Innisfree Farm

Derby Choice Journal 2002 - 23th Edition

"The westernmost of the Arab emirates," was the phrase the Pulitzered New Yorker essayist, A.J. Liebling, chose to describe Louisiana. Liebling´s milieu was mostly an odd mix of gastronomy (The Road Back To Paris) and boxing (The Sweet Science), but he found time for the occasional foray into horse racing (The Honest Rainmaker) and, of course, politics. The latter brought him to the Bayou State for his seminal book, the Earl of Louisiana. That 1960 work was a poignant but hilarious tale of the late Governor Earl K. Long, younger brother of the fabled Huey. Uncle Earl, as he was known, defined political incorrectness before the term was born. His version of ecumenism was to declare "I consider myself 40% Catholic and 60% Baptist. In fact I am in favor of all religions except snake chunkin´." Of his opponent, Mayor deLesseps Morrison of New Orleans, he remarked that: "Ole Del la Soups is the only man that can talk out of both sides of his mouth, whistle, and strut all at once." He proudly repeated that "Uncle Earl´s a friend of the poor colored man," but his liberal use of the N word in public belied his sincere attempt to raise the status of African- Americans to equality in the state. In berating his racist bete-noire in the legislature, one Willie Rainach, Uncle Earl lectured from the podium: "Willie, one of these days you gonna retire and go back home. You´ll take off your boots, wash your feet, stare at the moon and get close to God. Then will you realize that niggers is human beings too." Coarse as that language sounds now, the governor held a view on race that was far more progressive than any uttered by a public official there to that point. Earl was a horseplayer and it was widely known that no state business was discussed until the Governor had reviewed hog prices and the racing form every morning. He would then place his bets for the day. A collection of state troopers was always on call to execute those transactions. Late in Earl´s time, a young trooper with a love of horse racing spent his leisure time learning to train, at first, quarter horses (so called because they usually race no more than a quarter of a mile) and later thoroughbreds. After a drunk driver bisected the trooper´s cruiser and permanently disabled him, Lloyd Romero pursued his avocation on a full time basis. Romero included his five sons in various phases of his horse operation from grooming to training and riding. All but one, an architect, would pursue professional careers involving the horse. At the bush tracks in Louisiana frequented by the Romeros, riders´ weights were not prescribed (catch weight was the rule, i.e. whatever weight one could catch) and pre-adolescent jockeys were commonplace. Son Randy, later to become a world-class rider of thoroughbreds, was one of them. Familiar names such as Eddie Delahoussaye and Kent Desormeaux also launched their riding careers thusly. In 1975, the Romeros pursued the All American Quarter Horse Futurity in Ruidoso, New Mexico with an undefeated graduate of the bush tracks. Randy rode Lloyd´s Rocket Magic to a third place finish in that richest of two year old quarter horse stakes races. Hollywood was sufficiently impressed to base the 1977 film, Casey´s Shadow (your kids will love it), on that story. In the cinematic version, the horse wins proving that fiction really is stranger than truth. Walter Matthau appropriately plays the character based on the father, named Lloyd Bourdelle; for in real life, Matthau was a track denizen and a raucous gambler. By his own reckoning he dropped about $5million on not so well calculated wagers including $180,000 one year on exhibition baseball games! After developing a heart condition, the actor was advised to stop smoking and gambling. Only the cigarettes went. With a little more change rattling in his pockets, Lloyd Romero traded up to the more complex (think dragsters to NASCAR) and potentially more lucrative thoroughbred game. His Warholian moments of fleeting fame having been granted, he spent the next twenty years grinding away on the thoroughbred circuit in Louisiana. Most of his successes were at the claiming level at Downs prefixed with Evangeline, Delta, and Jefferson, not Churchill. Hollywood was now only a reverie. The only lights hung over those rural venues, the only cameras were at the finish line, and the only action was at the pari-mutuel windows. Lloyd lived the life of journeyman horse trainer. Meanwhile, two of his sons, Gerald and Randy were moving up in the ranks as trainer and jockey respectively. The oldest son, Gerald, built a public racing stable. At the age of eighteen, Randy turned pro and in the same year wed his fifteen-year old sweetheart, Crickett, much to the displeasure of Lloyd (a Cajun version of the Montagues and Capulets). Thus began an on and off estrangement between father and son that would be decades long. Randy´s prowess brought him from local riding titles to similar success in the Midwest circuit and eventually New York. But his aggressive riding style visited upon him an unusually high number of injuries (twenty something surgeries resulted) even by the dangerous standard his profession dictated. But his worst accident occurred off the track. Because of the anachronistic weight requirements set by the rules of racing, jockeys are required to comply with limits that were fashioned for nineteenth century physiques. No one would expect any of Dr. James Naismith´s contemporaries to dunk a basketball anymore than one would expect John L. Sullivan to climb into the ring with Lennox Lewis. But riders in this country have to go to inhumane measures in order to make legal weight. The grandees of the Jockey Club, rulers of the sport, are deaf to