Calumet’s Derby DominanceBy Ray Paulick

ASK RAYQUESTION: What’s the most popular bet on the Kentucky Derby? ANSWER: In 2016, old-fashioned win-place-show bets were still the most popular, with just over $50

million wagered. The trifecta (picking first 3) handled $27.5 million, the exacta (first 2) $22.2 million and superfecta (first 4) $10.9 million. Among multi-race bets ending with the Der-by, the pick 4 was most popular, handling $3.2 million.

Continued on Page 7

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Calumet Farm’s dominance of our country’s most famous horse race dates back to 1941 when Whirlaway romped to an eight-length victory under Eddie Arcaro – equaling the biggest winning margin in Kentucky Derby history (a record that still stands).

Remarkably it was the first of four Derby winners in the 1940s and eight overall to be bred and owned by Calumet Farm. Calumet was founded as a Standardbred operation in 1924 by William Monroe Wright, a baking powder salesman who in 1889 started a Chicago company, Calumet Baking Powder, that made him a wealthy man.

Wright died in 1931, two years after selling his company to General Foods. One year later, his son, Warren Wright Sr., transformed Calumet Farm to a Thoroughbred nursery. It didn’t take long for Calumet to make its mark. Nellie Flag, a filly out of 1924 Preakness winner Nellie Morse, became the first stakes winner bred by the farm and was a champion at 2. She took on colts as Calumet’s first Kentucky Derby starter in 1935, finishing fourth to Omaha, who would go on to become racing’s third Triple Crown winner.

Next came Bull Lea in 1938. After setting a track record in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, he could do no better than fin-ish eighth in the Derby behind Lawrin. But Bull Lea really made his mark at stud as Calumet’s foundation sire. Among his top runners were three horses who carried Calumet’s devil’s red and blue silks to glory in the Kentucky Derby: Triple Crown win-ner Citation (1948), Hill Gail (1952), and Iron Liege (1957).

If Bull Lea was the cornerstone for Calumet’s breeding pro-gram, the decision in 1939 by Warren Wright to hire Ben A. Jones – who had conditioned the previous year’s Derby winner, Lawrin – as the farm’s private trainer was equally significant.

Jones would train five of Calumet’s Derby winners, then become the farm’s general manager, after which his son, H.A. “Jimmy” Jones, would saddle two Derby winners for Calumet.

Let’s take a look at all of Calumet Farm’s homebred Kentucky Derby winners:

WHIRLAWAY (1941): Nicknamed Mr. Longtail, this son of the imported Blenheim II helped carry Calumet Farm to an all-time earnings record of $475,091 in 1941. Whirlaway himself earned $272,386 by year’s end, winning 13 of 20 starts, with five seconds and two thirds. He became the sport’s fifth Triple Crown winner.

PENSIVE (1944): Like Whirlaway, Pensive came into the Derby off a defeat, losing the Chesapeake Stakes by a nose at Pimlico seven days before the Run for the Roses. Pensive and jockey Conn

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Page 2

Pedigree SpotlightA.P. Indy and Mr. Prospector

By Frank Mitchell

The two sire lines playing the largest roles for this year’s Grade 1 Kentucky Derby are those descending from 1992 Belmont Stakes winner A.P. Indy and from international supersire Mr. Prospector, particularly through 1990 Kentucky Derby winner Unbridled.

With final entries not yet drawn, approximately two-thirds of the field traces to these two lines in nearly equal number.

The grand old man of American breeding, A.P. Indy is a living legend at Lane’s End Farm, where he was bred and raised and where he returned – after earning Horse of the Year in 1992 with victories in the Belmont, San-ta Anita Derby, and Breeders’ Cup Classic – to begin a historic tenure at stud.

A son of Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew (by Bold Reasoning) out of Week-end Surprise, a daughter of Triple Crown winner Secretariat, A.P. Indy was bred to be something special, and he was from the start. As a yearling, he sold for $2.9 million at the Keeneland July select year-ling sale and raced for Tomonori Tsuru-maki, earning slightly less than $3 million from 8 victories in 11 starts at 2 and 3.

Purchased by a syndicate and retired to stud at his birthplace, A.P. Indy has been pivotal in making Lane’s End one of the most eminent breeding operations in the world.

