kentuckydarby

Despite loss, Giacomo proves worthy
BALTIMORE -- No Triple Crown for Giacomo. Nothing to be embarrassed about, either.Giacomo's bid to back up his Kentucky Derby victory ended Saturday with a third-place finish at the Preakness. As he did in the Derby, the horse rallied gamely.This time, though, it wasn't enough.Afleet Alex survived a scary collision to win the race ahead of Scrappy T and Giacomo, who stormed to the finish after standing in 10th place at the three-quarters pole.It was a gallant effort by the horse that shocked the racing world by capturing the Derby as a 50-1 shot, but it means that another year will go by without a Triple Crown winner.Giacomo jockey Mike Smith did a wonderful job of weaving through traffic in the 20-horse Kentucky Derby, but couldn't do the same in the 14-horse Preakness."I didn't get loose until we got to the quarter pole. I was just stuck right behind them,'' Smith said. "I could have went around, but that was an awful long way to go around. I was going to lose at least 10 lengths.''His only option was to hope for an opening. By the time he found one, it was too late."I was waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting,'' Smith said. "I was able to get out and make my run, but by then they were gone.''Every time he looked for a hole, the gap was filled. That's the difference between finishing first and third."A lot of them shut on me today. That happens in racing,'' Smith said. "I was so proud of him to run third. I'm looking forward to the Belmont.''Giacomo was bidding to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978. He went off as the third choice in the race, and justified that support by paying $4.80 to show.He is the first horse to win the Kentucky Derby and lose the Preakness since Monarchos in 2001."I don't think there was any embarrassment in running third in the Preakness,'' trainer John Shirreffs said. "We were pleased with the effort. I think it says a lot about Giacomo. Mike Smith said he had a lot of horse at the wire. He was full of run.''With no place to go."My horse ran dynamite, but I had to idle a very long way and that really hurts you in this type of race,'' Smith said. "He galloped out great, so I know he'll come back strong in his next race.''

Afleet Alex could be racing's next feel-good story
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Afleet Alex is running for more than glory in the Kentucky Derby. The big bay colt is running to beat cancer, too.When the starting gate springs open Saturday for the Derby, Afleet Alex will be among the favorites. But he's already a champion off the racetrack. And if he wins, there can be no sweeter story.Looking for the next Funny Cide or Smarty Jones feel-good story? You're on the right track with Afleet Alex:The breeder has terminal cancer, but says the horse is helping him survive. The Philly-area owners are donating part of Afleet Alex's earnings to Alex's Lemonade Stand, a children's cancer charity. The horse was hand fed with a beer bottle full of milk at birth, overcame a lung infection two months ago and then won the Arkansas Derby to regain his stature as a top Derby contender with six victories in nine races. The trainer picked out Afleet Alex at a 2-year-old sale in Maryland for new owners at the bargain price of $75,000. The jockey was fired in favor of a more experienced rider, but will be back for his first Derby. "Just an amazing story, isn't it?" trainer Tim Ritchey said outside his barn at Churchill Downs. "We're just so fortunate to have a horse like this. Everything is just falling into place, plus we have an opportunity to help some that are less fortunate."John Silvertand, the 60-year-old breeder who lives in Lake Worth, Fla., said doctors gave him about three months to live because of colon cancer that had spread to his lungs and liver. It's been 2 1/2 years and counting."The horse keeps me going," Silvertand said in a telephone interview. "I truly believe he's helping me in my battle."Silvertand, a former pilot in Britain's Royal Air Force, plans to drive to the Derby with his wife, Carolyn, and 12-year-old daughter, Lauren. "Have to drive," he said. "Too many Afleet Alex hats to take on the plane."The hats are just part of the Afleet Alex merchandise also being sold to raise money for Alex's Lemonade Stand for Pediatric Cancer Research. Each hat has a small lemon image on the side, and Afleet Alex's saddlecloth also will have a lemon image.Alexandra Scott, the daughter of Jay and Liz Scott of Wynnewood, Pa., was diagnosed with cancer two days before her first birthday, in 1997. She opened the lemonade stand when she was 4, hoping to raise $1 million for her hospital.The touching story quickly gained national interest, and donations started pouring in. Alexandra was 8 when she died Aug. 1. Chuck Zacney, managing partner of Cash Is King Stable, owners of Afleet Alex, was so moved by the story that he pledged $30,000 to the charity. Then he e-mailed the Scotts, asking if they'd like to be part of the team, with a portion of