Final Turn : kentucky derby

Decadent Derby - by Evan Hammonds

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:09:00 GMT

(Originally published in the May 2, 2009 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

One of Louisville’s favorite sons, the legendary (and late) Hunter S. Thompson, added his own flair to the art of news reporting and journalism in the 1970s with his “Gonzo” brand of writing. His books, essays, and columns continue to be must reading for those of us of a certain vintage.

One of his first major published pieces was a magazine article titled “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved,” a first-person narrative that chronicles his alcohol-soaked exploits in and around Churchill Downs at the 1970 Run for the Roses. And after 39 years, the story holds up remarkably well.

Thompson’s wild and wooly weekend in Louisville, full of fear and loathing and liberal doses of the “management’s Scotch,” is a rollicking tale not of the race, but of the event.

“And unlike most of the others in the press box, we didn’t give a hoot in hell what was happening on the track. We had come there to watch the real beasts perform.”

Thompson could capture the pop culture of his day in a paragraph. He was at his best when he was able to take a caricature of a stereotype and gallop it out another eighth of a mile past the finish.

While the actual results of the race are whittled down to a paragraph near the end of the piece, Thompson does note that jockey Diane Crump was about to make history as the first female rider to make the Derby field.

Churchill Downs and the Derby have come a long way since then.

The article, while once likely a sore spot for many top-level managers at Churchill Downs, now has a new home, proudly displayed on the kentuckyderby.com Web site. Shocking.

Marketing, branding, and corporate sponsorships have taken a lot of the individuality out of not only the Derby Presented by Yum! Brands, but all major sporting events in this country, from college football bowl games, to the World Series, to events like the Indy 500 and New York City Marathon.

“The grim reaper comes early in this league…” Thompson’s words carry an even heavier air in this era. While Thompson swilled a “double Old Fitz on ice” in 1970, today Woodford Reserve is a corporate and race sponsor.

To stay current with the times, selling major sporting events requires something edgier. The pomp, pageantry, and color of Thoroughbred racing isn’t going to bring people to the track these days.

Today’s Churchill Downs and Derby has been positioned a lot differently. Not only can you go to the infield and have a good time, you can hang with Churchill Downs’ “Chief Party Officer.”

We’ll likely catch up with Churchill’s second CPO, Nick “Rinickulous” Ferrara, during some backstretch hijinks during Derby week, but it’s doubtful he, or last year’s representative, Tim “Stymie” Snyder, could sprint the first six furlongs with Thompson.

Readers of The Blood-Horse are the insiders to this greatest of games played outdoors. At some point this week, we need to take a moment or two and step back and accept the Derby for what it is to the general public: a rite of spring; a long week’s party that just happens to have a two-minute Thoroughbred race at the end of it. Most patrons today would think My Morning Jacket is the best rock band to come out of the Derby city, not something they left at home on their way to watch the workouts.

We’ve been witness to a few things over the last decade in Louisville. During Derby week, we’ve chatted with all walks of life from grade I winner Penny Chenery to bottom-level claimer O.J. Simpson. We’ve marveled at the regal Barbaro, been smitten by the pint-sized Smarty Jones, and been stunned by longshots like Charismatic and Giacomo. We’ve seen thousand-dollar Mint Juleps (and talked with those who drank them), giant inflatable Juleps, and colleagues beaned with a full bottle of Budweiser in the parking lot nearing the end of what had to be a two-day bender for a group of guys in an RV.

Decadent and depraved? You bet.

And just like the final line of Where the Buffalo Roam, a film based on Thompson’s life starring Bill Murray, “It never got weird enough for me.”

Well…ask us again May 3.

Long Term Care - by Herb Moelis

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:52:00 GMT

On Derby Day 2008 shock waves traveled through the Thoroughbred world. A talented filly named Eight Belles finished second in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) but after the finish, the filly stumbled and was euthanized on the track in front of more than 100,000 fans and millions watching on TV. We knew we had to address a problem that has been with us for quite some time. We examined our tracks, drug policies, breeding concepts, and many other things we took for granted.

When are we going to wake up to another very public problem: What happens to racehorses when they finish their racing careers.