the riders´ pleas. Ironically the Jockey Club contains no jockeys. The name has its roots in the early days of flat racing when most owners, then called jockeys, rode their own horses. Sparrow-like diets, diuretics, and induced vomiting are commonplace among professional riders. Only in jock rooms is there a toilet stall marked "heavers only." The sweatbox is the least offensive measure taken in this weight-obsessed profession. In 1983 Randy Romero was stationed at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He rubbed himself down with alcohol and moved into a sweatbox in the jockey´s room. As he did he accidentally broke a live light bulb that immediately ignited his entire body. With second and third degree burns over two-thirds of his body; he was rushed to the Texas burn center where the prognosis for survival was pick-it and the chances of returning to the saddle zero. The pain endured by Romero was so severe that he recalled praying to die. As his long recovery slowly progressed, so did his characteristic sunny outlook gradually also return. Against all odds, seven months later he was legged up in a race in which predictably he rode the winner. By 1985 he was the second leading jockey in the land. So complete was his recovery that in 1987 he was chosen as the regular rider for arguably the greatest race mare of all time, Personal Ensign. He partnered her in all but one of her twelve wins from as many starts leading up to the 1998 Breeders Cup. That race was to be her final start in a bid to retire undefeated and set the record for consecutive wins by a filly or mare. Standing in her path to that goal would be the estimable Winning Colors, which in May of that year had stunned the racing world by winning the Kentucky Derby over such top colts as Forty Niner, Seeking The Gold, and Risen Star. Personal Ensign had a summer stunner of her own winning the Whitney Stakes at Saratoga over the boys. The Derby champ stole an easy lead and opened daylight on the field midway the stretch with Personal Ensign lingering five lengths back. Romero, in the solid black silks of Ogden Phipps, was nearly impossible for your editor to spot in the near dark conditions. Viewing the race at the local OTB further complicated matters as we strained to focus on the small screen above. The short prices on the two favorites made a cold exacta the only sensible proposition, so we had played Personal Ensign over Winning Colors. Riding with far more confidence than that held by his backers, Randy made up gobs of ground in the final strides causing Winning Colors and Personal Ensign to cross the finish line as one. A veteran player next to me then pronounced to all with ex cathedra certainty: "Duh poisinal hoss win it." He was correct. The grand mare retired a perfect thirteen for thirteen and Randy was her partner at nearly every pole. In 1989 his run continued with the call on a wondrous two-year-old filly named Go For Wand owned by the late Jane Dupont Lunger´s Christiana Stable. At our first Breeders" Cup that fall, we fell in love with the striking young lady in the paddock at Gulfstream. She didn´t disappoint storming home at a generous 3-1 to annex the Juvenile Filly trophy and lock up a championship season. This was part of the under card that later would match Sunday Silence and Easy Goer in this observer´s most memorable day of racing. Her run continued at three (seven for eight including six Grade I´s) and culminated at the 1990 Breeders´ Cup at Belmont where she would face the older indomitable mare, Bayakoa, in the Distaff. The three-year-old filly championship was already hers and serious writers opined that a win over Bayakoa would earn Go For Wand Horse of the Year honors, a rarity for a female. The gallant filly was off a slight favorite over her older rival probably reflecting the regional bias. Never more than a half-length apart, they were at one another´s throats, eye to eye through several lead swaps. East versus West, Romero versus Pincay: "A clash of champions," screamed announcer Tom Durkin. At the sixteenth pole directly in front of our box, they were a nose apart when Go For Wand bobbled, then fell hurling her rider to the ground. What followed were moments of terror as the mortally injured filly scrambled to right herself in spite of a fractured right cannon bone. For veterans of the game, the scene conjured memories of the great Ruffian´s demise at the same track fifteen years prior. Immediate humane destruction was the only option and a veterinary team carried out the ghastly task. Meanwhile a conscious Randy Romero sobbed to trainer Badgett, "She stepped in a hole Billy!" A somber winning trainer, the avuncular Ron McAnally, spoke eloquently: "I cannot cope with this. These wonderful animals give themselves for our enjoyment." Although Randy departed the course on a stretcher, he was cleared to fulfill his mount in the Classic later on the card. Not until days later, with Randy in severe pain, did the doctors discover he had broken eight ribs and sustained a shoulder fracture. Only four months later at Gulfstream Park, he was down again: a concussion parlayed with a broken elbow and collarbone. Between 1980 and 1992, Randy rode in seven Derbies, but his best finish was a seventh on Seeking The Gold in 1988. In 1993 brother Gerald´s star rose with a talented three-year old colt named Dixieland Heat. The firm of Romero and Romero annexed the Louisiana Derby, finished third in the Blue Grass, and headed for Louisville as a 15-1 chance in that year´s Run for the Roses. Randy kept the speedy colt involved through most of the early going but the mile and a quarter proved too daunting and Dixieland Heat finished a tired twelve of nineteen. There would be no Hollywood ending for the family this