Afleet Alex's earnings going to the cancer charity.On Tuesday morning at Churchill Downs, a breeding season to Afleet Alex's sire, Northern Afleet, was auctioned for $37,000 -- all of it going to Alex's Lemonade Stand. The winning bidder was B. Wayne Hughes, who owns two horses trying to beat Afleet Alex in the Derby, Greeley's Galaxy and Don't Get Mad.The charity so far has raised more than $1.6 million.The lemonade stand opened Tuesday on the backstretch, and Liz Scott was in awe of what's been happening."It's incredible. It's taken it to a different level for me," she said. "This will be the first year that she's not here, so this was a really important year for me."She loved horses, but she never actually met one. She had pictures of them and she read books. She would think this was really very cool and I'm sure if she was here on Derby day, she'd be all decked out with her hat and her outfit. She was really into that kind of stuff."Zacney and his four co-owners arrived at Afleet Alex's barn Tuesday, full of stories about how lucky they've been with the first horse they bought together. And they talked about how they named Afleet Alex -- three of the owners' children are named or nicknamed Alex."You can't dream this," the 43-year-old Zacney said. "All the owners, we all have a pretty positive spin on life, and we want to share this with everyone. Doing all this, and with the lemonade stand and with John being part of it, is just great."Afleet Alex, meanwhile, is coming into the race in fine form. He has won six of nine races, with two runner-up finishes, for earnings of $1,315,800. He worked a half-mile Tuesday morning in his final tuneup before the Derby.Afleet Alex won the Arkansas Derby by a record eight lengths on April 16, less than a month after finishing sixth in the Rebel Stakes. After the race, Ritchey said Afleet Alex had a lung infection.This was the same horse that went several days without his mother's milk after his birth in Florida in May 2002. With his mother unable to nurse her foal, Silvertand's daughter fed the horse out of a Coors Lite bottle with a nipple on top. A few days later, a nurse mare arrived and Afleet Alex was on his way to the races.Then there's the saga of jockey Jeremy Rose. He was aboard Afleet Alex for the first six races, but Ritchey retained John Velazquez for the Triple Crown trail. Rose was aboard for Afleet Alex's 3-year-old debut, a victory in the Mountain Valley Stakes, but Velazquez was the rider in the Rebel.However, Velazquez committed to riding Bandini in the Blue Grass on the same day as the Arkansas Derby, putting Rose back on Afleet Alex."It was put out of my hands," Rose said. "I'm just glad I got a horse to ride in the Derby."Two years ago, high school pals from upstate New York watched their gelding Funny Cide win the Kentucky Derby. Last year, it was Smarty Jones, who nearly died in a starting gate mishap, winning the Derby and becoming the "people's horse."Is Afleet Alex next?"He may be," Ritchey said. "He's going to have to prove himself, but he's a horse that had to overcome things. America seems to like a sports star that overcomes adversity and goes on and becomes successful

Kentucky Derby Q & A

The Kentucky Derby is the world's most compulsively over-analyzed race, and there are many myths and half-truths associated with it. Here's a question-and-answer session that may clear up some of them:
Q. Does drawing an outside post in a large field create a significant disadvantage? A. No. Where horses start doesn't have a direct connection to where they'll finish in the Derby, though no one wants post 19 or 20. Among the Derby winners who came from the outside gate were Smarty Jones (post 15 last year); Monarchos (post 16, 2001); Fusaichi Pegasus (post 15, 2000); Charismatic (post 16, 1999); Grindstone (post 15, 1996) and Thunder Gulch (post 16, 1995).
Q. Since the Derby is a mile and a quarter, in such a long race what happens at the start isn't a big deal, right? A. Wrong. Very often, the first few strides can eliminate or severely hurt a horse's chances. You can't win the Derby coming out of the gate, but you can lose it there. In 1985, Eternal Prince broke badly and allowed the other front-runner in the field, Spend a Buck, to grab an immediate lead that he never gave up. In 1994, the heavy favorite, Holy Bull, and the highly regarded Brocco broke badly and never got involved in the race.
Q. How important is the quarter-mile run to the first turn? A. Very important. Often it's where the race can be decided, the place that dream trips and horrible trips start. Here's veteran Derby trainer Todd Pletcher's take on it: "The run to the first turn is the key to the way the whole race is going to unfold. It doesn't necessarily matter that much whether you're first, fifth or seventh. You want to get to the first turn with hopefully the least amount of congestion as possible. In a large field especially, there's so much bouncing around with one another going into that first turn that I think it takes away so much energy from the horses."
