Carpe Diem Wins The Blue Grass
This portion of the year is Ebb & Flow Time for The Flying Pie. Some readers who are not the slightest bit interested in horse racing abandon ship for the Triple Crown siege but more come on board, some of them gamblers eager to get any edge they can on the three classic races. We don’t pretend to be the greatest handicappers extant but we do consider factors that many of the others seem to ignore—probably because we have been in the game for forty years and know the ropes pretty well. We could brag on the fact we’ve called the last two winners of the Big Race but we won’t because they were the favorites. Uniquely, however, the Run For The Roses has fewer favorites win than just about any race. Two main reasons: the size of the field (20 horses) creates unusual problems not seen elsewhere and the class of the field is unique. Horse trainers are generally disposed toward looking for the easiest places for their charges to run, not the hardest. In the case of the Triple Crown races, however, everybody wants to win one and the top horses bang heads for the prestige a victory brings even more than the cash. So we’re off for another exciting round of challenges, the best time of year in the thoroughbred business. Hope springs eternal and anything is possible for a few short weeks in the Spring. Let’s load ‘em up!
As we race down the stretch to the first Saturday in May and the 141st edition of the hallowed Kentucky Derby, the picture begins to appear in finer focus. Saturday’s Big Three Stakes—the Wood Memorial in New York, the Blue Grass Stakes in Lexington and the Santa Anita Derby in California—have separated the few contenders from the many pretenders. A season which opened with a dozen or more possibilities has been reduced by half over the last three weeks. There will still be 20 horses in Louisville when the gates open on May 2nd, but only a half-dozen or less with realistic hopes of running off with the roses. Here’s what happened last weekend:
First, the big guys won the Blue Grass. Owned by superfarm WinStar and trained by the horse-rich Todd Pletcher, 2-5 favorite Carpe Diem ran off with the Blue Grass at Keeneland by an expanding three lengths. The television crew thought it should be more, calling the race “a bit of a struggle.” Hey guys, this wasn’t the third race at Fairmount Park—it’s supposed to be a little contentious. It didn’t look like that much of a struggle to me. Delta Downs Jackpot winner Ocho Ocho Ocho, named for his hip number (888) in the Ocala sale at which he was purchased, took the early lead and set a comfortable pace with Carpe Diem outside on his hip. The leader wasn’t giving it up easily, however, and a couple of times when the favorite seemed poised to strike, he accelerated and kept his advantage. Old pro John Velazquez on Carpe Diem seemed to think, okay, fine, we’ve got plenty of time here. At the top of the stretch, coming five wide out of the turn, Carpe Diem seized the day, drawing off with a periodic slap of Velazquez’ whip to keep his mind on the business at hand. Ocho Ocho Ocho finished a tired second and gave no indication the extra distance of the Kentucky Derby would be helpful. The rest of the field was an afterthought.
The favorite did not win the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. The winner there was Frosted (surprise—he’s grey) and he might have been the favorite save for an odd happenstance in the Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream in February, where he got to the lead in the stretch only to strangely falter and fade to fourth. What the hell happened? wondered trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, who is not one to sit and ponder. After the race, he cut back the horse’s blinkers, giving him a better look at who was coming up from behind. Then, he ordered a minor throat surgery called a “Llewellyn” for the surgeon who developed it, in which a small portion of the palate is removed, reducing the likelihood of dorsal displacement. Nobody’s sure whether either or both worked but Frosted forgot to stop this time and outdueled longshot Tencendur in the stretch to win by two and stamp his ticket to the Kentucky Derby. Favorite El Kabeir was a well-beaten third and Derby possibility Daredevil, always suspect at a distance, proved he didn’t belong in Louisville. A word here about El Kabeir, who the announcers thought didn’t finish well. Actually, he looked like the second coming of Silky Sullivan, roaring down the stretch. Problem was, jockey C.C. Lopez let him lag too much earlier despite the very slow pace. Lopez, 54, interviewed on television before the race, told viewers he felt lucky the horse’s connections continued to use him in major races instead of a top rider more experienced in big-time circumstances. Hola, C.C., your luck just ran out. If El Kabeir moves on to the Derby, someone else will probably be in the irons.
