"Once upon a time there was a horse named Kelso… but only once."
-Joe Hirsch
Daily Racing Form
"Ask not, " urged the inauguree, "what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. " That eloquent plea from the youngest president since Theodore Roosevelt launched the decade of the 60´s innocently enough. The passing of the U.S. Presidency from the grandfatherly Ike to the vigor of JFK promised a change of the evolutionary, not the revolutionary sort.
The scariest political factor was the Cold War but to the Ozzie and Harriet generation, the scariest cultural factor was Elvis. High school students were still being cautioned against smoking funny cigarettes by the unintended hilarity of Reefer Madness. The Quarry Men, an obscure English rock group, was just beginning to get play time under a new name, The Beatles.
The Beat Generation of the Fifties might have foretold the turmoil of the Sixties had that subculture of Bohemians not been so few in number and largely restricted to Greenwich Village and San Francisco coffeehouses. Not until 1965 would The Who´s anthem, "My Generation,´ " certify the end of the tranquil era of "I Love Lucy " and "Father Knows Best. " The time of "What will people think? " had expired.
Thoroughbred racing entered the decade with bull market force. The only casinos were in Nevada, the only state lottery was in New Hampshire, and the only off-track betting available was through illegal bookmakers. The first Super Bowl was seven years distant and baseball on television consisted of the Saturday Game of The Week.
Surely the competitive circumstance provided a sturdy tailwind but even more significant was the steady parade of equine stars that routinely produced live gates of thirty, forty and fifty thousand fans. The newly rebuilt Aqueduct was the wave of the future and 73,435 fans jammed the facility for the Metropolitan Handicap in 1964. The winner of that race, Gun Bow, was part of a regal assortment that raced during the Sixties including Damascus, Buckpasser, Arts and Letters, Majestic Prince, Bald Eagle, Native Diver, Dr. Fager, Carry Back, Gamely, Hail to Reason, Old Hat, Stage Door Johnny, Tom Rolfe, and TV Lark.
All mentioned were very significant race horses whose Hall of Fame status was indisputable. Most impacted the game well beyond their lifetime through their offspring as well. But two horses not on the list stand above this line of all-time all stars and for decidedly different reasons. One was a gelding that could well be argued was the greatest race horse ever led over from barn to paddock. The other, a damned good race horse as well, rewrote the genetic cartography of the modern thoroughbred through the breeding shed. Their names were Kelso and Northern Dancer.
Though their racing careers overlapped slightly, they never met in a race. Kelso´s altered state assured that he would die without issue. Conversely, Northern Dancer fathered sons and daughters of distinction in three decades. Though highly dissimilar in many ways, both were held in low regard before they raced by their owners of deep pedigree, and the pair also shared a trait of somewhat irascible personality.
A foal of 1957, the mantle of seniority was Kelso´s. He was the result of Mrs. Allaire Dupont´s planned cross-breeding of English and American bloodlines. Kelso´s sire, Your Host, was the grandson of two English Derby winners, Hyperion and Mahmoud. Kelso´s dam, Maid of Flight was a daughter of 1943 Triple Crown winner Count Fleet and a granddaughter of none other than Man o´ War. The provenance of Kelso´s name was Mrs. Dupont´s friend and nonpareil hostess, Kelso Everett.
The young colt might have been spared the scalpel had his only shortcoming been his hostility to exercise riders when introduced to bridle and saddle. But his weedy physical profile combined with a non-endearing manner easily trumped his grand family tree. There would never be a Kelso, Jr.
His early training showed some talent but when he made his two-year-old debut in September 1959 at Atlantic City, his trainer, John Lee, sent an assistant to saddle him. Another trainer, Carl Hanford, who had watched Kelso train, was impressed enough to chance a win bet at 6/1. The gelding galloped home by 6 lengths giving Hanford his first of what would be a long, magical string of Kelso-driven paydays.
Kelso´s started twice more at 2 and produced a pair of game seconds against winners before a damaged tendon in September took him out of training. John Lee informed Mrs. Dupont of his intention to quit training and return to his veterinary practice. He urged her to put Kelso up for sale given the likelihood that the horse´s tendon would ultimately bow, making him virtually worthless.
Kelso´s brief race record made him well worth the $50,000 price put on him but one look at the tendon made potential buyers scatter at once. Meanwhile Mrs. Dupont was seeking a new trainer and settled on the ex-jockey, Carl Hanford. The asking price had been dropped to $25,000 when Hanford assumed training responsibility early in Kelso´s three year old year. No one bit before Hanford, watching Kelso train, convinced Mrs. Dupont to drop efforts to sell him.
Lost training time from the injury would have ruled out any thought of Triple Crown pursuits had they been there. They had not. Hanford thought he had a useful young horse that might win some races…until:
Kelso produced consecutive wins of 10 and 12 lengths when he finally started his three-year-old campaign late in June. Kelso was ready for the Big Show. From that point forward he would no longer dump exercise riders, his connections would never offer him for sale, his odds would never again reach 6/1, his physique would never be critiqued, and that tendon would never bow.