Q. Since 1947, only one horse, Sunny's Halo in 1983, won the Derby off only two preps as a 3-year-old. Is that a major negative for likely favorite Bellamy Road? A. Not necessarily, but I will not take a short-priced horse trying to overcome a trend that's stood up for so long. The Derby is the most grueling race a horse will ever encounter, coming as it does so early in a thoroughbred's career. You don't want a horse to be overraced heading into it, but being battle-tested is crucial, and Bellamy Road could be lacking in that department. He's had two very easy races this year, winning them by a total of more than 33 lengths. He could be a freak and a superhorse and win the Derby on the lead by five lengths, but many handicappers, including me, doubt he'll repeat his Wood Memorial romp.
Q. Since 1956, no horse has won the Derby off a layoff of more than 30 days. Since High Fly and Noble Causeway last ran April 2 in the Florida Derby, 35 days before the Derby, does that mean they should be automatically eliminated? A. No, I don't think so. First of all, very few horses have tried to win the Derby off layoffs of more than four weeks, mainly because all the major final preps (Wood, Blue Grass, Santa Anita Derby, Arkansas Derby) always are scheduled no more than a month before the first Saturday in May. So the sample size of the failures is very small. This year, the Florida Derby was pushed back from mid-March to early April for the first time, mainly to keep the major stables at Gulfstream for a few extra weeks. If High Fly and Noble Causeway come up short Saturday, it will be because they aren't good enough or encounter poor racing luck, not because they hadn't run in 35 days.
Q. Can you win the Derby despite a bad trip? A. It's been done, but not often. According to the 1977 chart, the great Seattle Slew "swerved sharply to the outside into Get The Axe after failing to break alertly, was rushed to the leaders . . . [and] continued through tight quarters through the opening quarter-mile. Along the backstretch, Seattle Slew dueled for the lead from the outside with For The Moment to the top of the stretch before disposing of that one and drew off with a rush." Had Slew not been an all-time great who was fortunate enough to face a relatively weak field, he would have been up the track with that horror trip. So many things can go wrong in a race, and only the great ones can overcome anything but one minor traffic problem. Two negative incidents in a race usually spell defeat.
Q. I've heard that some horses, even stars, don't handle the surface at Churchill Downs. Is that true? A. It is, and no one can say why. One example was Hall of Famer Skip Away, who ran the worst two races of his life, the 1996 Kentucky Derby and the 1998 Breeders' Cup Classic, at Churchill. His trainer, Sonny Hine, couldn't figure it out, because Skip Away shipped all over the country to win major stakes, but he was an overbet dud in Louisville. Most of this year's Derby runners have not raced before at Churchill, which is why assessing workouts is often valuable. Q. How much attention should I pay to Derby week workouts? A. You should factor them in but not talk yourself off a horse or onto one just because of a fast or a moderate workout. The speed of a work is not the key, but how a horse finishes and how it handles the track. Unless the animal looks terrific or really bad in a morning drill, don't get carried away. During the past 20 years, Derby winners Ferdinand, Sunday Silence, Unbridled, Grindstone, Silver Charm and Real Quiet announced their sharp form and liking for the surface by working well at Churchill. Of course, they wouldn't have won if they'd had bad trips; many also-rans trained brilliantly over the track but were undone by bad racing luck.

A disgruntled Bobby Frankel told reporters Wednesday morning he may reconsider Ramon Dominguez as the jockey for High Limit's Kentucky Derby (gr. I) run Saturday. Frankel said after reading a quote from the rider in a Louisville Courier-Journal article, it seemed the jockey may lack confidence in High Limit to go forward Saturday. "There might be a new rider on this horse," Frankel said. "Who knows. I haven't made up my mind. But if he doesn't have confidence in him..." The article written by Brian Bennett quoted the jockey as saying, "He (High Limit) probably doesn't have enough experience to compete at the highest level yet." A Venezuela native, Dominguez has ridden in all of High Limit's four starts, including his win in the Louisiana Derby (gr. II). Frankel said he wanted to know whether or not the jockey was misquoted before he made a decision. "We'll see. Most likely, he'll ride the horse," Frankel later said.