In his long career at stud, A.P. Indy has sired Horse of the Year Mineshaft (sire of Derby prospect J Boys Echo and grandsire of Gunnevera), leading sire Pulpit (sire of three-time leading national sire Tapit and grandsire of Derby prospect Tapwrit), and the twice-raced Malibu Moon (sire of 2013 Kentucky Derby winner Orb and 2017 Santa Anita Derby winner Gormley).

In contrast to the classicism of A.P. Indy, Mr. Prospector was speed. As a young 3-year-old with “Derby potential,” Mr. Prospec-tor worked faster than good horses raced. Mr. Prospector did not make the 1973 Kentucky Derby, and the preceding season’s Horse of the Year Secretariat burst away from the field to take the first of three victories that made the great chestnut a house-hold name across America.

Mr. Prospector, however, came back as a 4-year-old. The bay son of Raise a Native won stakes, showed much of the lethal speed he

possessed in his early starts on the race-track, and went to stud in Florida for Aisco Stable. Early success at stud sent Mr. Pros-pector to Kentucky, where he stood the rest of his long life, including covering his final book of mares at age 29, at historic Claiborne Farm.

The Mr. Prospector sons Fappiano, princi-pally through Unbridled, and Smart Strike, principally through Curlin, are having a sig-nificant effect on classic racing. Unbridled sired winners of each of the Triple Crown races, including Belmont Stakes winner Em-pire Maker, who is the grandsire of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah,

2016 champion 2-year-old and 2017 Arkansas Derby winner Classic Empire (both by Pioneerof the Nile), and 2017 Florida Derby winner Always Dreaming (Bodemeister). Curlin has 2017 Wood Memorial winner Irish War Cry in the Kentucky Derby.

Outliers in the classic lines sweepstakes include Kentucky Derby points leader Girvin, winner of the 2017 Louisiana Derby. He is from the Storm Cat branch of Northern Dancer through Tale of Ekati. This year’s winner of the Blue Grass Stakes is Irap, a son of Tiznow from the Man O’ War line in this 100th anniversary of the great horse’s birth. PRS

A.P. Indy

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Page 3

One deep breath.

That is all Chad Brown allowed himself to celebrate his first Eclipse Award as North America’s leading trainer, an hon-or he received in January to culminate his stunning rise in the last decade.

“It was a tall mountain to climb. To fi-nally get there, I did a big exhale like, ‘Okay, we did it,’ “ said Brown. “But then the next day comes and there are a lot of horses and a lot of co-workers and you have to be at your best.”

Rather than expressing joy, Brown, 38, repeatedly conveyed a feeling of relief upon reaching the peak of his profession. That likely conveys the massive pressure he has exerted on himself and those around him in his re-lentless drive to win and win some more.“Any time you win at a high level in this sport,” he said, “there is a lot of relief.”

The former understudy to Shug McGaughey and the late Bobby Frankel who began his own training operation in late 2007, paced the nation in turf victories each of the last five years. He is driven to sustain that. He may be even more determined to prove that he can be as adept with dirt horses.

Brown has had three previous Kentucky Derby starters: Normandy Invasion finished fourth to Orb in 2013; long-shots My Man Sam and Shagaf were well beaten in 2016.

He has what many believe to be a very good chance to win the Derby this year with Practical Joke. The Into Mischief colt won two Grade 1 races as a 2-year-old, the Hopeful and Champagne, and was second in his only two starts this year, in the Fountain of Youth and Blue Grass.

Brown could not be more confident in his ability, and that of his staff, to eventually attain a high level of success on dirt.“Before all is said and done, we’ll have won some of the very best dirt races in the country, I’m sure,” he said.

Amid signs that his dirt fortunes are rising, his accomplish-ments elsewhere underscore how much work must still be done. His individual champions have all been turf stars. The first three were fillies: Stacelita (2011), Zagora (2012) and Dayatthespa (2014). He then broke through with two males: Big Blue Kitten (2015) and Flintshire (2016).

Females competing on turf have been responsible for six

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of his eight Breeders’ Cup victories: Maram, Juvenile Fil-lies Turf, 2008; Zagora, Filly & Mare Turf, 2012; Lady Eli, Juvenile Fillies Turf, 2014; Dayatthespa, Filly & Mare Turf, 2014; Stephanie’s Kitten, Filly & Mare Turf, 2015; and New Money Honey, Juvenile Fillies Turf, 2016.