Meanwhile, back at the ranchero in Arcadia, Bob Baffert’s Dortmund was out for a stroll. The big, lanky colt loped to the front from his rail position in the Santa Anita Derby, cruised around the track to the top of the stretch, doffed his hat and told the rest of the field, “Hey, it’s been fun but I gotta go now….” and sped off like a thief in the night, winning the thing by 4 1/4 lengths and looking every bit the part of a Kentucky Derby favorite. If he’s not, Baffert’s Oaklawn horse, American Pharoah, is the logical contender. The latter runs in the Arkansas Derby Saturday and if he doesn’t win, the moon is made of guacamole. The two horses have been kept on different circuits to avoid a premature collision. And, oh yeah, the horse which finished second to Dortmund, an affable fellow named One Lucky Dane, he’s trained by Baffert, too. The expression “share the wealth” doesn’t apply in horseracing.
Frosted Takes The Wood
Not Your Everyday Sporting Event
There is a surfeit of sports in the U.S.A. Each major league baseball team plays 162 times a year not counting the playoffs and World Series. The National Basketball Association teams play 82 games in the regular season, as do those in the National Hockey League. NASCAR is in operation somewhere almost every Sunday, soccer is beginning to intrude and college sports are busting out all over. But there are a small number of iconic events which rise above the rest, time-tested contests awaited by true followers of their sports but also by the outliers, generally disinterested folks who enter the room on just these few occasions. Everybody watches the NFL’s Super Bowl, even if it’s just for the television ads. Few offices in the land lack a betting pool for college basketball’s March Madness, where an imbecile’s bracket is as likely to be successful as that of a savant. Nonfans acquiesce to baseball’s World Series and a few people still tune in for the diluted Indianapolis 500. The Kentucky Derby draws the interest of such. Women tune in to observe the hats in the Louisville grandstands. Once-a-year bettors visit, avidly searching for a viable longshot. It’s an event, the likes of which are few. For the life-and-death fans of the sport, it is nothing less than the Quest For The Holy Grail.
Wendell Ford was the Governor of Kentucky back in the 1970s and he often said the best perk of the job was the seat he got for the Derby. In 1973, he was there to award the winner’s trophy to Riva Ridge and in 1974 he presented the prize to the connections of Cannonade. His biggest thrill, however, was the 1973 running of the race, won by the enormously popular superhorse, Secretariat. Wendell Ford was like a big kid when the first Saturday in May arrived and he couldn’t understand why everyone wasn’t affected in the same way. The governor had a story he liked to tell about a man who walked into the Churchill Downs clubhouse one Derby Day and noticed an empty seat. Next to it sat an older woman. The man was astonished, telling the woman, “That’s the first empty seat I’ve seen today.”
“Well, she replied, “That happens to be my husband’s seat, but he died the other day.”
The fellow shook his head sympathetically but pressed on. “I wonder then,” he continued, “why didn’t you give it to one of your friends or relatives?”
“Oh, I would have,” the lady said, “but they’re all at the funeral.”
Derby Facts
In the 140 runnings of the Kentucky Derby, there have been 1827 starters, none of their names starting with the letter X. Horses with names beginning with the Letter S have won the most, 19 times.
Kentucky Derby No. 138 in 2012 was the most attended Derby ever, with a crowd of 165,307, a fact made even more exceptional considering it was the second-wettest Derby ever.
The most frequent color of Kentucky Derby winners is, of course, bay, also the most frequent color of thoroughbred horses, with 52. Surprisingly, chestnuts, with considerably fewer contenders, have won 45 times.
Thirty-seven winners of the Kentucky Derby won the race 10 days or fewer after their last start, but not lately. Horses don’t seem to have the same constitutions as they once did and are certainly coddled more today. Twelve horses have won the race just four days after their last performance (that’s kind of pushing it a bit, we’d say), most recently Tim Tam in 1958. The last horse to win a race off a single-digit layoff (9 days) was Alysheba in 1987.
The average number of starters in the race was a mere 12.6 horses in the 1960s, up to an average of 18.7 in the 2000s. At one time, an owner could enter a penniless maiden in the race if he paid the entry fee, allowing virtual noncontenders to muck up a race. Entrants today are limited to twenty and subjected to point requirements earned by winning significant races.