In his three-year old campaign, Kelso had a run of six consecutive stakes wins culminating with the Grade I Jockey Club Stakes (run at 2 miles) against his elders. In those pre-Breeders´ Cup days that race usually crowned the champion in the handicap division. Without a start in any Triple Crown contest, the three-year-old Kelso was overwhelmingly acclaimed as Horse of The Year.
As Kelso was preparing for his first start that year, the Canadian beer baron, E.P. Taylor was hoping to win the Kentucky Oaks with his prized Native Dancer filly, Natalma. Her last work before the race was stunning but it was also her last trip under tack. A reinjured knee would limit her career thenceforth to the maternal. Not until mid-June was she able to be bred to the stallion Nearctic, a son of Nearco. The latter, along with Ribot, was the product of the Wizard of Dormello, Federico Tesio. At that time the Canadian thoroughbred had about the same cache as the Jamaican Bobsled Team. Taylor had been repeatedly told by experts that the climatic challenges ruled out breeding a high quality race horse there. But with the Nearctic-Natalma mating, Taylor at least had a credible blend of pedigree.
Since thoroughbreds are required for racing purposes to observe January 1 as their common birth date, breeders aspire to an early foaling date so that their young horses will achieve maximum maturity for sale and racing purposes. Owing to her late dalliance with Nearctic, the foal that was to be Northern Dancer did not arrive until May 27, 1961, just 3 days before Kelso won the Metropolitan Handicap (now the Met Mile). In his march to a second consecutive horse of the year title, Kelso would add wins in the Whitney, Brooklyn, Woodward, and Jockey Club Gold Cup. That was the year that the Berlin Wall was constructed, Freedom Riders were beaten and jailed in Alabama, and Gary Cooper died.
Northern Dancer started as the smallest member of the Taylor foal crop and remained so right up to the 1962 yearling sale conducted at Taylor´s Windfields Farm.
The format was such that each yearling was presented with a price tag to a select group of buyers. Those that didn´t meet Taylor´s price were kept for racing. The runt of the group by Nearctic out of Natalma had the pedigree to more than justify the $25,000 asking price but his sub-fifteen hands stature resulted in not one taker.
Later that year E.P. Taylor would turn the unwanted colt over to his trainer, Horatio "El Gran Senor " Luro to begin preparation for a two-year-old racing campaign. Taylor informed Luro that the house reject was to be called Northern Dancer.
The now 5 year-old Kelso´s first start of 1962 was delayed until May as he recuperated from a severe knee injury suffered when kicked by another horse while loading in the gate for the Laurel International, his last start of 1961 in which he still managed to finish second. Now partnered with Bill Shoemaker after the retirement of Eddie Arcaro, Kelso could do no better than second in the Suburban and Monmouth Handicaps. A switch to the strong-handed Milo Valenzuela would produce 22 wins in 35 starts for the partnership. Valenzuela guided Kelso through a 1963 fall campaign culminating in a 10 length waltz in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. For an unprecedented third consecutive year, Kelso was voted Horse of the Year.
As 1962 closed, Northern Dancer was still an anonymous yearling and Kelso´s fans were rooting for a four-peat. The country had survived the Cuban Missile Crisis in October. Also in that year, three new retailers named Wal-Mart, Target, and K-Mart opened their first stores; in Oxford Mississippi, William Faulkner died and James Meredith was denied admission to Ole Miss; Adolph Eichmann was hanged.
Beginning his 1963 campaign, Kelso was now 6 and facing a handicap division bursting with talent. There stood Ridan, Jaipur, Admiral´s Voyage, Decidedly, and Mongo amongst others waiting to dethrone the aging champ. North of the border, Northern Dancer´s connections were pointing to a summer debut.
Between March and October, Kelso would win 8 straight stakes races ending as usual with a Jockey Club Gold Cup exclamation point. A fourth straight Horse of the Year title was a given. Northern Dancer´s first 2 year old start did not come until August but he toyed with a field of maidens at Fort Erie coasting home by 6.
They ran them often in those days and by the time Luro brought his charge to the U.S. in November, Northern Dancer had already annexed 5 wins from 7 starts in Canada. There were no Canada jokes when he dusted the highly regarded Bupers in an Aqueduct allowance race or 9 days later when he closed out the season with a facile win in the Remsen Stakes at odds of 2/5. He would be the heavy favorite of the hot stove league for the coming year´s Kentucky Derby.
Jack Nicklaus won his first Masters, "Louie Louie " was the number 1 song (thankfully over Wayne Newton´s "Danke Schoen "), and Sonny Liston scored his second first round knockout of Floyd Patterson in as many years. All the foregoing became footnotes after the murder of President Kennedy. For most of your editor´s generation, this event thrust us into the disruptive cacophony of the decade of our early adulthood. A new term was introduced into the American lexicon that would mark the decline of institutional trust that marked the berserk sixties: credibility gap.
