Silver Charm

Silver Charm is an American Champion Thoroughbred race horse.

Trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Gary Stevens, Silver Charm won the 1997 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes before falling short of the Triple Crown by placing second in the Belmont Stakes to Touch Gold. He was voted the 1997 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Three-Year-Old Male Horse.

Racing at age 4, Silver Charm won the 1998 Dubai World Cup. For some time, he stood at Three Chimneys Farm. Then, purchased by the Japan Breeders Association, Silver Charm was retired to stud in Japan. He stood at the Shizunai Stallion Station in December 2004. In 2008 he stood at the Shichinohe Stallion Station. As of the 2009 breeding season, he is standing at the Iburi Stallion Station.

In the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century, Silver Charm was ranked #63.

In 2007, Silver Charm was elected to the United States' Racing Hall of Fame.

The Ferdinand Fee

When Silver Charm went to Japan to the Shizunai Stallion Station in 2004, there was a clause in his contract called a "buy-back clause." Ever since the death of the racehorse and Kentucky Derby winner, Ferdinand, who was sent to a slaughterhouse in Japan when his breeding days were done, the New York Owners and Breeder's Association, based in Saratoga Springs, New York, has begun asking for a small voluntary per-race charge (collected from owners of New York Breds) called the "Ferdinand Fee." These monies are intended for the Bluegrass Charities and the Thoroughbred Charities of America to help them fund race horse rescue and retirement groups. Some owners are now including buy-back clauses within their stallion contracts. Silver Charm is one of those fortunate stallions, as is Roses in May.