Bobby’s Kitten, in the 2015 Turf Sprint, provided his only male Breeders’ Cup winner on grass. Wavell Avenue, in the Filly & Mare Sprint in 2015, repre-sents his lone dirt success in the Cup.Brown attributes his success with turf fillies to lessons learned while he worked under Frankel for five years.

“I’m so grateful for what he taught me in those areas,” he said. “I’ve put it to good use through my staff to execute his philosophy, his plan, with those type of horses.”

Continued on Page 4

Eclipse Award Winner Brown Poised for Triple Crown Breakthrough

By Tom Pedulla

Page 4

PRS

More than any-thing, Brown said Frankel taught him that turf fillies require an extreme amount of pa-tience. He is will-ing to give them all the time they need to develop and now has owners with the

deep pockets to afford him that luxury.

Trainers and jockeys are often labeled according to areas of specialization. Brown is intent on avoiding that by prov-ing his all-around ability.

“The reason for that is not my personal ego or what some-body might write or say about me. It’s for recruiting pur-poses,” he said. “I want to have the opportunity to work with all kinds of horses and have potential Kentucky Derby and Travers horses sent to me.”

Brown is still searching for his first victory in a Triple Crown race. He also has come up empty in the Travers at Sarato-ga Race Course. The “Mid-Summer Derby” holds a special place for him because he grew up in Mechanicville, N.Y., and developed a passion for racing during family gather-ings in the backyard at that tradition-rich track.

Brown vehemently believes he can close ground on those targets.

“I really learned from two great trainers, Shug McGaughey and Bobby Frankel, trainers who had success with dirt horses as well as turf horses,” he said. “So it is in my train-ing – my training – to be able to train and develop top dirt horses. It’s just a matter of getting our hands on them. Over time, through hard work and patience, those horses are reaching our stable. And we’re making the most of it.”

His handiwork with Wavell Avenue, co-owned by Sol Kumin, was among the first signs of that.

“I think he’s hands down the best in the country on turf,” Kumin said. “On dirt, he’s getting better and better. He hasn’t won at the same level and number of dirt races, but it’s starting to happen.”

Kumin added, “I have a high level of confidence in him training anything, anywhere.”

Brown gained several significant dirt victories last season. In ad-dition to Practical Joke’s two Grade 1 wins, Connect upset Gun Runner, Nyquist and Exaggerator in the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby, then won the Grade 1 Cigar Mile.

Practical Joke is co-owned by William H. Lawrence and Seth Klar-man, who races under Klaravich Stables.“There is no one in the country I would rather send a horse to than Chad,” Klarman said. “Whether turf or dirt, colt or filly, dis-tance horse or sprinter, it’s going to Chad.”

Brown emphasized how much he has developed in the last whirl-wind decade. “I don’t just rest on what I learned from Bobby or Shug,” he said. “I’m always observing. I’m learning from others around me. I’m learning from my mistakes. I learn from the suc-cesses and how to build on them.”

For Brown, major dirt triumphs appear to be a matter of when, not if.

“There is nothing in the sport he can’t do,” Klarman said.

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In the Name of Derby By Chelsea Hackbarth

This year’s Kentucky Derby contenders feature an intriguing mix of names stemming from a play on words, homage to a person or a location, and a unique sense of creativity.

Gunnevera, Girvin and McCraken are all names for towns with special meaning to the owners. Gunnevera is a small town in Spain, part-owner Jaime Diaz Mengotti’s country of origin, though the other two owners are Venezuelan. Girvin, a small town in Texas, is the birthplace of owner Brad Grady. McCraken is named for a small town in Kansas, although it’s spelled “Mc-Cracken”; according to the connections, the final “c” somehow got lost in transcription.

Two Derby hopefuls have military connections: the Battle of Midway was a U.S.-won decisive naval battle against Japan in WWII, and a Battalion Run(ner) is when an entire platoon is exercised in unison.

Three colts are named for people: J Boy(s Echo) is the nickname of Dennis Albaugh’s racing manager, Jason Loutsch, and the Echo comes from his dam’s name; Lookin at Lee is named for part-owner Lee Levinson and is a play on his sire’s name Lookin

at Lucky; and Gormley is named for a British sculptor.

A total of seven Derby candidates have names that tie them to their heritage: Tapwrit, sired by Tapit; Patch, sired by Union Rags; Irish War Cry, who carries the Irish name on to a third homebred generation for Isabelle de Tomaso; Practical Joke is a play on the name of his sire, Into Mischief; Untrapped, sired by Trappe Shot; State of Honor, sired by To Honor and Serve; and Classic Empire, a combination of names from his dam Sambuca Classica and his paternal grandsire Empire Maker.

