11:10 a.m.
Pill Popping
The best drama in Louisville today takes place in the racing office on the backside at Churchill Downs. It’s the pill pull to see what order post positions will be drawn later this afternoon in the made-for-television post position show on ESPN. A few minutes after 11 o’clock, Darrin Rogers, the new media director for Churchill Downs gets everyone’s attention.
The connections of 24 3-year-olds have ponied up $30,000 to pass the entry box. Only 20 can start, so Halo Najib, Tomcito, El Gato Malo, and Kentucky Bear are on the outside looking in in terms of graded stakes earnings and cannot start in the Derby. Then there are the equipment changes: blinkers off for Z Humor and Anak Nakal and blinkers on for Court Vision and Bob Black Jack.
Horsemen nervously shuffle around awaiting the random drawing. Trainer Barclay Tagg, who has two entered for the Run for the Roses with Tale of Ekati and Big Truck, recalls how he wound up with post six for Funny Cide in 2003.
“I wanted either six or 12, and (trainer) Bobby (Frankel) went up and took 12 with Empire Maker,” Tagg said. “That made it easy—I took six.”
Tagg reports Funny Cide is currently at Tagg’s stable in New York.
Jack Wolf of Starlight Stables, in with Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (gr. I) winner Monba softly chants “one, one, one, one.”
He’s probably not alone.
The dreaded No. 20 pill is drawn fifth and matched to a sheet of paper that says “Gayego.”
Trainer Paulo Lobo shakes his head.
The next pill he sees may likely be an Excedrin. –E.H.
10 a.m.
Doin the Monba
Todd Pletcher's pair of Derby runners arrive from Keeneland...here's Starlight Stable's Monba and assistant trainer Michael McCarthy
8:20 a.m.
The Big Tease
You never know what you’ll see on the backside at Churchill Downs on Derby week. A case in point:
In the corner of the Recreation Center behind the media center, a pair of women are receiving makeovers from some professional-looking beauticians. One woman is getting her face done while another is getting her hair done. Wow, there a lot of teasing going on there.
Jack Sturgeon is overseeing this…ahhh…makeshift transformation. His friend Jo Ross will do about 16-18 facials between now and the Derby. It’s big business. Jack tells us they are here to show what is going with Derby fashions this year.
We’re introduced to Gabriel Amar, the Derby hat designer par excellence. He’s the owner of the Frank Olive Hat Company. He’s touted as the most represented designer for Derby hats. He projects he’ll have thousands of hats sold for this year’s Run for the Roses.
This year’s model?
“First off, they need to be light; this year it is about being lightweight,” Amar says. That makes sense considering the size some of the women will be wearing this year.
How about colors?
“Aegean Blue; citreen, red,” Ross tells us. “Because it is the Kentucky Derby, spectator colors like black and white, navy and white.”
Interesting. What about Big Brown?
“Brown is good, too,” Amar says. –E.H.
Some kind of fashion
8:12 a.m.
En Garde
Jefferson County Sherriff's Deputy Howard Bische stands guard outside Barn 38. That would be trainer Steve Asmussen's home base, the location of Derby contenders Pyro and Z Fortune. Bische got in this morning at 5:45 a.m., and he'll be here until 6 p.m. It's a 12-hour shift, voluntary overtime, keeping a close watch on the Derby contenders and those around them.
Across the backside, the deputies have fanned out to cover a wide range of barns. Each Derby horse gets an assigned deputy. They come in today, leave Sunday.
Bische has been assigned to Z Fortune, which is fine with him, no complaints. He'll follow the horse to the track when it works. Follow him to the paddock when he schools. Follow him outside when he's getting a bath. Follow him pretty much everywhere, except into his stall.
"Last year I had Curlin, so you never know," Bische says. "It's not that bad of a job."
He steps aside for a moment to caution a wayward fan. "Ma'am? Could you step away from the concrete, please?"
En Garde! - C.N.
8:00 a.m.
Button It Up
Tan-coated Churchill Downs employees surround the trunk of a vehicle near the backside press center. Norma O'Berst, a member of the Churchill Downs Host program, is handing out buttons.
"Court Vision! Colonel John! Tale of Ekati! Monba! Big Brown!" she yells.
Corresponding hosts shout back. "Here!" "That's me!" "Yep." "Right here!"
O'Berst tosses ziplock bags full of the pin-backed circles to her team. The hosts will distribute them to owners of Derby contenders.
O'Berst used to make the buttons herself, on a hand-punch. This year, popular demand has necessitated the use of commercialized methods; Churchill has mass-produced the pins with the intent of selling them on Derby day, $1 each. To the owners, however, they're complimentary.