time, yet the colt proved a useful sire and is the proud father of the overachieving sprint filly, Xtra Heat (a heartbreaking second in last year´s Breeders´ Cup Sprint). The last of Randy´s eight chances at the Derby came in 1995 aboard another longshot, Wild Syn. The pair earned their shot by a gate to wire upset in the Blue Grass Stakes at odds of 30-1. The magic ended there leaving Randy without a placing in nine tries at that most coveted of races. By 1997, Randy was a forty- year- old riding with diminished skill and increasing weight in a body that would set off alarms at any airport security checkpoint. Though passing the four- thousand wins mark, he found himself increasingly relegated to longshots as his best clients opted for other riders. That same year a decent but undistinguished mare named Pacific´s Dream produced a foal in Louisiana by the speedy sire Malagra. This is not a pedigree that would race the pulses of the sheiks and shakers at summer sales. But for $15,000 Lloyd Romero and partner Johnny Gaspard were willing to take a shot on the six-month-old filly sight unseen. As her training progressed at two, Lloyd sensed he might have a runner. A feeler was sent to Randy that the mount might be his. But Lloyd was anchored to Louisiana and Randy had obligations in Kentucky. The estrangement of father and son continued. On May 20, 1999 the young filly, now named Hallowed Dreams, won her first race, in as many tries, with a facile eight length score at Evangeline Downs in Carencro, Louisiana. (Carencro is notable only for being the home of the retired New York Yankee pitching ace, Ron Guidry). She similarly drummed winners soon thereafter; her rider that day was one Billy Patin, who had irked the Scribes and Pharisees of racing by having the temerity to easily win the Arkansas Derby aboard a maiden named Valhol at 30-1. Riding regularly for your editor´s modest string, Billy had confided after a third on Valhol in the Louisiana Derby, that the pair would gallop in the Arkansas fixture. We heeded his advice, but although Valhol´s backers were all paid, the purse money was withheld after the video replay showed an object dropping from the rider´s hand shortly after crossing the finish line. A track attendant discovered an illegal shocking device (commonly called a battery or machine) near the location and with Soviet due process, Billy Patin was strung up and is currently serving a five-year suspension. We are well aware that many starting gates at Louisiana tracks, when full, have enough kilowatts in possession of the little men to fill an Enron trader´s order book. Nonetheless, we also believe that Billy Patin was railroaded. He had never even been accused of such a violation prior to the Arkansas Derby and his mount showed no signs of being a "machine horse." History records, however, that his first ride on Hallowed Dreams was his last and that the reins were passed to an even more colorful character (if possible) in the form of one Sylvester Carmouche, a.k.a. "Fog Jockey." That rider had only recently won reinstatement after serving eight and a half years of a ten-year suspension as a result of an incident at Delta Downs wherein his mount set a new track record for a mile in a $2500 claiming race. Landing Officer trailed the field first time around in a fog that enveloped the track and rendered visibility measurable only in inches. In a brilliant tactical diversion, Sylvester pulled his horse up and waited on the backstretch for the field to negotiate the first lap. When he heard the competition approaching, rider and horse moved back into action passing the finish line a suspicious twenty-four lengths afore the rest of the combatants. Complicating matters further was the film patrol that counted eight horses past the finish line the first time and nine the second time. Additionally, Landing Officers leg wraps were amazingly clean and his breathing remarkably calm. "I ain´t did it," was Sylvester´s concise defense at the hearing before the Racing Commission, which quickly delivered his sentence and relegated his riding to the unlicensed bush tracks for the better part of the decade. In 1993 a penitent Sylvester presented himself to the commission and acknowledged his transgression. This only complicated matters for the rider as his "I ain´t did it" defense was now deemed perjurious and he had landed in a classic catch-22. Another plea for reinstatement was rejected in 1995 and not until June 1998 did the commission reinstate poor Sylvester after he vowed, "You´ll never see me again." This was an interesting double entendre given that they hadn´t seen him the first time! After years in the bushes, humble Evangeline Downs must have looked like Santa Anita to Sylvester when he returned. Never atop the jockey colony there, he was grateful just to be in it. He did, however, sufficiently impress Lloyd Romero to be named the new rider of Hallowed Dreams in place of the departed Billy Patin. The initial partnering of Sylvester Carmouche and Hallowed Dreams on a sultry Carencro evening on June 11, 1999 would eventuate in a table run that, at its conclusion, would break Personal Ensign´s record of thirteen consecutive wins by a filly or mare and tie the record of sixteen consecutive wins by any modern American thoroughbred, co-held by Citation and Cigar. During that streak, the amazing filly would be in front at every call and her only company would be Sylvester. The streak brought out the asterisk brigade because all of the wins took place in Louisiana. The racing press was collectively yawning as the filly´s wins mounted in races called the D. Shine Young Futurity, the Elge Rasberry Memorial, the Southern Belle, et al. In other words, these races were not exactly the Alabama or the Mother Goose. The