There isn't much more to say about Afleet Alex that hasn't been said before. Well, come to think of it, maybe there is. Alex was the star of the morning, being the only worker. He also was the center of attention at an informal auction to benefit cancer research. Have I already said that Afleet Alex is a machine? Somewhere, there has to be an on/off switch that trainer Tim Ritchey flicks each morning. During the past nine days Alex has done absolutely nothing wrong. In fact, there hasn't been anything he's done that hasn't been near-perfect. Before I start gushing too much, let's just say that whether Afleet Alex wins on Saturday (gr. I) or not, his presence at the 131st Kentucky Derby (gr. I) will be remembered for a long time, as will all the heart-tugging stories and human drama that have been spawned from this one little $75,000 colt. Getting down to the business of the day, Alex went out for a half-mile work after the renovation break, and like his work last week, this one was right on the money. With jockey Jeremy Rose aboard. Alex coasted along early through fractions of :13 and :25 2/5. As he did last week, he cut the corner beautifully, changed leads on cue, and was really reaching out through the stretch. Rose kept his hands perfectly still and way down on the colt's neck, letting him do everything on his own. Alex, under nice loose rein, was his usual determined self. With Rose crouched low in the saddle and his head buried in Alex's mane, the son of Northern Afleet came home his final eighth in :11 3/5 to complete the half-mile in :48 1/5. He galloped out very strong, while still hugging the rail, going out another eighth in a sharp :13 flat. This work was a virtual replica of last week's move. There is nothing this colt does that he doesn't seem to love, whether it's working, galloping, jogging, or wrestling with his plastic ball hanging in the middle of his stall. It is attached by an elastic band, and Alex will grab the ball and pull it right down to the floor, then let it fling back in the air before running around the stall and kicking at it. In short, Afleet Alex is a rare gift, and as I said before, win or lose, this year's Derby will at least have served the purpose of introducing the racing world to a very special horse. And Alex is the kind of gift that keeps on giving. At about 10 o'clock, a crowd gathered around "Alex's Lemonade Stand," located by the rail, where lemonade and Afleet Alex buttons were being sold to benefit childhood cancer research. As most everyone has read by now, the lemonade stand was started by a 4-year-old girl named Alexandra "Alex" Scott, who had been diagnosed with neuroblastoma two days before her first birthday. In July, 2000, she opened a lemonade stand in her front yard and donated the proceeds to "her hospital" to help raise money for research. Word spread, and donations came pouring in from all over the world, eventually reaching $1.6 million. Alex sadly passed away at the age of 8, but the lemonade stand continues, perpetuated now by the owners of Afleet Alex, who donate a portion of the colt's earnings. This morning, a season in Afleet Alex's sire, Northern Afleet, who stands at Taylor Made Farm for a $12,500 stud fee, was auctioned off at Alex's Lemonade Stand. With Cash is King managing partner Chuck Zacney upping the price, the season was purchased for $37,000 by B. Wayne Hughes, owner of Derby starters Greeley's Galaxy and Don't Get Mad. When Zacney and Ritchey went over to him afterward, Hughes said, "I'm glad you ran the price up. It was for a good cause." Speaking of determined little horses, the diminutive Wilko made his first appearance on the track this morning, jogging once around with the pony. The son of Awesome Again bounced along, taking in all the sights, and seemed perfectly content until he was about to exit the track. Suddenly, he planted his front feet, backed up and started to rear, breaking loose from the lead shank. He just stood there until back under control, then continued on his merry way, prancing off the track as if nothing had happened. Dare I say yet again that High Limit had a monster gallop? Well, he did, moving along with his head down into the bit and powering over the ground with piston-like strides. He may be light on experience, but he won't take a backseat to anyone in the fitness department. Bobby Frankel could not ask the son of Maria's Mon to be coming into the race any better. He'll probably have a half-mile blowout tomorrow. Also having very strong gallops this morning were Greeley's Galaxy, Bellamy Road, and Noble Causeway. Greeley's Galaxy has a magnificent way of going and reaches out with enormous strides for a horse his size. Bellamy Road again had his neck arched and was not as headstrong as he was a couple of days last week. He is one horse there is no mistaking on the track. No one even comes close to looking like him galloping. Noble Causeway was into the bit and moving along smoothly. Derby Trial winner, Don't Get Mad, was out grazing yesterday afternoon, with trainer Ron Ellis taking a tight hold of him. The son of Stephen Got Even was really on the muscle and was getting spooked by every little sound. Ellis was happy to see him with so much life following his scintillating score on Saturday. The colt has a beautiful, chiseled head, and a bright, alert eye. His coat was radiant and it wouldn't come as a surprise to see him bounce back in a week throw in another big one.

