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Interview With Nick Charles

Aired May 12, 2003 - 13:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The Kentucky Derby's winning jockey is reportedly in the clear now. Racing officials questioned Funny Cide rider Jose Santos about what was in his hand as he crossed the finish line. Associated Press reports the officials found no evidence that an illegal device was used to win the rice. We are expecting an official announcement in the next hour.
Until then, Nick Charles of "Showtime Sports" joins us to discuss the late breaking developments. Good to see you, Nick.

NICK CHARLES, "SHOWTIME SPORTS": Always good to see you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: It is a nice reunion.

CHARLES: Miles also.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It is good to see you, Nick. We are glad to have you back. Tell us -- your expertise in this -- there is nobody we could find better.

CHARLES: Thank you. We cover 20 Derbies at CNN, and I will tell you, this is -- I remember Jose Santos aboard a favorite back in the '80s. He's a very good guy who, I think, deserved better that this. He's exonerated now. I am happy to see that. I'm not saying these things don't happen in racing, but at the same time, this is his moment to bask in the glow of a job well done. He had a dinner tonight in New York. They were honoring him. And now he is instead embroiled in front of cameras and microphones.

PHILLIPS: Now, when you were talking about this this morning, you pretty much knew this was probably going to die out. Your feeling was that he would be exonerated. So what does this mean? Is this irresponsible journalism, is that what needs to be addressed now?

CHARLES: I think it is. The Miami reporter said that he was 95 percent certain. He told the Louisville "Courier Journal," I'm 95 percent certain of what Santos told me. Well, we're all journalists. We know 95 just doesn't cut it.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Got to be 110 percent.

CHARLES: So that's a big problem. And the second thing, to be politically correct, here is a guy who works in Miami, South Florida, and he has a language problem with Jose Santos who -- he obviously had -- there was some misinterpretation. Santos is from Chile, he's been in the States for a while, but he speaks heavily accented English. That's why you really have to get it right. So to come down on this guy and then to look at one picture, and when you blow it up, it wasn't -- it was so clear that this was not some battery-operated jolt for the horse. It was the silks of the guy who finished second, and the horse's ear that finished second.

O'BRIEN: Well, let me ask you this. If you were desirous of cheating this way, are there devices out there that you can jolt a horse with the push of a button, something that small?

CHARLES: Yes. About five years ago, it happened. In fact, 1999, three weeks before the Kentucky Derby, at the Arkansas Derby, Bill Patin, a jockey, had what they call a buzzer -- and what it does is it jolts a horse, gives them a little bit more in terms of maximum effort.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: There it is...

(CROSSTALK)

CHARLES: There it is. You can see him drop that little battery that they found later on the track. So it has happened. He was suspended for five years.

O'BRIEN: And that is enough of a jolt for a huge animal, to zap them along?

CHARLES: Well -- yes. Sometimes they sort of loaf on the lead, even if a horse has the lead, and they tend to not want to -- they want to run in the pack rather than run ahead, and sometimes they get caught that way.

So when you're done whipping him, and Santos went from right to left to right with the whip, which is a very difficult thing to do, 35 miles an hour, and carry a battery, but those things have happened.

But once again, it is clear that the stewards in Kentucky looked at this from several angles and exonerated the guy as they should have done. And I'd be curious to see what the "Miami Herald" does now.

PHILLIPS: Well, also now, he's been exonerated, but boy, he has been in the headlines now for days. What does this do to Jose Santos and his career?

CHARLES: Well, he needed to have his career cleared. It was a great ride by a great rider who has had his ups and downs. He's a wonderful story, grew up in poverty-stricken Chile. It was -- just horrible conditions and came to the United States and really made something of himself. He was jockey of the year, I believe, in '88 or '89, then hit the skids again in terms of hitting a terrible slump as a rider. Forty-two years old now and a family man, and he hits the sky here, winning the Breeder's Cup a few -- the $4 million Breeders Cup race a few months ago, and now this. So once again, it is Jose Santos' time, and I'm happy for him. I think, obviously, his name has been cleared.

O'BRIEN: Well, I suppose one way to settle all this would be to win at Pimlico.

CHARLES: Now we are talking.

(CROSSTALK)

CHARLES: Miles, well, see, that is the great thing. In a curious way, I work for Showtime. We had a guy, Mike Tyson. The last fight, we didn't know when this guy was going to get in the ring. He had the tattoos all over him. Then he didn't want to fight. It wasn't enough money. Then he was sick. You know what? That was the most negative stuff attached to a fight that I've been around. And you know what? We got boffo ratings, and that could happen with the Preakness. A little bit of notoriety sometimes is free publicity and it generates the publicity wheel.

But, at the same time, this is a nice horse. He finally got a great trip in Kentucky. Everybody can say, oh yes, I really figured on paper that this was the horse. I had him in my top five. I certainly didn't have him to win the race. So again, I think the Preakness, all of a sudden, which tends to get lost in the Triple Crown scheme of things becomes a much more appealing race as a result of this.

PHILLIPS: Sometimes bad press is good press. Everyone is going to be watching Jose Santos.

O'BRIEN: They spell the name right.

PHILLIPS: There you go. Thanks, Nick Charles.

CHARLES: Thank you. A pleasure.

O'BRIEN: Great to see you, Nick. Come back, will you.