Fillies are rarely entered, usually running in the prestigious Kentucky Oaks the day before the Derby. Only three fillies have won the Kentucky Derby: Regret in 1915, Genuine Risk in 1980 and Winning Colors in 1988. New rules require fillies to have run against males previously and earned points with good finishes to run in the Derby.
The oldest owner to win the Kentucky Derby was Frances A. Genter, 92, whose Unbridled annexed the 1990 race. The oldest trainer to win was Charlie Wittingham with Ferdinand in 1986. The same horse also was ridden by the oldest jockey, Bill Shoemaker, 54. Eddie Arcaro and Bill Hartack share the jockey record for most winners with five each.
There have been 24 unbeaten horses to enter the Kentucky Derby since 1900. Only a piffling seven won the race, the last being Big Brown in 2008.
The winningest Derby position has been the No. 1 post with twelve, none of them after 1986. No horse from the rail position has even been in the money since Risen Star finished third in 1988, a fact for handicappers to seriously consider.
The widest margin of victory in the entire history of the race has been eight lengths. Eight winners have come from last place. In 2013, Churchill downs sold 984,564 tickets on the race. Of those, 183,467 were cashed and 26,033 were cancelled. A total of $150.6 million was paid to customers with winning tickets in 2013. (Remember: winning tickets are any combination of win, place and show bets parlayed in any manner.)
The red rose became the official flower of the Kentucky Derby in 1904. The garland of roses is made up of 400 Freedom roses sewn into the blanket. Sixty matching long-stemmed red roses, wrapped with 10 yards of ribbon, make up the winning jockey’s bouquet. The winner’s circle is dressed with 2100 roses. Churchill Downs also has 250 rose bushes around the facility, plus 12,000 tulips planted and 400 other trees and shrubs. It grows 22,000 roses a year in its greenhouse.
A Love Story. A Car Story.
Last week’s mention of the vast fleet of 1950s cars in Cuba struck a responsive chord in one of our readers, Deb Peterson of Oregon, who really perked up at the mention of Bill’s first car, a portholed 1953 Buick Special. Below is her correspondence.
This week’s Flying Pie took me back to 1958 and my first love. Okay, I was only 7, but this was the real deal. The city swimming pool had opened a block from our home and I was there every morning that Summer, ready to spend the entire day at the pool. One morning, one of the lifeguards said something to me. I tried to look up at the lifeguard stand but the morning sun was hitting me directly in the eyes and at first I couldn’t see anything but his outline. Then, he came down from the stand to talk to me and I instantly fell in love when I saw him. He had black hair and turquoise blue eyes and was the most handsome guy I had ever seen. Don’t tell me you can’t fall head over heels at seven because I definitely did. Anyway, he drove a black 1953 Buick with 3 portholes on each side, red interior and some kind of red trim or pinstriping. I even remember his name—Tom Frick—and he was there for the Summer working to save money for college. I think he thought it was sweet that a little girl adored him and he was always very nice to me. My parents even had him over for dinner a few times since they were friends with his aunt, with whom he stayed. After he left for college, I never saw him again—but I looked for that car everywhere I went for decades afterwards, just hoping to catch another glimpse of him. Funny thing is, a few years ago I was visiting my parents and somehow brought up Tom’s name to my Mom’s hairdresser and she told me he was only there that Summer and just disappeared. When I read about your ‘53 Buick, it sounded like the same car except for the color. Funny the things you remember. Anyway, I think there was something amazing about those 50s cars. And the men who drove them were different, too. Thanks for bringing back a beautiful memory. Cheers!
Deb Peterson
We’re Everywhere
I guess everybody likes Cuba stories. Last week’s Flying Pie was read not only in a kajillion towns in these United states but also in the farthest reaches of the Klondike. Places like these:
Toronto and Sorel, Canada
Windsor, England
Paris and Limoges, France
Uden, Netherlands
Casablanca, Morocco
Sassari, Italy
Samara, Russia
Sapporo, Japan
Tamano, Indonesia
Yantai, Guiyang and Haikou, China
Kyiv, Ukraine
and last, but not least, the inimitable Mueang Lampang District of Thailand
You think we’re kidding? Okay, just call any of your friends in Mueang Lampang right now. They’ll straighten you out.
That’s all, folks….