hooting reached a crescendo on August 12, 2000 when Evangeline Downs hastily assembled three competitors to oppose Hallowed Dreams in something called the Millennium Stakes in a transparent attempt to insure a new record. The sweeping consensus was that a virtual walkover waited as the opposition closely resembled the Washington Generals foiling for the Harlem Globetrotters. The affection, admiration, and anticipation were largely parochial as the national press felt that some sacrilege was taking place in the Sportsman´s Paradise. "Citation is rolling in his grave and Cigar is baying at the moon," moaned one elitist. In fairness, Lloyd Romero never claimed he had the second coming of either of those champions, only a very nice racehorse. Now afflicted with Parkinson´s Disease, the trainer had little interest in long distance travel and offered that "the planes fly in both directions" if anyone wanted to put the filly in her place. But Hallowed Dreams had now earned some triple digit Beyer Figures and no serious observer doubted she was genuine. When rumors of a two million dollar offer for her surfaced, Romero remarked she was not for sale: "It takes five thousand dollars to get buried and I have more than that." The late Damon Runyon once commented that racetracks were places "where wallets die," and the only burial was soon to be for the billfolds of hapless bettors who took the 1/9 odds on the favorite in the Millennium Stakes. The quickly forgotten Sparkes of Luck (how aptly named) moved into the record books as the winner of that race as an obviously weary Hallowed Dreams staggered home third. Suddenly the dreams had gone from hallowed to hollow. Sixteen starts in fifteen months for a barely three- year-old filly had validated the old racing maxim that "if you run´em enough, they all gets beat." A two-month freshening launched another seven-race win streak, the fourth of which established a new track record for six furlongs at the Fair Grounds previously held by her sire. Next came the team´s first border crossing to Lone Star Park in Texas where two consecutive stakes wins were added. But another upset loss at Louisiana Downs in August precipitated a vacation once more. She returned with her usual verve in November with two apparent easy scores the last of which was on the grass against males at the Fair Grounds. That race preceded the Louisiana Champions Day by only a week. Lloyd wheeled his filly back on Champions Day in what may be the only wrong move he made with Hallowed Dreams. She finished a non-threatening ninth. Yet another rest produced a disappointing second in February and Hallowed Dreams has not run since. She is, however, training forwardly for a scheduled return on May 27 in a stakes race at Lone Star Park. At this writing, she has twenty-five wins from twenty-nine starts, a second, and two thirds and a $729,143 bankroll. Who can fault that record? Just as Hallowed Dreams was beginning to light up the boards, Randy realistically accepted retirement at age 41 in 1999. His 4,294 wins placed him 26th on the all-time jockey list. When his retirement party in Louisiana was announced, the continuing strain between father and son was apparent. "I´m glad he´s coming back," said Lloyd, "but nothing´s going to change between him and me." Fortunately that statement would eventually prove inaccurate. Upon his retirement Randy began a new career as agent for the promising young rider Marlon St.Julien. After a falling out between Sylvester Carmouche and Lloyd Romero, Hallowed Dreams needed a new rider. A twenty-two year silence between trainer and jockey agent concluded when St. Julien was named new regular rider for the mare. In 2000, St. Julien became the first African-American to ride in the Derby in seventy- nine years aboard Curule (7th of 20). Uncle Earl would have smiled and probably had a few bucks on Marlon. Progressive kidney disease has hampered Randy´s work, even with the help of his son, Randy II. After several months on dialysis, he learned he is in need of a kidney transplant which one of his brothers planned to donate. What part his deprivations during weight battles contributed is undetermined but it must be considerable. The diagnosis is now worse and Randy needs both a new liver and a new kidney and consequently a living donor is out of the question. For the present, medication is forestalling the critical moment that will eventuate. Randy is still in Louisville and Lloyd is still in Louisiana but these are better times for father and son. In a recent conversation Lloyd volunteered that "We´re communicating now and all that other stuff is forgotten. He´s always been my son and he can come home anytime. I talk to him every day." THE DERBY: "Nullity and despond" was the phrase chosen by baseball´s Boswell, Roger Angelle, to capture the mood in the Boston Red Sox clubhouse during last year´s mid-season collapse. The same feeling enveloped your editor at the conclusion of last year´s Derby. We relearned an old lesson: never bet on a horse overcoming a lingering physical problem in the Derby. We still hold MILLENNIUM WIND in the highest regard and expect his long-awaited return to the races very soon. Don´t be surprised if he turns up in a major stakes race or even the Breeders´ Cup before the year is out. Now let´s take a look at this year´s field and remember dear reader, a horseplayer´s paradise awaits: no entries, no field horses: twenty aspirants and discrete odds on everyone. Program numbers, in parentheses following the horse´s name, are identical to post positions. Don´t be given pause by Damon Runyon´s short story title that All Horseplayer´s Die Broke, but instead heed the familiar instructions given to combatants by boxing referee, Mills Lane: "Let´s get it on!"