When the calendar flipped to 1964, Kelso´s connections knew that the now 7 year old needed careful management to have a chance in the big fall races he had dominated in his previous years. A long rest at the farm would postpone his first race to mid-May. By then Northern Dancer had produced 7 consecutive wins as a 3 year old including the Flamingo, Florida Derby, Blue Grass, Kentucky Derby, and Preakness.
In three of those early wins, the Dancer was partnered by Bill Shoemaker who also had first call on the star of the West Coast, Hill Rise. When forced to commit before the Florida Derby, Shoe went to Hill Rise. The choice looked a good one on Derby Day when the pair went favored over Northern Dancer and Bill Hartack.
Horatio Luro was doubtless about his colt´s brilliance but knew that if Northern Dancer could get a mile and a quarter, he could not get an inch farther. The great man had his colt trained to the moment on Derby Day. The handy Northern Dancer opened daylight on the field deep in the stretch and lasted by a neck over the massive, late running Hill Rise. (Your editor watched the race in monochrome at the Pastime Lounge near L.S.U., whose proprietor maintained a turf and sports accountancy for patrons. Alas I backed the distant third place finisher, The Scoundrel.) The slightly shorter Preakness brought out the Dancer´s best as he scored by 2 ¼lengths followed by The Scoundrel and Hill Rise.
Northern Dancer was 2 for 2 going into the Belmont while your editor was 0 for 2. To a wise-guy-in-training, Northern Dancer´s distance limitations and his 4/5 price in the 1 ½ mile Belmont spelled opportunity. That came in the form of Quadrangle, a one-paced router that came home 6 lengths beyond the third placed Dancer. Bill Hartack summed it up best: "The amazing thing about Northern Dancer was that he got a mile and a quarter. "
The Belmont defeat did little to erode Northern Dancer´s fan base, but there was sniping from the racing press. The Daily Racing Form opined that "on the basis of Saturday´s race, Northern Dancer does not stay. " Those three words at the end were the ultimate pejorative.
Following instructions, Hartack had kept his mount under stout restraint early in the race, and the colt´s displeasure at it might well have produced the tendon strain that enhanced the degree of defeat. Anxious to prove the Dancer´s class and to display him to his worshipping Canadian public, his connections made what would prove to be a disastrous decision. Northern Dancer was named to run in the Queen´s Plate, a mere two weeks after the Belmont.
The display of class was undeniable as the colt galloped home by seven lengths before a stuffed Woodbine Race Course at odds of 1/5. But the tendon had bowed and there would be no tests against older horses (including Kelso) in the fall. Rejecting offers from prominent American farms, Taylor returned Northern Dancer to Windfields, where the young stallion would stand his first season at stud for the sum of $10,000.
Kelso´s aging constitution seemed to benefit little from the rest as he was well beaten in a pair of dull efforts out west. Further complicating matters were intermittent bouts of colic. Since horses cannot vomit, the inability to pass waste through defecation is fatal without remedy.
As much as she loved her horse and watching him compete, Allaire Dupont was ever fearful of injury and embarrassment for Kelso if over raced.
When Kelso finished fifth by 14 lengths in the Brooklyn to Gun Bow after photo finish seconds in the Suburban and Monmouth Handicaps, the consensus was that the Kelso held so close to the hearts of racing fans was becoming history. But Kelso had not only suffered an attack of colic the morning of the Brooklyn, he had also severely banged his head on the starting gate.
Gun Bow was heavily favored over Kelso in the Aqueduct Handicap and opened a five length advantage midway the race. The throng on hand grew louder in proportion to Kelso´s whittling away at Gun Bow´s lead. The roar produced when Kelso prevailed by ¾ of a length produced awe from the racing scribes of the era. One wrote "It was sincere noise, a tribute to a champion who wouldn´t let himself be beaten, even by time. "
Gun Bow avenged the loss in the Woodward by a nose over Kelso in what many called a dead heat. Quadrangle was a distant third. Gun Bow´s connections wanted no part of Kelso at two miles so the Jockey Club Gold Cup was Kelso´s for the unheard of fifth consecutive time.
The D.C. International, on the grass at Laurel, would determine the Horse of the Year honors. After finishing second in the race for three consecutive years, Kelso´s supporters were short on confidence made shorter by Mrs. Dupont´s announcement that it was to be her gelding´s final start.
Gun Bow drew the rail and opened a customary gaping lead but by the far turn Kelso had him collared and steadily drew away, ultimately the best by 4 ½lengths. Maybe the old boy was not done after all.
In 1964, the oft told tale was heard yet again: Kelso was the year´s champion American race horse. It was the year that Yassar Arafat became the leader of Al Fatah , the Politburo axed Nikita Khruschev, Eddie Cantor and Cole Porter died, and the Funky Chicken was introduced to the discotheque crowd.
