Columnist Ralph Siraco: Skippy answers skeptics

IT IS HARD to believe that trainer Sonny Hine ever thought his champion Skip Away couldn't beat any horse he's ever faced. It is also hard to imagine that the conservative laid-back conditioner would ever say his famous gray running machine couldn't get the best of any horse he ever raced against.

But, after last year's Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park, Sonny conceded his then 4-year-old ace couldn't handle Formal Gold. That rival had just handed Skippy his second consecutive thrashing, having won the Philip H. Iselin Handicap in their previous meeting and beating him by daylight in both encounters.

Formal Gold never raced again and Skip Away hasn't lost a race since then.

On Saturday, Skip Away returned to Belmont Park in this year's Woodward Stakes and beat a cream-of-the-crop assemblage of the handicap division's who's who, and with it the unofficial claim to this year's Horse of the Year honors.

The Woodward to Woodward span has seen the once vulnerable son of Skip Trial turn into the sport's latest superstar. He has put together a nine-race win streak that has taken him to six different race tracks from coast to coast on surfaces that varied from good to wet-fast to fast. He has carried his speed at distances of 1 1/8 miles, 1-3/16 miles and the American classic route of 1 1/4 miles while packing poundage of 124 to 131 and spotting most of his rivals double-digit spread in weights. He has won seven Grade I events -- six in a row and has met and beat all challenges on the track under anything but ideal conditions.

Skip Away has provided the ride of a lifetime for his owner Carolyn Hine and her husband, trainer Sonny Hine, in a lifetime dedicated to the great sport of horse racing. He has turned a $22,500 purchase into an $18 million stallion syndication. The love affair that Carolyn and Sonny have for "their" baby has transformed into an international love affair from an ever-growing fan club and the popularity that becomes a superstar.

The ugly duckling has turned into the bell of the ball.

No longer is Skip Away handsome in the eyes of just Sonny and Carolyn. No longer will he be denied his place with the equine greats of the past.

Saturday at Belmont Park the last of the skeptics were silenced.

Luck was not always on Skippy's side.

After showing signs of his brilliance with a track record performance at Keeneland's Bluegrass Stakes when he broke the great Round Table's track mark, Skip Away drew an impossible post for the Kentucky Derby, and later the same for the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. He would race in the shadows of Grindstone, Louis Quatorze and Editor's Note in the Triple Crown, but would post the biggest victory by a 3-year-old in the fall of 1996. When many were questioning Sonny's smarts for running Skip Away against racing's monster Cigar in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, it was Sonny smiling in the winners circle after Skippy outfinished his famous elder at the end.

The Hines showed their sportsmanship and faith in Skippy after last year's Jockey Club Gold Cup victory by supplementing their horse to the Breeders' Cup for $480,000. Skip Away responded by taking the Classic with resounding authority and left the best they could muster in his wake.

With a split in the vote, Skip Away lost Horse of the Year honors last year to the undefeated juvenile Favorite Trick.

Sonny vowed a Skip Away return in quest of the sport's all-time money earning record and a Horse of the Year trophy.

Skip Away returned in February in Florida and polished off the Donn and Gulfstream Park Handicaps while Sonny was criticized for beating nothing in those races.

While trainer Bob Baffert chided Sonny for not going to Dubai in March to take on his Silver Charm in the World Cup, which Silver Charm won, Skip Away won the Pimlico Special in May. Silver Charm, in the meantime, hasn't won a race since.

Again Sonny took heat for returning to Boston for an "easy" spot in the MassCap at Suffolk Downs while Skippy accepted 130 pounds. However, Sonny's loyalty to a region of Skip Away fans was received with another victory by the gray.

Then, for the second time Sonny traveled west, to compete in the Hollywood Gold Cup at Hollywood Park. Just a week before the race, Skippy got loose on the Belmont Part race track during morning workouts and bruised his feet. Sonny and Skippy kept their date in California and Skip Away won the Gold Cup defeating the west's best with blistered feet and filling in his legs.

After a needed rest, Skip Away returned to Monmouth Park for another try at the Iselin. Packing 131 pounds, Skip Away showed his heart and competitive spirit when he re-rallied to win by a nose while spotting his rival 18 pounds. Sonny, again was questioned about getting favorable conditions for his star. Again, it was learned that Sonny, in keeping his promise to Monmouth Park, ran Skippy with sore leges as a result of medication reaction. Again, Skippy came through.

And Saturday, in the best field of handicap starters since the 1967 Woodward that featured Damascus beating the great Buckpasser and Dr. Fager, Skip Away faced Gentlemen, in their rubber match, Free House and the sophomore sensation Coronado's Quest. The five-year-old gray champion put the last of the critics to rest as he outraced, overpowered, and ran away from the best racing horseflesh in the world.

Skip Away has arrived. There is one more score left to settle for the gray. Cigar's all-time earning's record of $9,999,815 is just one win away from falling to Skip Away and that could come in the October 10th Jockey Club Gold Cup or his defense of the $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs on Nov. 7.

Sonny's comments after this year's Woodward were much different from ;last year's when he said, "I wasn't worried" We say, it's about time.

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