Once the buttons are distributed, O'Berst stops to talk about the host program.
"The program began 20 years ago, when (former track president) Tom Meeker saw it implemented at another track," she says. "The object was to make sure that the owners, who were all wrapped up in getting their horse to the Derby, had someone to help them experience the city and answer questions and get them from one event to the next, like the post position draw or the Derby winners' circle."
And hand out buttons. - C.N.
7:50 a.m.
The Book on Colonel John
Doug Cauthen of WinStar Farm hands us a copy of Colonel John’s ”Official Field Guide to Kentucky Derby 134.” The 28-page color brochure is a pretty clever little book.
As a marketing tool for the farm and for their stallions, WinStar had 200 copies produced. It’s no surprise the main stallion is Tiznow, the sire of Colonel John.
WinStar also has part ownership in another Derby starter, Court Vision. Court Vision’s recent half-mile work in :46 and change while wearing blinkers was “one of the two most impressive moves I’ve seen,” Cauthen reports.
The other?
According to Cauthen, that came last winter in Miami. Their budding star at the time was Any Given Saturday, and the colt worked in company with Cowtown Cat in :58 and change that day.
Cauthen and the WinStar team are loaded for the Derby, especially following Colonel John’s sub :58 move on Sunday. –E.H.
6:55 a.m.
Got the Horse Right Here
Paulo Lobo stands outside of Barn 33 and speaks to a small group of reporters led by the Louisville Courier-Journal's Jennie Rees and The Blood-Horse senior correspondent Steve Haskin. He trains Arkansas Derby (gr. II) winner Gayego, the Gilded Time colt whose prior racing experience came only over synthetic surfaces.
"Everybody is talking about the transition, but these horses are bred for dirt," Lobo says. "What they should be worried about is moving from dirt (to a synthetic surface) like when they have the Breeders' Cup in California."
A few moments later, speaking of a recent work, he remarks, "and then he went :36 and change easy - easy, not open. It was like, ‘Sheesh!.'"
We think he likes his horse. - C.N.
Tuesday Evening
Dinette Set
The Trainer’s Dinner at the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Louisville is a Kentucky Derby staple on the Tuesday night before the Kentucky Derby. Sponsored by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders (KTOB) and the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association (KTA), the event brings together Louisville business types, Kentucky horsemen, and the trainers and connections of the Derby participants for a night of fun, food, and conversation.
This year, as is apropos, honors Carl Nafzger, a two-time Derby-winning trainer. He sent out Unbridled to win the 1990 edition and last year’s winner Street Sense. A video tribute draws plenty of applause…as does the introduction of Penny Chenery, owner of 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat.
Of this year’s trainers, here are some of the excerpted highlights:
Co-emcee Chris Lincoln mistakenly introduces Pyro and Z Fortune’s assistant trainer as Michael McCarthy.who is the assistant to Todd Pletcher, not Steve Asmussen. Scott Blasi, Asmussen’s assistant, does a nice job of making a save of the awkward moment.
Eoin Harty, trainer of Colonel John says: “I had a lot of good times here with Bob (Harty was a former assistant to three-time Derby-winning trainer Bob Baffert). It was a great experience. I’m fortunate to be up here tonight doing it on my own. I think Colonel John is doing well. He trained very fast here the other day. That’s what I can base my opinions on, so I’m quite confident.”
Jim Kasparoff, trainer of Bob Black Jack: “When I got this horse, I thought he was a route horse. He wasn’t built like a sprinter. He was long and a really, really relaxed type of horse. The first time I sent him out, he was able to relax and sit and he showed a different dimension. We hope with the extra distance, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Michael Matz, trainer 2006 winner Barbaro and this year’s hopeful Visionaire. Last year, his contender, Chelokee, didn’t make the cut last year by earnings: “With Barbaro, everything fell in place and it just went great. Last year, with Chelokee, one problem arose after another and it just wasn’t supposed to be. This year, we’re glad to be here and hope we have good luck.”
Bennie Stutts, trainer of Smooth Air: “I’m here because of the horse and because of the family that owns him, the Burns family from Chicago. They sent this horse to South Florida to me. There’s a reason for that…and I’m here now.
“You ask me if I’m excited? When I got this horse in the spring, I was thinking about the Stallion Stakes at Calder. I had no idea about this.”
Several trainers were no-shows at the dinner, including Steve Asmussen, Rick Dutrow, Todd Pletcher, and Nick Zito. –E.H.