Kelso began his eighth year in unofficial retirement at the Dupont´s Woodstock Farm in Maryland. Fan letters by the hundreds arrived there begging for one more year of Kelso on the track. The fans got their wish the summer of 1965. After a couple of preps, Kelso was assigned an unbearable weight of 132 pounds for the Brooklyn. He finished third and the chart read "hung under impost. " The old racing saw that weight can stop a freight train was never truer.
Although Kelso would garner a nose win in the Whitney in his next start, his glorious victorious reign would conclude that September. Mismatched against lesser in the Stymie at Aqueduct, Kelso came home by eight but with a nasty eye injury owing to a flying mud clod. There would be no Jockey Club or championship for Kelso in 1965. His next ticket to Woodstock would be stamped one-way.
With the spring of 1966, came the first crop of 21 Northern Dancer foals. The arrival of the first can only be called a providential event. That colt, Viceregal, would be undefeated in eight starts at two before injury kept him from the later classics. The stats of the first crop (16 winners, 10 stakes winners) foretold the genetic tsunami that was approaching.
By 1968 demand was so intense that E.P. Taylor yielded to market demand and opened a division of Windfields Farms in Maryland and moved his prize there for stud duty. In a remarkable twist of fate, the land was purchased from the Duponts and would adjoin their Woodstock Farm. Northern Dancer and Kelso had become next-door neighbors.
From Northern Dancer´s second crop came the eventual English Triple Crown winner, Nijinsky. Possessed of an undeniable ability to stay, Nijinsky´s talents should have ended discussions about his sire´s ability to transmit stamina. But the brutish Nijinsky resembled his sire´s physicality so little that Northern Dancer was still a Rodney Dangerfield among the Pharisees of pedigree. Not until the arrivals of the more prototypical Lyphard, The Minstrel, and Nureyev would the question be settled.
The numbers leave no doubt. From 635 foals, 80% of starters were winners and 146 were stakes winners. Any stallion could establish his bona fides by siring a single champion. Northern Dancer sired 26 in the U.S., Canada, England, Ireland, France, and Italy. Of even greater note was the ability of those sons and daughters to beget racehorses of consequence in turn. In 1993, the Epsom, Irish, French, and Kentucky Derbies were all won by great grandsons of Northern Dancer.
That initial stud fee had escalated to $35,000 in 1975, to $100,000 in 1980, $500,000 in 1984, and $1 million by the time of his retirement in 1987. The rise in his stud fee could barely keep pace with the price of his yearlings. By 1983, the world record price for a yearling was reached when the gavel was banged down at $10.3 million for a son of Northern Dancer at the Keeneland summer sale. By the sale´s conclusion, a jaw-dropping 11 of the then 22 year-old´s colts and fillies had brought in excess of $1 million each (ed.´s note: that record colt, later named Snaafi Dancer by his buyer Sheik Mohammed never got to the races and was a failure at stud).
Kelso adapted so well to life on the farm that he became Allaire Dupont´s regular riding horse and competed with respectability as a jumper as well. In 1970, at age 13, the decision was made to grant Kelso his well-earned pension. His tack was put away and he passed his days at leisure in his paddock with his canine pal, Charlie Potatoes.
Repeated requests for Kelso´s appearance at racing venues were politely declined although fans were always welcome at Woodstock. All that changed in 1983 when an invitation came for Kelso to lead the post parade for the Jockey Club Gold Cup, in front of the esteemed gelding of the 70´s, 13 year-old Forego, and their 80´s heir, John Henry. At 26, Kelso would have a saddle on his back for the first time in 13 years.
The reception from the Belmont crowd was booming and saturated with bottomless emotion. Tears coursed down the cheeks of hardened track denizens at the sight of their swaybacked hero prancing and nodding at their adulation. The shouts of "Kelly, Kelly " rushed from the lips of multiple generations. Only the farewells of Ruth and Gehrig were the equal of that day in New York sports annals.
The excitement of the heartwarming episode wore heavily on the champ. A severe bout of colic gripped him upon return to the Dupont´s Farm. Heroic measures were taken by the attending vets and for awhile he showed improvement. Decisions about euthanizing were being weighed when Kelso righted himself long enough to stand erect, in one, last, independent assertion. Then he collapsed with operatic finality.
Kelso was buried in a simple grave near his paddock beneath an epitaph that reads: "Where He Gallops The Earth Sings. "
Northern Dancer survived Kelso by 7 years. Like Kelso, colic was the proximate cause of his passing. He was 29 when in uninterruptible pain he was euthanized on November 16, 1990. His breeder, E.P. Taylor, preceded him in death by a mere 18 months. Northern Dancer´s remains were returned to Canada and he was interred at his birthplace Windfields Farm.
