring Silver Charm back to the United States and set him up at Old Friends.
“I got a call from Sandy Hatfield at Three Chimneys and she asked me if I was interested in having a big gray stallion at Old Friends,” Blowen said. “I kind of freaked out. We had been working on this for a while and I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I remember driving the golf cart to the back end of the farm and screaming and doing a crazy man dance. I had to keep it a secret for a while, which was hard for me because I’m a bit of a talker. I kept it quiet, but I was so excited people around me knew something big was up.”
Old Friends is home to numerous accomplished racehorses. Along with Silver Charm and War Emblem, there is threetime Santa Anita Handicap winner Game On Dude and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Alphabet Soup. There are also Belmont winners Sarava and Touch Gold, Silver Charm’s old nemesis.
“We haven’t set up a rematch yet,” Blowen said. “Touch Gold won the Belmont and we love him, but Silver Charm is definitely the farm’s alpha male.”
Blowen said it still seems surreal to him at times that a Hall of Fame racehorse as revered as Silver Charm is living in his backyard.
“I know I’ll never take it for granted that he’s here with us. He means the world to me,” Blowen said.
“He’s my favorite horse of all time. I know a lot of other people feel the same way about him. I just consider myself so lucky to be around him. He’s a blessing.”