Some of the more unique names are Thunder Snow (a type of win-ter thunderstorm, named by owners in the desert of Dubai), Hence (named because he looked like a good horse, “hence” he should be), Fast and Accurate (hoping the colt would fulfill both adjectives), and Irap is named after a medical treatment (Interleukin-1 Receptor Antagonist Protein) that is used to treat osteoarthritis.

Finally, Always Dreaming was named by the wife of co-owner Brooklyn Boyz Stable’s Anthony Bonomo because in this industry, everyone is always dreaming of the next big one. PRS

Page 6

PR Trivia:

1. Historic Calumet Farm will have three starters – Hence (winner of the G3 Sunland Derby), Patch (2nd in G2 Louisiana Derby), and stakes-placed Sonneteer - in this year’s Kentucky Derby. All three colts were bred by Calumet Farm, which has already bred a record nine KY Derby winners. Of those nine pre-vious winners, only one was not raced by the farm. Name him.

2. Should he win, Godolphin’s Thunder Snow would become the first Kentucky Derby winner bred in Ireland. In the previous 142 editions of the Derby, only four winners were foaled outside of the United States. Name them.

3. Wood Memorial winner Irish War Cry is hoping to become just the third New Jersey-bred winner of the Kentucky Derby. Name the two horses he would join.

4. Between them, John E. Madden and his grandson, Preston, have bred six Kentucky Derby winners at their historic Ham-burg Place. One of those Derby winners also went on to win the Triple Crown. Name three of the six.

5. Apprentice jockeys have notched two Kentucky Derby wins in the previous 142 editions of the race. Name them.

6. Three times in Kentucky Derby history a pair of brothers – one a trainer, one a jockey – have teamed up with a Derby run-ner. The most recent occurrence was 2016, when Keith and Kent Desormeaux finished second with Exaggerator. Name the other two sets of brothers.

7. Steve Cauthen is the only jockey to win both the Kentucky Derby and Epsom Derby. Name the horses he accomplished this feat with.

8. Name both the oldest and youngest trainers to saddle a Ken-tucky Derby winner.

9. This pillar of the turf is the only gentleman to have bred and owned winners of both the Kentucky Derby and Epsom Derby. Name him. Bonus points – name the horses.

Know Your Kentucky Derby History? By Mary Schweitzer

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1. Strike the Gold, 1991 2. Omar Khayyam (GB), 1917; Tomy Lee (GB), 1959; Northern Dancer (Can), 1964; Sunny’s Halo (Can), 1983 3. Regret (1915) and Cavalcade (1934) 4. John E. Madden: Old Rosebud (1914), Sir Barton (1919), Paul Jones (1920), Zev (1923), Flying Ebony (1925); Preston Madden: Alysheba (1987) 5. Ira Hanford (Bold Venture, 1936) and Bill Bolland (Middleground, 1950) 6. 1993, Randy (jockey) & Gerald Romero, Dixieland Heat; 1964, Jimmy (jockey) & Nick Combest, Mr. Moonlight 7. Affirmed (1978), KY Derby; Reference Point (1985), Slip Anchor (1987), Epsom Derby 8. Oldest: Art Sherman, 77, California Chrome (2014); Youngest: James ‘Jimmy’ Rowe Sr., 24, Hindoo (1881) 9. Paul Mellon (1971, Mill Reef, Epsom Derby), (1993, Sea Hero, Kentucky Derby)

Trivia Answers

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About

a nose under Bill Hartack, but Bill Shoemaker, aboard runner-up Gallant Man, stood up briefly in the saddle when misjudging the finish line, a blunder that may have cost him the race.

TIM TAM (1958): Like Iron Liege, Tim Tam was conditioned by Jimmy Jones. The son of Tom Fool was produced from Bull Lea’s daughter, Two Lea, a two-time champion racemare. Tim Tam won the Derby and Preakness but finished second in the Belmont while suffering a career-ending injury in deep stretch.