Northern Dancer´s influence on the breed remains beyond measure as it is a constantly moving target. The most important U.S. sire today (Storm Cat) is a grandson and his European counterpart (Sadler´s Wells) is a son. The recently established world record thoroughbred at auction ($16 million) is a great, great grandson.
Ferdinand (picked here in ´86) was the first of Northern Dancer pedigreed Kentucky Derby winners. In recent years direct descendant winners include Sea Hero (picked here in ´93), Thunder Gulch (´95), Charismatic (´99), Fusaichi Pegasus (´00), Monarchos (´01), Funny Cide (´03), and Smarty Jones (´04). Among this year´s Kentucky Derby´s twenty participants, only 2 (Showing Up and Sweetnorthernsaint) are without the Northern Dancer bloodline.
And what of Kelso? Unlike Northern Dancer, to quote Mark Antony, Kelso´s good may have been "interred with his bones, " but what a good it was.
As America entered a decade that would stress its foundations the most since the Great Depression, the sport of horse racing provided a champion of unassailable integrity and courage embraced even by citizens who never watched a horse race.
This remarkable athlete raced from age two to eight, won at distances from six furlongs to two miles on grass and dirt, rain or shine, hot or cold, carrying weight of up to 136 lbs. Although partnered most by the masterful "Milo " Valenzuela, Arcaro, Shoemaker, and Hartack all had their turns with him.
Kelso´s rebellious connectivity to the Sixties was also remarkable. What an irony it was that his owner raced as Bohemia Stable and lived at Woodstock Farm. His import is well measured by the headline in the obituary earlier this year of Allaire Dupont, age 92. Despite her many accomplishments, the headline read simply "Allaire Dupont, breeder and owner of Kelso. "
The contrasts in these 2 champions are many but the similarities are greater still. They were both undersized rejects and cantankerous young rebels that in maturity exhibited qualities that define the word champion. Before Mark Antony´s lament over Caesar´s body as Antony makes his way to address the gathering, Shakespeare has a voice cry from the crowd with a tribute that is no less worthy of Kelso and Northern Dancer than of Julius Caesar: "Bring him with triumph home unto his house! "
Editor´s Note:
"Kelso " by Steve Haskin and "Northern Dancer " by Muriel Lennox were valuable resources in researching the above topic and are recommended reading for those interested in learning more about these two memorable horses.
2005 RECAP
This time last year we thought BANDINI was the most talented 3 year-old in the U.S. This time this year our opinion is unchanged. After a severe mugging in last year´s event that took 6 months of recovery, the colt has returned 2 for 2 in laughers including a new track record at Gulfstream. We were saved from another injury induced Derby embarrassment by GIACOMO´s 50-1 stunner at the Downs. As any athlete can tell you, more often than not, slumps end (with apologies to T.S. Eliot) not with a whimper but a bang.
THIS YEAR´S RENEWAL:
Staring at the Rubik´s Cube of possibilities that greets us this year produces twin emotions of anticipation and apprehension. We know BROTHER DEREK is the goods but our self-imposed ban on picking favorites leaves him for others. What is there not to like of BARBARO? All he does is win as does the Louisiana-Arkansas dominator, LAWYER RON. Is RON ready for the Big Show? Hmmm. SMARTY JONES and AFLEET ALEX were pretty good out of this bracket. And what of the DEREK dodgers who shipped east and made a California sweep of the Wood (BOB AND JOHN) and the Bluegrass (SINISTER MINISTER)? With a minor leap of faith, cases can be made for plenty more. Leap of faith did he say? Horse players are known to be a prayerful lot, especially during photo finishes and inquiries. But My Lord you don´t have to be an eschatologist to see the heavenly swami angles in this year´s field: BROTHER DEREK, SINISTER MINISTER, SWEETNORTHERNSAINT, CAUSE TO BELIEVE, PRIVATE VOW, SEASIDE RETREAT. For all we know the A.P. in A.P. WARRIOR may stand for apocalypse. As Olivia Newton-John said "Let´s get metaphysical! "
Normally we wait until entries are drawn, but since the field seems well determined, we are listing the declared enterers in order of graded stakes earnings entries:
BROTHER DEREK- Since his respectable 4th in the B.C, Juvenile (we bet him at 56-1), this guy has dealt 4 straight wins in Grade I and II stakes with accelerating authority. Rider Alex Solis (no wins but 3 Derby seconds) calls DEREK "a monster. " His sire, BENCHMARK, is doing ok in California (four stakes winners including DEREK´s full brother). It is hard not to pull for trainer Dan Hendricks who has worked from a wheelchair the last 2 years following a paralyzing motocross accident. No one would confuse Bro´ Derek with Bo Derek but they may well share the sobriquet of "10.´ If he maintains his rate of improvement, the rest of the field may be mid-stretch asking "Oh Brother Where Art Thou? "
LAWYER RON- The counselor sure took his time finding his game going 0 for 5 in the maiden ranks before a breakout score at Keeneland. After a couple of subsequent grass placings, he has dominated all comers in Louisiana and Arkansas taking 6 straight. His sire LANGHFUR was a top sprinter but has produced a Derby third in IMPERIALISM. Lack of a major stamina influence on the dam side brings serious doubt about RONNIE getting the distance. Veteran trainer Holthus has been as close as 4th in 3 trips; rider McKee has a pair of 13th place finishes in the last 2 editions of the classic. Objection sustained.
