Commentary: This is Kentucky's derby, not Bob Baffert's derby
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — I started Derby Week where the crowd has collected the last 25 years on the Churchill Downs back side: at Barn 33, where trainer Bob Baffert provided a non-stop laugh track and string of Derby winners.
Baffert is serving a two-year suspension from Churchill because of a medication violation that led to the disqualification of Medina Spirit, now listed as the former 2021 Derby winner.
Messier and Taiba, two horses Baffert trained, will race Saturday. Don’t look for Baffert and his trademark gray hair, sunglasses, blue blazer and gold Derby tie.
Baffert’s absence had to be the story of Kentucky Derby 148, right? Count me and every media outlet in. I took pictures of empty stalls. I asked a Churchill official where the track stored the plaques that were pulled from the walls outside Baffert’s office.
I tried the lock on the office door, wondering if Baffert left any Derby momentos.
Then I made a handicapping decision: This isn’t Bob Baffert’s Derby. This is Kentucky’s Derby.
The story of Saturday’s race should not be about lawyers and blood samples and skin rash medication and the management of Churchill Downs finally deciding nobody was bigger than this race.
This derby isn’t about Baffert not being here. It’s about Louisville being alive, vibrant, enthused and welcoming again.
It’s about Matt Winn’s vision on Central Avenue being packed for three consecutive days. It’s about everybody wishing and hoping they have identified the Derby winner — doesn’t matter if you use The Daily Racing Form, your favorite color or pull a number out of hat.
“The Kentucky Derby has deep roots,” trainer Dale Romans said. “You can’t kill a tree by breaking off a branch.
“The Derby will live on. A lot of great trainers have missed it and it’s gone on and done well. It’s much bigger than any one individual.”
Guys like Romans, born and raised within hollering distance of the track, make those roots strong. Nobody has been more welcoming than Romans — and Romans doesn’t have a horse in the field.
Let the record show that Romans’ Derby record is 0-11 with a pair of third-place finishes —and, believe me, Romans wants to win the Derby as desperately as anybody.
There has been no mope in Romans Derby Week. He got out of the gate quickly, racing downtown Monday afternoon to discuss the field for several hundred people at the Pendennis Club.
That was the traditional Pendennis Club luncheon that Mr. Kentucky Derby John Asher hosted for decades until his tragic passing in 2018.
Romans was recruited to replace Asher as host, a request he considered “an honor.” Romans reminded the gathering of Asher’s unrelenting love for the race and its history at the beginning of his speech. The room celebrated Asher.
Romans was just getting warmed up. On Tuesday, he recruited trainers Kenny McPeek and Greg Foley to visit Wagner’s Pharmacy to talk Derby on Jerry Eaves’ radio show.
On Wednesday night, Romans and his long-time partner Tammy Fox hustled to Audubon Country Club to assist Bellarmine University men’s basketball coach Scott Davenport with a Derby fundraiser. They generated more than $125,000 for the Knights’ program.
For month than a month, Romans has assisted Koichi Shintani, the trainer who is trying to develop Crown Pride into the first Japanese-bred horse to win the Derby. Romans has provided a work mate on the track and encouraged Shintani to use his laundry machines and other barn incidentals.
On Thursday, Shintani searched for Romans and found him in a clocker’s stand. Shintani brought two gifts — a bottle of Japanese whiskey and a bag of Japanese potato chips.
For Romans, that’s the spirt of the Kentucky Derby.
There’s more. The Kentucky Derby is University of Louisville women’s basketball coach Jeff Walz and his wife, Lauren, embracing their opportunity to serve as Derby hosts with gusto.
For the last two years, Derby hospitality suffered because of COVID-19. In 2020, the race was moved to September and run without paying customers. Last year the crowd was limited to 51,838. The winner was disqualified for the second time in three years.
This year it’s time for limousines, fancy hats, zany sport jackets and out-of-town guests again.
Before the Cards’ season ended at the Final Four, Walz extended Derby and Oaks invitations to UConn coach Geno Auriemma and his wife as well as DePaul coach Doug Bruno. Walz arranged for a large van as well as a driver, and they’re celebrating two trips to the track together.
The Kentucky Derby is UCLA men’s basketball coach Mick Cronin responding to my text message asking for his Derby 1-2-3 picks in less than 10 minutes Friday morning.
Cronin lives in Los Angeles now, but the two seasons he worked at U of L gave him an incurable case of Derby Fever. I was advised that Cronin is a sharp handicapper.