Sons of OUR EMBLEM- You will recall the PERSONAL ENSIGN saga reported earlier in our letter. In 1991 she produced a colt by MR. PROSPECTOR named OUR EMBLEM. He raced with moderate success but with his golden pedigree went to stud at Claiborne Farm with high expectations. After a couple of so-so foal crops, the commercial guys in Kentucky gave up on him and he was quietly sold to a small operation in Maryland. So what happens this year? He has two sons in the Kentucky Derby. PRIVATE EMBLEM (11) (winner of the Arkansas Derby) and WAR EMBLEM (5) (winner of the Illinois Derby). The latter was purchased privately by the POINT GIVEN connections after that score. Both colts have similar running styles though WAR EMBLEM is all speed where PRIVATE EMBLEM is more of a stalker. Their quality of opposition has not been outstanding and doubt they can go head to head early with the likes of BUDDHA and MEDAGLIA D´ORO.

JOHANNESBURG (1)- This is beginning to feel like ARAZI déjá vu. None can fail to be impressed with his destruction of the Juvenile field in last year´s Breeders´ Cup. But his only prep for the big one is an uphill seven-furlong dash on sticky grass in which an older mare ran him down while conceding weight. Wintered behind the walls of the secretive Ballydoyle Training Center near Dublin from which no information is ever forthcoming. You have a better chance of walking into the White House than through the gates of Ballydoyle. The young wizard, Aidan O´Brien, successor but no kin to founder Vincent O´Brien, is rightly held in similar awe professionally. But nothing about this colt speaks a mile and a quarter and notwithstanding our deepest respect for his trainer, Jo´burg just doesn´t fit.