There have been laws passed recently that have reduced the number of horses going to slaughter. Additionally, we are seeing the costs of caring for horses, including feed, transportation, hay, and straw, skyrocket. This has translated to more abandoned horses. According to the United States Department of Agriculture data, there are approximately 100,000 unwanted horses in the U.S. each year, a major problem and potential public relations nightmare. The time is now to address it.

Thoroughbred Charities of America (TCA) supports about 200 of the groups that care for unwanted horses. We have seen the increase in the number of horses these groups must care for and the increasing costs and the lack of funding for them. I’ve heard many stories about horses being turned loose on highways and other horror stories for lack of funding. For the Thoroughbred industry to turn a blind eye to this problem will only result in another jolt, probably much worse from an industry viewpoint, than even the Eight Belles tragedy. How do we avoid this and do the right thing before we have People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and others demonstrating and asserting that we are inhumane and uncaring about our horses? How do we avoid having the government step in to regulate?

The answer is we must make owners responsible for the welfare of their horses, both during their racing careers and also when those careers end. If we agree owner responsibility is needed, the question is, “How do we get owners to be responsible?” Education of new owners is a necessity. When a person decides that he would like to participate in the excitement of racing, he should be educated to the reality that after racing the horse must be provided for.

Yet education alone will still not cure the problem. We must find a way to raise a steady and reliable source of money for the care of horses after their racing careers. Having been a founder and president of TCA and having raised in excess of $16 million over 18 years, I fully understand how difficult it is to raise money voluntarily. To depend on voluntary individual donations would be futile.

There is a very logical and simple way to raise money for this purpose. When owners register their foals The Jockey Club requires a registration form to be filed with payment of $200. Why can’t we add $50 to provide for care of the foal for life? This would be similar to a Social Security program for horses.

There are approximately 40,000 Thoroughbreds registered each year. At $50 each the total amount assessed annually would be $2 million. This would go a long way to providing a decent life for all Thoroughbreds after their racing careers. A Social Security system is the most feasible way to help, and The Jockey Club is the most logical agent for this project.

When I proposed this a number of years ago to The Jockey Club, I was told that it would be a burden on owners and there would be strong resistance. The Jockey Club would not implement the assessment, because, I was told, even if they collected the money they would not have the mechanism to distribute the funds. My answer to this is simple. TCA has a comprehensive file on all rescue organizations and would help in the distribution of funds. If an owner cannot afford $50 when registering a foal, then that person has no business being an owner. For the welfare of our industry and the welfare of our horses, this assessment is necessary and reasonable.

Herb Moelis is the president of Thoroughbred Charities of America

Telling Time - by Evan Hammonds

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:38:00 GMT

It’s amazing that six weeks can go by so quickly, yet also seem like an eternity.

Was it just last month, or was it last year when we saw Big Brown bound past us on the Churchill Downs backstretch during a chilly morning in Louisville? Was it just a few weeks ago, or was it a couple of months ago that we witnessed a coronation off the Northern Parkway in Baltimore? We’re certain about June 7 on Long Island, witnessing the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) in sticky, steamy Elmont, N.Y.

This year’s Triple Crown run had more twists than a New York pretzel, and was twice as salty.

When looking back over the ’08 run by Big Brown, here’s hoping the industry will have moved forward on a couple of horse health-related issues.

First, with the tragic breakdown of Eight Belles following her dazzling runner-up effort in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), industry leaders must not lose sight of the need to take steps to make our sport safer for its participants. Just as the breeding industry came together back in the spring of 2001 to unravel the mysteries of mare reproductive loss syndrome, the key is communication. We must share all information, good and bad, for the betterment of the sport. The newly formed Thoroughbred Safety Committee is a good start. So, too, are the conversations and research that must continue regarding synthetic track surfaces.

The issue of steroids in racehorses must be addressed, promptly, and on a national level. I can imagine few in the game who would like to see more trainers and owners interviewed on national television discussing the pros and cons of Winstrol.

Big Brown’s disappointing run in the Belmont, for the umpteenth time giving fans a handful of feathers instead of a Triple Crown winner, teaches us just how special it is to win the Triple Crown. We don’t want to hear any talk about changing the span between races. It’s supposed to be hard to win it.