“Epicenter, Smile Happy, Zandon,” Cronin wrote.
“Smile Happy, at 20-1, was the favorite all winter, may give Kentucky’s Kenny McPeek his first Derby. ... I hope everybody has a great Derby.”
Steve Asmussen will saddle Epicenter, the morning line Derby favorite. Epicenter is the 24th horse Asmussen has trained into the race. His record is no wins, two seconds and a pair of thirds. It’s the only gap in his Hall of Fame resume.
The record shows that 15 of Asmussen’s horses have finished 10th or worse. This is a master trainer who saddled two colts — Curlin and Gun Runner — later voted Horse of the Year without winning the Derby.
On Thursday, a questioner (not me) asked Asmussen this:
Have you, in your most intimate, private thoughts, thought about what it would be like to take this thing?
I thought Asmussen’s answer was spectacular, one of the best quotes of the week:
“In all of them, awake or asleep, I’ve thought about it.
“You know, I grew up in a racing family. I believe my first participation was when my brother (Cash) rode King Celebrity as part of the mutuel field in the late 70s (it was 1979).
“Obviously it’s something that I have pursued my whole life. We’ve been extremely fortunate to have success in the game.
“But the big glaring empty (spot) is the Kentucky Derby. I’m 0-for-23. Walked over a couple of times thinking I had the best horse. Disappointed. Glared over with a little jealousy at the winner’s circle enclosure.
“Obviously, we’ve not given up on that pursuit and couldn’t be happier with the chances we have leading Epicenter over.”
The Kentucky Derby is former NFL star and St. Xavier coach Will Wolford driving to Churchill Downs in the mornings to watch the Derby horses train.
Wolford has horses with trainer Paul McGee. He’s still chasing a Kentucky Derby. Wolford played in three Super Bowls with the Buffalo Bills. But after his colt Honor in War won the Woodford Reserve Stakes on Derby Day in 2003, Wolford called it, “the highest high you can have … an out-of-body experience.”
Wolford remembered one other thing about the 2003 Derby. That was the last time he picked the winner — Funny Cide That will not stop him from making another round of picks on Saturday:
“Zandon, Epicenter, Smile Happy.”
Andy Beyer has my vote as the greatest handicapper of all time — except in the Derby. At 78, Beyer is semi-retired. He no longer travels to Louisville for the race, which he regularly covered for the Washington Post and Daily Racing Form.
But I discovered Beyer in the Derby starting gate Friday morning on the Tony Kornheiser Podcast. Beyer nailed the disqualified winner Medina Spirit last year, ending a drought he said stretched over several decades.
Beyer is back for more cash, chasing a price (10-to-1) with White Abarrio, the overlooked winner of the Holy Bull and Florida Derby.
Hmmmm.
Jockey Joel Rosario, who will ride Epicenter, told me that his career changed forever after he won the Derby on Orb nine years ago. He’ll race from the No. 3 post position and told me that he’ll watch videos of all the prep races and map his strategy Friday night.
Chad Brown trains Zandon, the morning line favorite. Brown said he will tell jockey Flavien Prat, to keep the colt closer to the lead than Zandon was while winning the Blue Grass Stakes.
Brown said that dealing with traffic in his last two starts “should serve (Zandon) well … but you never know what’s going to happen. You just open the gate and hope for the best.”
No, you do not. That’s another reason more than 150,000 people will stuff Churchill Downs to watch the best 3-year-old horses on the planet.
I can’t end this without making my own Derby picks. I’ll begin with the disclaimer others have issued:
I have covered every Kentucky Derby since 1979, when Spectacular Bid won the Derby and Preakness and should have won the Belmont.
I picked Pleasant Colony in 1981, Sunny’s Halo in 1983, Sunday Silence in 1989 and Orb in 2013. I might have had Spend a Buck in 1985. Can’t remember.
So, at best, my Derby record is a sparkling five for 43, 11.6%.
Let’s shoot for 6 for 44. Give me Crown Pride because the colt has trained as well as anybody. The first Japanese Derby winner would be a wonderful story, an ode to Sunday Silence, the Derby winner whose stallion work in Japan changed the horse racing landscape there.
He’ll be followed by Messier, Zandon and White Abarrio. You have been warned.
Enjoy your Kentucky Derby. Remember: It belongs to you, not Bob Baffert.
https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/...s/202205060109