WILD HORSES (2)- Son of solid SAINT BALLADO. Ran well in the Arkansas Derby. Could be a very good colt by summertime but looks a bit behind these now.

PERFECT DRIFT(3)- gelded son of DYNAFORMER closed well to take the Spiral Stakes (the old Jim Beam) at Turfway. Brings up the old CLYDE VAN DUSEN (the last gelding to win the Derby, ´29) jinx as well as the EXTERMINATOR (last Derby winner without an April start, ´18) jinx. Although it should be said our two picked geldings, BEST PAL, ´91 and CAVONNIER, ´96 were both second by a collective whisker He´ll be coming late and his semi-secret training away from Churchill figures to get a lot of wise guy longshot money. Lotta jinxes to overcome but does get Eddie D.. LUSTY LATIN (4)- Not a reference to the language spoken by wayward clerics. The "other" EL PRADO son in the entry box finished fastest of all to be third in the Santa Anita Derby. Robust gray that could bull his way through for a part of the pot.

WAR EMBLEM (5)- See Above

OCEAN SOUND (6)- Finished willingly to be a distant second in the Blue Grass when allowed to lay off the pace. If he wins, the guy doing the solo wave in the grandstand will have the only winning ticket.

REQUEST FOR PAROLE (7)- Sire (JUDGE T.C.) is modest and not known for stamina although effort to be a neck behind PERFECT DRIFT was classy. He will need clemency to even get a piece we think.

ESSENCE OF DUBAI (8)- Saw this guy at Del Mar last summer and makes a great physical appearance as he should being a son of PULPIT and the top race mare, EPITOME. You can´t buy this kind of pedigree (well, you could have for $2.3 million). Came from last to first in The Dubai Derby at the Kentucky Derby distance with a sweeping move against older horses. Has looked good since clearing quarantine. But why is regular rider, Frankie Dettori, flying to Louisville to ride in the Oaks on Friday and heading back to England to partner a 10/1 chance in the 2000 Guineas rather than stick around for the Derby? Hmm.