BARBARO- A perfect 5 for 5 including the Grade I Florida Derby in his last, it is no wonder that his first 3 starts were on grass. His sire, DYNAFORMER, is a high class sire of turf stayers. What is a wonder is that he is speedy on dirt though his broodmare sire, CARSON CITY, was all-speed. His trainer, Mike Matz is a Derby rookie but was a world class show jumping rider. Rider Prado takes back seat to none with retirements of Bailey and Stephens, but Derby third on PEACE RULES is best so far. The original BARBARO was a renaissance scholar and the current version has been a quick study at his craft. Always at or near the front, he had to dig deep for his last win. Light schedule plus nearly 5 weeks between races could be a problem.
BOB AND JOHN- Same owner as the Houston Texans (BOB McNair) but dunno JOHN. This son of the venerable Phipps´ sire, SEEKING THE GOLD, has as an equal amount of blue blood on his dam side from the talented MINISTER´S MELODY. Mom hails from the family of EXCELLER and CAPOTE if you please. Looked to be a short price until his upset in the San Felipe by A.P. Then he failed to impress the scribes in his pedestrian finish while winning the Wood Memorial in a bog. BOB is part of the Baffert Trio; jockey Gomez is a now rider with a pair of Breeders´ Cup wins last year but 0 for 2 in this one. Very tough call but at a price, you might chance a few BOB without looking like a JOHN.
SINISTER MINISTER- In 1998 we were taken by a speedy son of A.P. Indy called OLD TRIESTE which set hot fractions in that year´s Derby (at 30-1) before fading due, we still think, to a lack of seasoning. The MINISTER is a son of OLD TRIESTE and is his second coming. Picture a drag racer at Daytona and you are close. Efforts to control his speed have resulted in terrible results. So they sent him in the Blue Grass and he wired the field by 12 lengths. The pedal will be to the metal again. Trainer Baffert has 3 Derby rings; jockey Espinoza took ém gate to wire in ´02 with WAR EMBLEM. Just don´t know if he will last but he is 2/5 to have the lead at the ¼ pole.
PRIVATE VOW- This son of BROKEN VOW is another that has chased the LAWYER around Hot Springs. So far this guy has not improved on his excellent 2 year-old form in which his only bad race was in the Breeders´ Cup when his rider´s rein broke mid-race. Conditioner Asmussen holds multiple training titles but 0 for 3 here; rider Bridgmohan a Derby rookie. We doubt that PRIVATE VOW will produce a public wow.
A.P. WARRIOR- Every year we ask ourselves "What happens to all those million dollar yearlings? " Well every now and then they make it to the Derby and A.P. is one that has. Trainer Shirreffs scored here in the last one but rider Nakitani has only a pair of 4ths in 10 tries. This colt is 0 for 3 against Bro´ Derek but was forced out of his game in the S.A. Derby. At Churchill he can relax and make one late run. Pedigree and running style cry out for a mile and a quarter.
SWEETNORTHERNSAIINT- The only gelding in the field and, at first glance, of modest pedigree being by the $3500 stud fee stallion SWEETSOUTHERNSAINT. Maryland-based trainer Trombetta is a Derby rookie but rider Desormeaux has worn roses twice in ´98 (REAL QUIET, thank you Kent)) and ´00 (FUSAICH PEGASUS). The Saint will try to join WAR EMBLEM with the improbable Illinois-Kentucky Derby Double. Likes the front end but has stalkability as well. Also-rans in his wins do not strike fear, but this is one fast horse; wouldn´t want to be the Devil´s Advocate for this guy´s canonization.
SHARP HUMOR- If New York bred son of DISTORTED HUMOR rings a bell, just reference the ´03 Derby won by FUNNY CIDE. This gritty colt won 3 straight tight ones before taking BARBARO the distance in the FLORIDA DERBY. That race was much like FUNNY´s loss in the Wood before his Derby win. Broodmare sire, HANSEL, was Preakness and Belmont winner. Trainer Romans is a firster; rider Guidry is established pro but 5th last year was best result in 3 tries. Getting the Derby trip may be beyond SHARPY´S reach, but he won´t go down without a fight and might still get the last laugh.
BLUEGRASS CAT- This son of STORM CAT has steadily regressed after a hugely promising campaign at 2. He was a beaten favorite in the Tampa Derby and then was distanced in the Blue Grass. Another Pletcher trainee; rider Dominguez is 0 for 2 in Derbies; Beautiful pedigree is trumped by declining on-track performance. This CAT gives us the BLUES.