While the five weeks puts three demanding races very close together, the three weeks between the Preakness (gr. I) and Belmont can slow to a crawl. As this season’s Belmont approached, and with Big Brown’s quarter crack getting better ratings than “American Idol,” one could almost watch the bloom come off the rose of Team Brown at Barn 2 at Belmont.

The finale was the colt’s five-furlong work June 3, a minute flat, followed by a six-furlong gallop out in 1:14 2⁄5. The drill left more than a few raised eyebrows. A 14-second eighth before the Belmont? Galloping out?

Secretariat wouldn’t have done that. Big Red worked a mile in 1:34 4⁄5, then blew out a half-mile the Wednesday before the Belmont in :46 3⁄5.<->Seattle Slew worked six furlongs in 1:11 3⁄5 the Tuesday before his Belmont, and blew out three furlongs in :35 4⁄5 the morning of the race.

Big Brown, in front of a curious crowd the morning of June 6, galloped slooowly around the Belmont Park oval and then headed back to the barn. It was at that point it became questionable as to how much juice was left in the lemon. We found out the next day.
A reflective Kent Desormeaux, who 10 years ago had come within the shadow of the wire of winning the Triple Crown with Real Quiet, addressed the media following Big Brown’s defeat.

“For him it was a slow pace,” he said. “When I got outside going into the first turn, I said, ‘That’s it; the race is over.’ ”

He, like the rest of us, was confident.

“Then, when I asked him to engage, I was done. I had no horse. Fortunately, there are no popped tires; he’s just out of gas.”
He then paid the Triple Crown phenomenon quite a compliment.

“The end result is I can’t fathom what kind of freaks those 11 Triple Crown winners were,” the Hall of Fame jockey said. “It’s unfathomable to me. I won the Derby with some pressure, I won the Preakness in an armchair ride, and for whatever reason he wasn’t resilient enough today. This is unknown to me because he’s supposed to be a mile-and-a-half-horse; he’s supposed to be a distance horse.
“With that being said, these occasions for me have only made me realize how awesome those horses were.”
That’s why we’ll be back next spring.

Great Pretenders - by E.S. Lamoreaux III

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:53:00 GMT

No matter what happens in the June 7 Belmont Stakes (gr. I), the 2008 Triple Crown season will always be defined by the triumph and tragedy of the heir apparent crown prince, Big Brown, and the fallen heroine, Eight Belles. And tradition says that this Belmont, factoring in Big Brown’s pre-race hoof injury, will come up as a “hold your breath,” arduous race that’s guaranteed not to be won in a New York minute.

After a diet of mint juleps and crab cakes, there is less pomp and a heavy dose of New York grit when the racing schedule reaches Belmont. You’ll need all your fingers and half your toes to count the TC “can’t miss” favorites that didn’t make it here.

I was a CBS News television producer covering the Triple Crown of 1969 with commentator Heywood Hale “Woodie” Broun. Majestic Prince, like Seattle Slew after him and Smarty Jones after him and, yes, Big Brown, was undefeated heading into the Belmont. But “The Prince” had suffered a leg injury in the Preakness and his trainer, Johnny Longden, wasn’t sure he was sound enough to run.

With the first undefeated Thoroughbred trying to win the Triple Crown, there was enormous pressure on owner Frank McMahon to go for it. Longden and McMahon argued openly about it. Not only had there not been a TC winner since Citation in 1948, but McMahon’s wife, gossip columnist Betty Betts, wanted desperately to get into The Jockey Club, and saw Majestic Prince as her ticket. On the eve of the race, Woodie Broun interviewed McMahon, who was so nervous and perhaps hungover, that he kept referring to the TC as the “Cripple Crown.” Majestic Prince finished second and never raced again.

Fast forward two years, when Canonero II became the next pretender to the “Cripple Crown” and the last before Secretariat. Canonero was unique in that he had done all of his racing in Venezuela and became a hero to the entire Latin American world. Broun, one of America’s great wordsmiths, was on the scene once again, and wrote the following in his sports memoir Tumultuous Merriment: “The thing one notices at the Belmont…is the very New Yorkness of it. Like the old Manchu Empire, it can swallow up all the invaders that come and either absorb them or outnumber them so that they are no longer visible.

“The great exception at Belmont was the June day in 1971 when Canonero II tried for the Triple Crown. He had been bred in Kentucky to an unfashionable English sire, and because he had a gimpy leg had been sold as a yearling for something like $1,600. This modest beginning may have been the essence of his subsequent appeal. This was a price that poor people could understand.”