MEDAGLIA D´ORO (9)- Just nodded by BUDDHA in a ding-dong Wood finish. No trainer in the country is as hot as Bobby Frankel as evidenced that his contacts found this guy in a private purchase after a maiden win at Oaklawn. He immediately goes into a Grade II and polishes off then Derby favorite SIPHONIC. Then runs huge in the Wood. Will he bounce, can he run off the pace? Big questions but pedigree is legit for the route (by EL PRADO and from a BAILJUMPER mare) and he gets the ageless Laffit Pincay in the irons. Training beautifully at the Downs and very difficult to leave out.

BUDDHA (10)- This is one BUDDHA the Taliban failed to blow-up. Comes in with only four starts but the last three have been torrid. Trained by Bond, James Bond, whose saddlecloths have 007 on them. The courage this son of UNBRIDLED´S SONG showed on the rail in his Wood win suggested a much more seasoned colt. Feels a little like CONGAREE and INDIAN CHARLIE to us: lots of brilliance but lacking the depth to carry a mile and a quarter at this point. Tibet or not Tibet, that is the question; Derby karma says your no-buddha til some-buddha loves you. Day, Pat Day, rides.

PRIVATE EMBLEM (11)- See above

CASTLE GONDOLFO (12)- Named for the summer residence of the pope, this is the apparently lesser half of the Aidan O´Brien Irish shipper entry. Colt did a mile and a quarter at two, unheard of in this country; and it was on a heavy turf. Yet another son of GONE WEST and out of a stout NORTHERN DANCER mare; has a single start this year with a win over the Lingfield dirt track. Behind him that day was eventual winner of the Italian 2000 Guineas. Grade I form in France and England as well. Jerry Bailey apparently booked for JO´BURG now on what was supposed to be weaker half of O´Brien charges. Beginning to wonder if JO´BURG is not a beard for a betting coup from the Emerald Isle.

PROUD CITIZEN (13)- Just when you thought ole D. Wayne might be fading from the Derby scene, those pearly whites and Oakley´s are filling up the screen again. This son of GONE WEST exhibited a lot of potential last year. Showed speed and faded in the Santa Anita Derby after a six-month layoff. Set him up perfectly for a gate to wire score in the Lexington at an overlaid 7/1 (thank you Mr. Lukas). Didn´t beat much but coming to the big one perfectly and floating over the Churchill surface.

HARLAN´S HOLIDAY (14)- The answer is WINTERGREEN, ´09. The question is who was the last Ohio-bred to win the Derby. This guy is trying to be the next. Morning-line favorite and why not with dominating wins in the Florida Derby and Blue Grass. A son of the deceased HARLAN, (sire of MENIFEE 2nd, ´99 and picked here) covers lots of ground and has never thrown in a clunker. Distance not a problem but feel we may have already seen his best. Also not overwhelmed with those that followed him home in his two big wins. As always, we will pick against the fave.

CAME HOME (15)- You would think the Santa Anita Derby winner with one career loss (a throwout in the BC Juvenile) would be a short price, but he has two knocks: declining speed figures and a questionable distance pedigree: by GONE WEST out of a CLEVER TRICK mare. Still have to admire his street-fighter determination. Built like a miler and strides like one too, but think he will stick around longer than expected, maybe much longer. Same connections as FREE HOUSE, 3rd ´97, who avow CAME HOME is better. A clear and present danger.

SAARLAND (16)- Lots of pedigree and great connections but without a win in two starts at three. Training forwardly for the big one and distance will be no problem.

DANTHEBLUEGRASSMAN (17)- Bumped WINDWARD PASSAGE from the 20th spot at the last minute. Both should have stepped aside for SUNDAY BREAK but that´s history. Ninth in the Santa Anita Derby is entered as vanity move for owner who had REAL QUIET (1st, ´98 and picked here). Dansacaseofderbyfever.