CHARLES: Thank you, Miles.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired May 12, 2003 - 13:45   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The Kentucky Derby's winning jockey is reportedly in the clear now. Racing officials questioned Funny Cide rider Jose Santos about what was in his hand as he crossed the finish line. Associated Press reports the officials found no evidence that an illegal device was used to win the rice. We are expecting an official announcement in the next hour.
Until then, Nick Charles of "Showtime Sports" joins us to discuss the late breaking developments. Good to see you, Nick.

NICK CHARLES, "SHOWTIME SPORTS": Always good to see you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: It is a nice reunion.

CHARLES: Miles also.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It is good to see you, Nick. We are glad to have you back. Tell us -- your expertise in this -- there is nobody we could find better.

CHARLES: Thank you. We cover 20 Derbies at CNN, and I will tell you, this is -- I remember Jose Santos aboard a favorite back in the '80s. He's a very good guy who, I think, deserved better that this. He's exonerated now. I am happy to see that. I'm not saying these things don't happen in racing, but at the same time, this is his moment to bask in the glow of a job well done. He had a dinner tonight in New York. They were honoring him. And now he is instead embroiled in front of cameras and microphones.

PHILLIPS: Now, when you were talking about this this morning, you pretty much knew this was probably going to die out. Your feeling was that he would be exonerated. So what does this mean? Is this irresponsible journalism, is that what needs to be addressed now?

CHARLES: I think it is. The Miami reporter said that he was 95 percent certain. He told the Louisville "Courier Journal," I'm 95 percent certain of what Santos told me. Well, we're all journalists. We know 95 just doesn't cut it.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Got to be 110 percent.

CHARLES: So that's a big problem. And the second thing, to be politically correct, here is a guy who works in Miami, South Florida, and he has a language problem with Jose Santos who -- he obviously had -- there was some misinterpretation. Santos is from Chile, he's been in the States for a while, but he speaks heavily accented English. That's why you really have to get it right. So to come down on this guy and then to look at one picture, and when you blow it up, it wasn't -- it was so clear that this was not some battery-operated jolt for the horse. It was the silks of the guy who finished second, and the horse's ear that finished second.

O'BRIEN: Well, let me ask you this. If you were desirous of cheating this way, are there devices out there that you can jolt a horse with the push of a button, something that small?

CHARLES: Yes. About five years ago, it happened. In fact, 1999, three weeks before the Kentucky Derby, at the Arkansas Derby, Bill Patin, a jockey, had what they call a buzzer -- and what it does is it jolts a horse, gives them a little bit more in terms of maximum effort.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: There it is...

(CROSSTALK)

CHARLES: There it is. You can see him drop that little battery that they found later on the track. So it has happened. He was suspended for five years.

O'BRIEN: And that is enough of a jolt for a huge animal, to zap them along?

CHARLES: Well -- yes. Sometimes they sort of loaf on the lead, even if a horse has the lead, and they tend to not want to -- they want to run in the pack rather than run ahead, and sometimes they get caught that way.

So when you're done whipping him, and Santos went from right to left to right with the whip, which is a very difficult thing to do, 35 miles an hour, and carry a battery, but those things have happened.

But once again, it is clear that the stewards in Kentucky looked at this from several angles and exonerated the guy as they should have done. And I'd be curious to see what the "Miami Herald" does now.

PHILLIPS: Well, also now, he's been exonerated, but boy, he has been in the headlines now for days. What does this do to Jose Santos and his career?

CHARLES: Well, he needed to have his career cleared. It was a great ride by a great rider who has had his ups and downs. He's a wonderful story, grew up in poverty-stricken Chile. It was -- just horrible conditions and came to the United States and really made something of himself. He was jockey of the year, I believe, in '88 or '89, then hit the skids again in terms of hitting a terrible slump as a rider. Forty-two years old now and a family man, and he hits the sky here, winning the Breeder's Cup a few -- the $4 million Breeders Cup race a few months ago, and now this. So once again, it is Jose Santos' time, and I'm happy for him. I think, obviously, his name has been cleared.

O'BRIEN: Well, I suppose one way to settle all this would be to win at Pimlico.

CHARLES: Now we are talking.

(CROSSTALK)

CHARLES: Miles, well, see, that is the great thing. In a curious way, I work for Showtime. We had a guy, Mike Tyson. The last fight, we didn't know when this guy was going to get in the ring. He had the tattoos all over him. Then he didn't want to fight. It wasn't enough money. Then he was sick. You know what? That was the most negative stuff attached to a fight that I've been around. And you know what? We got boffo ratings, and that could happen with the Preakness. A little bit of notoriety sometimes is free publicity and it generates the publicity wheel.

But, at the same time, this is a nice horse. He finally got a great trip in Kentucky. Everybody can say, oh yes, I really figured on paper that this was the horse. I had him in my top five. I certainly didn't have him to win the race. So again, I think the Preakness, all of a sudden, which tends to get lost in the Triple Crown scheme of things becomes a much more appealing race as a result of this.

PHILLIPS: Sometimes bad press is good press. Everyone is going to be watching Jose Santos.

O'BRIEN: They spell the name right.

PHILLIPS: There you go. Thanks, Nick Charles.

CHARLES: Thank you. A pleasure.

O'BRIEN: Great to see you, Nick. Come back, will you.

CHARLES: Thank you, Miles.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com