Mother Nature continued to give horsemen a break Monday as three contenders for Saturday's Kentucky Derby (gr. I) breezed under sunny skies at Churchill Downs. All three of the Derby preps were conducted after the break in which maintenance crews rework the track surface. Showing an affinity for the Churchill surface, Sort It Out (Out of Place) zipped a half-mile in :47 1/5. One of the most experienced horses in the Derby field with 12 career starts, Sort It Out has four wins, including the Whirlaway at Aqueduct, for trainer Bob Baffert. Also on the track was Coin Silver, one of three Derby contenders trained by 2004 Eclipse Award-winning trainer Todd Pletcher. The son of Anees who won the Lexington Stakes (gr. II) breezed five furlongs in 1:01. Also going five furlongs Monday morning was Closing Argument, the son of Successful Appeal who was timed in 1:01 3/5. Trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, Closing Argument has won or placed in all seven career starts, including a victory in the Holy Bull Stakes (gr. III).

Trainer Bob Baffert, now a three-time Kentucky Derby (GI) winner, said all was well with Kentucky Derby (GI) winner War Emblem on the morning after (May 5) the race and the colt would now take aim at the Preakness (GI), the second jewel of the Visa Triple Crown. "It looks good," he said. "You can tell he ran hard. He's a little tired today (May 5). Yesterday (May 4) he was pretty wound up after the race, but today he's finally mellowed out a little bit. He can be tough, this son of a gun." The Thoroughbred Corp's Kentucky-bred son of War Emblem walked under the shedrow on the day after he won the Kentucky Derby by a front-running four lengths in 2:01.13 - the ninth-fastest Derby in 128 years. Baffert will stick to the plan that resulted in Preakness (GI) victories for his previous Kentucky Derby winners Silver Charm (1997) and Real Quiet (1998). He will train War Emblem at Churchill Downs, work him early next week and then ship him to Baltimore. "I'll train him here - this track (at Churchill Downs) is so good this year," Baffert said. "He (track superintendant Butch Lehr) had it great, he had it really great. This track is in awesome shape. I'm just going to train him, take him up there and what happens happens. That's the approach I'm taking." On the morning after his third Kentucky Derby victory in six years, Baffert continued to talk about the emotional impact of his latest success in the race. It was an unusual Derby win for Baffert as War Emblem had been in his barn for less than a month. The trainer first laid eyes on the colt at Churchill Downs after The Thoroughbred Corp's Prince Ahmed bin Salman purchased him privately after a romp in the Illinois Derby (GII) at Sportsman's Park. "I felt like I'd had this horse all my life," Baffert said. "When he turned for home, I felt like I'd had him since he was a baby. It just does that. And he's been a little bit of a project for me since I've had him here, because we had to work some things out with him. It was very gratifying, but it was also very emotional for me because of Jill (fiancée Jill Moss) and what we've gone through - the ups and downs and the disappointments and Jill's always there with me. This is for her and I. It's like we finally got our Derby." Baffert said the victory with War Emblem was also satisfying because of the disappointments of recent defeats with such horses at General Challenge and last year's eventual "Horse of the Year" Point Given, who suffered his only loss of the campaign in the Kentucky Derby. "I may not have shown it, but those losses were tough," he said. "People don't realize what we really go through. And then to win it for the prince, you know, I told the prince 'You weren't supposed to win it last year.' That's just the way this thing works. It was a humbling experience for the prince. "After Point Given, I wondered if I'd ever win another one of these things again - it's just too damn hard to win. And it seemed like the harder I tried to win, the harder it is to win it. And here this year I took a different outlook: I'm just going to get him and train that son of a gun the best I can and get him sharp and lead him up there and see what happens. And that's all you can do to win this race. That's why Wayne (trainer D. Wayne Lukas) ran second: he trained his horse, tried to get there and see what happens." Baffert said the colt's previous owner, 84-year-old Chicagoan Russell Reineman, retained 10 percent of War Emblem. He said that Reineman would get 10 percent of the colt's Derby earnings and the $1 million bonus he received for sweeping the Illinois Derby and the Kentucky Derby. "It was good for him," said Baffert. "He kept a piece in case this horse was to go on to win the Derby, he wanted to feel like he didn't sell the whole horse."