STEPPENWOLFER- Apparently named for the Sixties rock group when he was "Born To Be Wild " and has now found his "Magic Carpet Ride. " This guy has been following in the wake of the LAWYER all winter in Arkansas. From first crop of APTITUDE which completed the exacta for us in ´00. Trainer Peitz is a first timer here; rider Albarado has made steady climb to top level but best finish here has been a 5th in 7 at bats. WOLFIE should relish the added Derby distance and figures to at last go steppin´ past the Lawyer and quite a few others. Certainly at the minimum a candidate for the back end of tri´s and supers.
KEYED ENTRY- His stock has plunged after a fading third at 4/5 in the Wood. Sire HONOR AND GLORY was a miler but broodmare sire CRYPTOCLEARANCE is a major stamina influence. Trainer Pletcher is boss hog everywhere he goes but 0 for 12 here; rider Valenzuela is nephew of Kelso´s partner Milo Valenzuela and scored for us with SUNDAY SILENCE in ´89. Don´t know if this combination can crack the safe, but wherever you figured KEY to stop- add 1/16th with P-Val up. The door might still slam shut before the wire.
SHOWING UP- Late developing son of turf specialist STRATEGIC MISSION has only 3 starts but all impressive and last was the Grade II Lexington. Same owners as BARBARO and trainer Tagg got the money with FUNNY CIDE ´03. Rider C. Velasquez was 2nd last year in his 2nd attempt. Woody Allen said that "Half of life is just SHOWING UP. " Unfortunately the Derby is in the other half.
POINT DETERMINED- Whatever he is on the morning line, we will guarantee you will see the price cut in half. Recently deceased owner, Bob (SILVER CHARM ‘97, CHARISMATIC, ‘99) Lewis, never met a stranger and was one of racing´s good guys. Sire, POINT GIVEN, was best 3yo of ´01 but was beaten favorite in this one when Stevens uncharacteristically moved too soon. Great broodmare sire in BROAD BRUSH as well. Trainer is Baffert, ‘nuf said ; rider Bejerano is a star in the making and 8th last year in Derby debut. This colt closed well in S.A. Derby and figures to move forward on Saturday. Whether it is enough for victory is a POINT yet to be DETERMINED.
CAUSE TO BELIEVE- Having same dad as MONARCHOS ´01 in MARIA´S MON is cause in itself, but his success has been confined to Northern California tracks where his trainer, Hollendorfer, and rider, Baze, are dominant; both are 0 for 1 here. This closer should take to the added distance, but we need more CAUSE TO BELIEVE in this guy. Count us among the CTB infidels.
DEPUTY GLITTERS- This son of DEPUTY COMMANDER had his 15 minutes of fame in his upset win in the Tampa Derby. A posse comitatus couldn´t find him in the Wood. Respect former Godolphin assistant trainer Albertrani and young rider Lezcano has star potential but they both figure to be 0 for 1 after this Derby. All that glitters may not be gold, but nor is it roses.
STORM TREASURE- This son of STORM BOOT finished 2nd in the Blue Grass at 65-1. He was so far back that he will probably be even longer odds in the Derby. Same owner and trainer as PRIVATE VOW but run as separate betting interests; rider Flores´ best is a 3rd in 4 attempts here. Do not expect a gale force performance.
JAZIL- Yet another one of SEEKING THE GOLD´s boys is a deep closer that will not be daunted by the long Churchill stretch. His finish in the Wood from 20 lengths out of it to be second was visually impressive. But winner BOB was strolling through the last 3/8 in 40.30 seconds. No wonder JAZIL looked like he was running downhill! Trainer McLaughlin was second in first Derby attempt last year; 18 year-old Panamanian whiz kid, Jara, is first time Derby jock. Owner Sheik Hamdan is Dubai Finance Minister and has not provided a translation of JAZIL´s name. To us it means roughly "mid-pack finish ".
SEASIDE RETREAT- Respectable second in the Lane´s End was followed by a total retreat in the Blue Grass in which, this colt did his best imitation of an Egyptian tank in the Six Day War. Trainer Casse is a Canadian first timer in the Derby as is rider Husbands. Pedigree suggests distance not a problem but sire, KING CUGAT, was a grass specialist. Whether he mambos, sambas, or rumbas down the Churchill stretch, we see SEA near the end of the Conga Line.
FLASHY BULL- Another son of last year´s winning sire, HOLY BULL, got our money in the future pool. Same trainer as JAZIL and gets last year´s winning jock, Mike Smith. BULLY showed great form at 2 but just hasn´t gone on. Apart from swami angle with sire and jock, hard to recommend. Hurts to say but Bully looks like a FLASHY in the pan.
THIS YEAR´S RACE-
"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death.
Out, out, brief candle!