Broun wrote that huge numbers of Latinos descended on Belmont Park that day, “a great mass of people, many of whom had never been to the races, with nothing in common but their language and a vague sense that today they were going to show the Anglos and have a good time while they did it. Hundreds of them brought musical instruments and long before the first race, bongo drums were echoing in places where nothing was usually heard but the murmur of old horseplayers mumbling inaccurate information to each other.

“In Caracas the president of Venezuela stood ready to make a speech to the whole world about the connection between a 3-year-old horse and his country’s eminence and the drums were rattling all over Belmont Park.

“Oddly and sadly Canonero’s fourth-place finish that day was one of his bravest races. Subsequent examination showed him to have been suffering from some odd but debilitating illness, and it appeared that he ran through agony and exhaustion of such shattering intensity that he was unable to raise his head for weeks after the race. The drums stopped beating, however, and the crowd straggled home, while the president in Caracas called for his limousine and cursed racing luck, not the first head of state to discover that power ends where chance begins.”

My friend Woodie Broun wrote those words nearly 30 years ago. Funny how they resonate today in both Thoroughbred racing and American politics.

E.S. Lamoreaux III is a four-time Eclipse Award winner and the longtime executive producer of CBS News Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt.

It Just Is - by Joel Turner

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:03:00 GMT

It is what we owners and breeders fear the most. A call from a farm employee, trainer, or vet with that oddly familiar, awkward tone foretelling the bad news we have lost one of our horses. Or, perhaps even worse, in the moment of excitement and anticipation of competition, one of our horses goes down on the track or falls over a jump. The end result is the same. It is as if one’s heart is ripped from within, leaves this earth, or falls in tandem to the ground with it. The loss of a horse to injury, accident, illness, or to the ravages of old age is tough on all horse people. That persistent question comes back to taunt us: Why do we continue to breed, raise, and compete these fragile creatures?

Eight Belles’ unfortunate and untimely death in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) has led to enormous criticism of our sport. It has also reminded many of us in the Thoroughbred business of our own significant losses and the pain those losses bring. On the heels of other tragedies in racing (Ruffian, Go for Wand, and Barbaro immediately come to mind) and eventing (the Rolex three-day event at the Kentucky Horse Park the weekend before the Derby was marred by the death of two horses and the serious injury of one rider), there is growing concern for the future of equine sports. Some of us feel compelled to defend equestrian sports in general and horse racing in particular. Our critics ask: How can these losses be justified?

Many close to Larry Jones have described him as a sincere, hard-working, honest trainer who puts his horses first. Not unlike many hands-on trainers in the business, Jones gets personally involved with the day-to-day care and management of the horses in his stable. I am told he often galloped Eight Belles himself. His friends assure me he would not lead a horse to the paddock, as he personally did with Eight Belles on Derby day, unless she was fit for the demands of racing. No one needs to defend him for the decision to run her against the males in the Derby. Eight Belles earned the right, by objective standards, to participate in one of the greatest spectacles in sport.

And no one should criticize equestrian sport without understanding that losing a horse unexpectedly, in or out of competition, changes a horse person’s perspective forever. Those who criticize equestrian sport posit that, if we cannot make the sport absolutely safe, we should stop forcing horses to compete against their will. (One does not even need to address the "against their will" argument; just ask them to explain how a human is going to force a horse to do anything it does not want to do, such as run faster, jump higher, or leave a burning building. If they have the answer, they will have a new vocation with a huge following.)

We continue breeding, raising, and competing our horses because it gives us purpose and pleasure, despite the inevitable risks. It is hard to explain how rewarding it is when our horses do well and even harder to match the sense of accomplishment in any other endeavor. It gives us connection to something greater than the sum of all parts. With our involvement come enormous challenges and responsibilities, some character-building, some exceedingly joyful (watching an awkward foal turned out in a field of green grass for the first time immediately comes to mind), and some painful to the core.

We must continue to take meaningful new steps to try to make equestrian sports safer. New surfaces have been designed and installed. More restrictive race-day medication, more sophisticated drug testing and pre-race detention policies have been implemented.