FORWARD PASS (1968): Dancer’s Image finished first, but Calumet’s colt by On-And-On was eventually awarded the victory after the original winner was disqualified because of a post-race drug test that showed the presence of phenylbutazone. It took four years of litigation by Dancer’s Image’s owner, Peter Fuller, and a decision by the Kentucky Supreme Court, but the Henry Forrest-trained colt Forward Pass is in the record books as the official winner.

After a strong decade in the 1970s when several fillies excelled and Alydar became Triple Crown winner Affirmed’s famous rival, Calumet fell into a tailspin, ending in a 1990 bankruptcy. Henryk de Kwiatkowski bought the farm at absolute auction and main-tained its landmark elegance, but Calumet Farm’s new owner, Brad Kelley, is determined to bring back its racing dominance. With three likely starters in this year’s Kentucky Derby, he is well on his way.

Page 7

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McCreary drew off to a 4 ½-length triumph. The son of Hyperion won the Preakness, but lost the Belmont by a half-length to Bounding Home.

CITATION (1948): With 14 wins in 16 starts at 2 and 3 and a stablemate in Coaltown, who was unbeaten in four starts, Citation scared away the competition. Only four other 3-year-olds lined up to face the Calumet duo, and they were hopelessly overmatched as Citation and Coaltown finished a dominating first and second. Cita-tion would go on to win the Triple Crown and in 1951 became the sport’s first million-dollar earner.

PONDER (1949): By Calumet’s 1944 Kentucky Derby winner Pen-sive out of a Blenheim II mare, Ponder had won just three of 12 starts and was a 16-1 longshot. Just four days before the Derby, he showed signs of life, rallying to be a strong second in the Derby Trial. Last early in the 14-horse Derby field under jockey Steve Brooks, Ponder packed a wallop down the stretch, rallying to a three-length victory.

HILL GAIL (1952): This well-traveled colt wintered at Santa Anita Park in California after a 2-year-old campaign in the East and Mid-west. He won the Santa Anita Derby easily in late February and domi-nated the Derby Trial four days before the Kentucky Derby, winning by six lengths. Under Eddie Arcaro, he charged to a front-running win but was subsequently injured and sidelined for the remainder of the year.

IRON LIEGE (1957): Gen. Duke was expected to be Calumet’s star but came out of the Derby Trial with a hoof injury. Iron Liege won by

Continued from Page 1

Page 8

J Boys Echo (20-1): Not much excuse for poor Blue Grass, but all of the top contenders misfired so perhaps it’s forgiv-able. He lost jockey Robby Albarado to injury and unfortunately for Albarado, this has happened before. The result was Animal Kingdom winning the Derby at 20-1. Plus, trainer Dale Romans has been known to find the Derby superfecta a time or two.

Lookin At Lee (20-1): Deep closers like this guy have a tough task in the 20-horse Derby, but at least he’s already shown he can navigate traffic. He came home fast in Arkansas despite a drunken sailor stretch run. Still finished only a length and a half behind potential Derby favorite Classic Empire. Plus, he has Raise a Native in his sire line, a common trait of many previous Derby winners.

Practical Joke (15-1): Had an excellent 2-year-old campaign, winning a pair of Grade 1’s, including the Champagne in a sensational time. The fact he hasn’t won since is troubling and his pedigree is questionable for the distance, but perhaps his decent close for second in the Blue Grass sets up this clearly talented colt for his best career effort on Saturday.

Five to Watch: Derby Longshots

By Scott JagowPost-time favorites have won the last four Kentucky Derbys, but you have to go back to the 1800s for a streak of five favorites in a row. History is on the side of an upset in this year’s Derby. Here are a few horses worth considering with their potential long odds.

Battle of Midway (30-1): The Santa Anita Derby’s final time was the slowest since 1957, so this isn’t a ringing endorsement of the race. But the internal fractions were quite fast and Battle of Mid-way duked it out for the lead throughout. He deserves credit for only losing half a length. Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer doesn’t bring many colts to the Derby but he’s a Hall of Famer for a reason.

Hence (20-1): With all due respect to 50-1 Mine That Bird, the Sunland Derby isn’t usually a key race for the first Saturday in May. But evidence suggests this year’s edition was pretty good. Fourth-place finisher Irap upset the Blue Grass Stakes and Sun-land runner-up Conquest Mo Money ran a heckuva race in the Ar-kansas Derby. Therefore, Sunland winner Hence deserves a look. The pace aided him, but he made an impressive and sustained middle move, was gliding to the wire within himself and picks up excellent rider Florent Geroux.

PRS