Vic Zast

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Derby fever swept through Kentucky at about the same time the swine flu hit Mexico.  And, horse racing fans in the Bluegrass met the annual malady with commensurate seriousness.

Even the best of gossip medics at John-E’s restaurant, where owners, trainers and jockeys traditionally swap lies, drink cocktails, eat steaks and participate in a radio show on Monday of Derby Week, couldn’t suppress the raging rumor that Square Eddie was out and Take the Points in. Yet, by Tuesday morning, half the rumor died and half survived. 

In the face of an inordinately tough field, Take the Point’s trainer, Todd Pletcher, decided that owner Jack Wolf, the managing partner of Starlight Racing, could use a respite from likely defeat. He scuttled plans to run the son of Even the Score, fourth in the Santa Anita Derby, and allowed some other slug to compete.

“Mr. Wolf and I had a discussion in which we weighed all the factors,” Pletcher said.  “When we looked at it from all angles, we decided the best way to go was the Preakness.”  So far, Starlight’s fortunes on the first Saturday in May haven’t been stellar.

In Wolf’s first Kentucky Derby try in 2002, the likable Louisville native — a former hedge fund manager — entered Harlan’s Holiday.  The horse finished seventh as the 6-1 favorite. In 2007, his Sam P. ran ninth. Keyed Entry in 2006 and Monba in 2008 ended up last, placing Wolf in elite company — a small collection of men with two last-place finishes.  Not since 1938 and 1939, when Milky Way Farm posted back-to-back back of the pack results, has futility descended on the same owner this quickly.

Colonel Edward R. Bradley had three horses among his record 28 starters that trailed the entire field, too. But one of those, named Billionaire, was entered in Bradley’s name only; the others raced under the Idle Hour Stock Farm Co. banner. Before winning and placing second in 1926, Idle Hour took a second, a last and a second last in 1922; an 11th in 1923; a third, a 17th and a last in 1924, and an 11th in 1925.  Regardless, a man would have to be infused with ACE inhibitor optimism to endure such palpitations.

Finishing last twice has occurred to 10 other owners in 134 Derbies. Michael Tabor, who owns Dunkirk in partnership with Mrs. John Magnier and Derrick Smith, accomplished the ignominious feat in 1997 and 2003.  But Tabor, starting his twelfth Derby runner this year, was victorious in the 1995 edition with Thunder Gulch, and that disqualifies him from the ultimate loser’s list.

What makes running for roses so tantalizing is that the Kentucky Derby is the only horse race fixed firmly in the public’s conscientiousness.  No owner of thoroughbreds avoids that inescapable inquiry of the uninformed — “Have you had a horse in the Kentucky Derby?” 

At the same time, all owners admit that there’s no place they’d rather be on the first Saturday in May than on the Churchill Downs grounds with a horse in the starting gate of the feature race.  The shameless Nick Zito leapt at the chance to enter the hopeless Nowhere to Hide, for example, when Win Willy declared out of the race only three hours before the post position draw.

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“It’s a helluva thrill to run in the Derby” remarked owner Cot Campbell, whose Dogwood Stables, a racing syndicate, has started seven non-winners and has watched his horses run second, third and fourth in the Derby. “It’s a tough race to win.  I have no frustration, sadness or disappointments.  The fields are crowded and some horses get all jazzed up by the crowd. There are a lot of horses that don’t belong there,” he said.  “I’ve been guilty of sending some myself.”

Dogwood had two runners this spring which Campbell expected to make the field, until both were held back.  “Lime Rickey was a nice horse that likes the turf and we tried him in the Wood Memorial to find out if he liked dirt, and he did not. We had a promising young horse that was advancing pretty fast named Ziegfeld that we ran in the Arkansas Derby and he ran a clunker,” Campbell noted.  “But the Derby is the brass ring and I’d like to grab it.”

Campbell is two shy of the record for the most Derby starts without a winner and the leader pro tem in this sad category.  He’s chasing Charles T. Fischer’s Dixiana Farm, which was zero for nine in its tries. Runners-up to Dixiana are Elmendorf Farm and Hal Price Headley, each zero for eight.  Elmendorf, the nom de race of Max Gluck, competed from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s.  Hal Price Headley raced from the 1920s to 1950s, ironically in the same era as Dixiana.

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The 2009 Kentucky Derby is noteworthy for additional reasons relating to failure. Even without Take the Points in the mix, Pletcher will saddle three horses in an attempt to break his Derby winless streak of 21 straight.  No trainer in Derby history remotely approaches his number of defeats without posting a victory. Left with Dunkirk (lightly raced), Advice (late developing) and Join in the Dance (distance challenged), the trainer might have two dozen losses on his resume come Sunday.

Corey Nakatani, originally scheduled to pilot Mr. Hot Stuff, moved to Square Eddie after the son of Smart Strike ran an encouraging third in the Blue Grass Stakes.  The California-based jockey, who has won over 3200 races including two Kentucky Oaks, was hoping that Square Eddie would get him to the Derby winner’s circle after 14 fruitless rides. 

The skein places Nakatani right behind Alex Solis for having the most mounts without a winner.  With the Kentucky Derby such an elusive prize, he can ill afford another rumor that affects him negatively.  Moreover, if Campbell is to be believed and Wolf admired for restraint, Derby fever should cause an itch, not chronic depression.

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