Life´s but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. "
The foregoing quote, of course, is Macbeth´s lament on learning that her Ladyship has offed herself. If Macbeth´s tomorrows crept in a "petty pace ", they had nothing in common with this year´s Derby where the pace will be smoking. The likely 3 favorites (BROTHER DEREK, LAWYER RON, and BARBARO) all like the lead and are unlikely to get it. That will fall to MANE MINISTER with SHARP HUMOR at his throatlatch. Will this lead to an early "dusty death " for these "brief candles? " Will the closers (POINT DETERMINED, JAZIL, A.P. WARRIOR, etc.) "full of sound and fury " run them over "in the last syllables of recorded time? " We´ll see. Our Derby tale may well be being "told by an idiot " but we sure hope it signifies something. At this point, dear reader your patience is probably wearing to learn of our conclusion. Macebeth´s next line to the messenger probably sums up your thoughts: "Thou coms´t to use thy tongue. Thy story quickly. " To which we can only reply: "Lay on Macduff, and damn´d be him that first cries, ‘Hold enough!´ "
OUR PICK- For openers let us make clear that this is not a low risk pick. But as we scanned the entries looking for that candidate with significant upside possibility at a price, we kept returning to our pick time and again. His first start last August was so bad (12th by 24 lengths) that 2 humbling decisions were made. First he got the "Kelso prescription " for a gonadectome to improve his behavior and second he was entered in a $40,000 maiden claimer at Laurel. He finished first by a whopping 16 lengths but was disqualified for interference. His next start at Aqueduct was his last as a maiden when he came home by 7 ¾lengths. Then it was back to Laurel for a minor stakes win by 10. Despite this string of dominant performances he was no better than third choice in the Gotham while breaking from the 10 hole. With a short run to the first turn he was hung out to dry and continued wide the entire race. Nonetheless he finished fastest of all to be third by ¾ length. His next star was the Illinois Derby in which he stalked the pace and simply exploded into the far turn leaving the field behind by 9 plus lengths and (very importantly) galloped out like he wanted more. His final Derby work on Saturday at Churchill was a perfect ¾ mile in a dazzling 1:11.60 in spite of his rider´s oversleeping necessitating a sub.
Our pick´s pedigree may not impress many but it´s plenty good for us. His sire was on our Derby watch list before being injured. His broodmare sire, WAQUOIT was an old favorite of ours and an undeniable stayer of the best class. The female family may be void of champions but holds a panoply of quality runners. Of great interest to us is that our pick is inbred (4x5) to one of our favorite bearers of stamina genes, the great French champion HERBAGER.
Our trainer is here for the first time but we are impressed with the job he has done thus far. All he has to do now is provide hay, oats, and water until he tightens the girth on Saturday.
Our rider has won this one twice and is a money rider. Kent Desormeaux guided both REAL QUIET ´98 and FUSAICHI PEGASUS ´00 flawlessly in their scores.
We have selected two geldings over the years and both were just-miss seconds in heartbreakers (BEST PAL ´91 and CAVONNIER ´96). There have been 8 gelded winners of the Derby and we think that that number will grow by one this Saturday.
Now for the incredible scrolling swami angles: Kent´s 2 Derby wins were in red and yellow silks. Yup, our pick´s colors are red and yellow. And with all this spiritual stuff, would you believe that one of our pick´s owners has the last name Theos? (the Greek word for GOD!) And, in passing, we note the winning gelding of the 1888 renewal was a fellow named MACBETH II.
Down here in New Orleans, excitement reigns as Reggie Bush has become our sweet, western, Saint. How appropriate that this year´s Derby winner will be SWEETNORTHERNSAINT!
THE BET- We will bet SWEETNORTHERNSAINT to win and place as we expect double digit odds. We will also take a little bomb insurance and make across the board plays on A.P. WARRIOR and SHARP HUMOR (probably comes up short but what a heart!). We have to use BROTHER DEREK in exactas and tris with our pick and the 2 long shots. HAPPY DERBY DAY TO ALL!
SPECIAL BONUS PICK- We had prepared the following comment for a colt we were watching as a long shot prospect that ended up 22nd on the list of 20 of Derby eligibles:
SACRED LIGHT- We took a shine to this one after his game second to BRO´ DEREK in the Santa Catalina. Same dad (HOLY BULL) as last year´s winner and LIGHT´s broodmare sire (SUMMER SQUALL is sire of ´99 winner CHARISMATIC). Trainer Hofmans is 0 for 1 here but has delivered some biggies for us (ALPHABET SOUP´s 20-1 upset of CIGAR in the ´96 Breeders´ Cup for one). No idea what to think now after he went to his knees at the start of the Santa Anita Derby and lost all chance, but the price may have us beaming.
Well SACRED LIGHT is entered Friday in the Crown Royal American Turf, a race that precedes the Oaks and will be on ESPN. We like him.