Perhaps we should also consider and act upon some of the suggestions from those expressing legitimate and well-reasoned concern. It may make sense, and it may appease some of the critics, for instance, to decrease the economic incentives to breed horses primarily capable of racing short, early, and often, and increase incentives to breed horses with stamina and soundness that will be able to race well beyond a 3-year-old campaign. Even as we continue with and expand these earnest efforts to care for our equine athletes and make competition safer, injuries, some fatal to horses and riders, will happen, and we will feel the pain again. It is as inevitable as tomorrow, even with our very best efforts today. It just is.

Joel B. Turner is a breeder, owner, trainer, three-day event rider, and attorney from Louisville, Ky.

Feeling the Chill - by Evan I. Hammonds

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:47:00 GMT

Cold lies the heart of Thoroughbred racing following Eight Belles’ untimely end after Kentucky Derby 134. The dark side of the toughest game in town showed itself once again on the national stage, this time in the nation’s biggest race.

Even prior to her tragic ending as the shadows began to lengthen May 3, there seemed to be a chilly vibe to this year’s Run for the Roses in Louisville. And by chill, we don’t mean a hip coolness desired by either Churchill Downs or NBC.

Two of the better story lines to this year’s Derby were both veteran performers. The tale of 70-year-old Bennie Stutts Jr. bringing Smooth Air—his first horse to the Derby—was a gem, as was the return of the New Orleans saints—Louie Roussel III and Ronnie Lamarque, back 20 years after taking two-thirds of the Triple Crown with Risen Star. While both delivered the goods to the media, sharing with us their great stories, they are closer to hip-replacement surgery than to playing to a targeted younger audience.

The weather was a major factor to the week, as on the Tuesday before the Derby, the temperature was a bone-chilling 38 degrees as a crowd gathered on the backstretch. Standing on a wooden stand by the main gap, IEAH Stables’ principals Michael Iavarone and Richard Schiavo took in the scene at the Downs for the first time as owners. They watched as Court Vision, the colt they co-own with WinStar Farm, galloped past, Iavarone in a borrowed coat, Schiavo trying to keep warm in a windbreaker.

While Schiavo told us, “we came here unprepared for the cold,” they did come prepared for the Derby with the right horse, Big Brown, who was in Barn 22, cordoned off behind a roll of yellow police tape.

The downpour midway through the race program on Oaks day—which was expected to come at midnight—threw a wet blanket on the six-figure crowd, most of whom had dispersed by the time Proud Spell ran off with the main prize. Leaving the friendly confines following the Oaks saw traffic that could be considered normal for a Friday afternoon. The wet conditions the next morning kept the usual call to the post to the infield until much later in the afternoon. Throughout the main facility, it seemed to take a long time for the crowd to get caught up in the Derby mood.

However, it may have been much more than the weather that kept a few people from visiting the Twin Spires or the Derby city last weekend. A downturn in many sectors of the nation’s economy—call it what you will—and unprecedented fuel prices taking a chunk out of people’s discretionary income may be to blame. More than a few people noted area hotel rooms weren’t as scarce as before and local restaurants seemed a little more accessible than in years past.

Away from Churchill Downs, many online players were forced to sit chilly with their advance deposit wagering accounts, which didn’t help matters either. The fans are finding it tough to play…and perhaps tougher to watch.

With Barbaro’s breakdown in the 2006 Preakness Stakes (gr. I), followed by his eight-month agonizing struggle for life, and George Washington’s tragic demise in the middle of the stretch at Monmouth Park at last fall’s Breeders’ Cup, racing faces thousands of disenfranchised fans and stares down yet another “code red” in the public relations department. The fact the organization PETA is joining in the fray is cause for major concern.

The Cold War of synthetic surfaces versus dirt tracks continues to rage. Last year’s Derby exacta of Street Sense and Hard Spun was filled out by horses that had made their previous start on Polytrack. This year was a reversal of 180 degrees, as the superfecta was void of a horse that had ever even started on a synthetic track.

One last chilling thought on the Derby is the closest a colt could get to this year’s winner at the finish was 8 1⁄4 lengths. About 48 hours after the Run for the Roses, none of them was likely to head to Baltimore to take him on again in the May 17 Preakness.

Could an undefeated Triple Crown winner help break the ice?