IT´SALLINTHECHASE (18)- Was way up the track in the BC Juvenile but finished a respectable third to the sidelined REPENT in the Louisiana Derby. We´ll be chasing our beer with belladonna if he wears the roses on Saturday.

EASY GRADES(19)- Honest sort of gelding that chased home CAME HOME in the San Vincente and the Santa Anita Derby for a pair of seconds. Out of an EASY GOER mare and by HONOR GRADES, this guy will be running when others are gasping and the price will be square.

BLUE BURNER (20)- same ownership as the beloved or despised (your call) New York Yankees. We took a future book 50/1 flyer on him back in March but haven´t seen the development we hoped from this son of FRENCH DEPUTY. Second in the Florida Derby was decent but was going up and down through the lane in the Wood. Lazy worker but doing well at Churchill and should relish the extra ground but will have to make major stride forward to figure in the outcome. Don´t forget at Belmont time, but have the feeling that if trainer Mott were making the call, they wouldn´t be here. If George wants to run, you can finish the sentence.

OUR PICK- Of this we are certain: our selection has not run his best race yet and he possesses the pedigree that screams a mile and a quarter. His dad won the Derby and his mom won the Alabama and was second in the Breeders Cup Distaff twice. He is trained by a methodical pro that has been as close as second in three tries. His rider has been as close as fourth in as many tries and is among the emerging stars of his trade. Our pick broke his maiden in his second start and followed with a fourth in the Champagne and an eighth in the BC Juvenile. He won the Remsen in his last start at two against an undistinguished field. The colt was still a work in progress. Put away for the winter, he emerged at three in the one mile Gotham where he closed well to be second to the speedy MAYAKOVSKY. Big things were expected in the Wood but he was a disappointing fourth by 3.5 lengths to the precocious trio of BUDDHA, MEDAGLIA D´ORO, and SUNDAY BREAK. After that race it was discovered that he had displaced his soft palate, a disorder that prevents horses from drawing air until they relax and slow down. His rider reported that the colt took a deep breath at the quarter pole and held it until eased past the wire. Horses commonly stop running completely when this happens. Our pick carried on with courage. A minor surgical procedure called a myectome was performed which only involves about a day of recovery but does not always solve the problem (it sure worked for ALYSHEBA in ´87). The test would be a swift half-mile work in New York before shipping to Kentucky. The grade was A+ as it was in his five-furlong work on Monday at Churchill. We have a fresh horse peaking at the right time with lots of gas in the tank. Our trainer is Shug McGaughey, who trained EASY GOER ( 2nd,´89). Shug speaks with the animation of Wilfred Brimley but he is on record saying "ah´m ril cited," which translates "I´m real excited." Regular rider John Velasquez will be up. The dad is UNBRIDLED ( 1st, ´90 and picked here). His mom is VERSAILLES TREATY, a bred in the purple mare from the Phipps broodmare band. Despite their many grand racing moments, the Phippses have never won a Derby and sadly paterfamilias Ogden passed away last week at age 94. Our pick is a homebred of his daughter, Cynthia. VERSAILLES TREATY was sired by the revered DANZIG. The city by that name was declared free under the terms of the treaty following World War I. That document also placed a portion of southwest Germany under French rule until 1957 when it became part of the Federal Republic of Germany. That corner of the world and our pick is SAARLAND!

THE BET- Can´t believe the morning line is 15/1. Get me to the window! We expect a sweeping late move from SAARLAND. We´ll bet him to win and place. We will also take across the board flier on longshot CASTLE GONDOLFO (20/1 on the line). For our exacta, trifecta, and superfecta box we will add CAME HOME and MEDAGLIA D´ORO. Don´t spend it all in one place! THE PITCH- If you enjoy the letter and can afford a charitable gift after the results come in, please consider a contribution to either or both of the following: Randy Romero Transplant Fund National City Bank 12009 Shelbyville Rd. Louisville, Ky. 40243 Legacy Donor Foundation 650 Poydras St. Suite 2710 New Orleans, La. 70130