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Home , Calumet Farm, Coaltown, Deputed Testamony, Dubai Millennium, Eclipse (horse), Ferdinand (horse)

SPECIAL April 28, 2015 www.PaulickReport.com

This Year’s Race Conjures Shadows Of 1948 By Bud Lamoreaux

It doesn’t happen often and it may be a bit of a stretch, die Arcaro asked Jones. Arcaro apparently wasn’t sure if but a pair of trained by the same connec- didn’t stand a better chance of taking the roses. tions, who appear to be a near lock in this year’s Kentucky “Just don’t get in a speed duel with my other ,” Jones Derby, bring back memories of 1948 when beat replied. Coaltown was in front by six lengths after a half Calumet stablemate Coaltown on his way to a signature mile. Citation won by 3 1/2. Triple Crown. Coaltown was no slouch. He won Horse of the Year honors from Turf & Sport Digest in 1949. It’s usually not a ticklish situation when a trainer has more than one Derby entry, but in the case of near co-favorites History tells us that this year’s story is not yet as interest- it has to make it a little bit dicey. is a wonder- ing, unless, of course, or Dortmund win fully entertaining guy, and I’d like to be a fly on his shoulder the elusive Triple Crown for trainer Bob Baffert, breaking a when he gives his jockeys their final instructions on the first 37-year drought that goes back to in 1978 when Saturday in May. Triple Crowns appeared to be a dime a dozen. Baffert has come as close as any trainer, finishing second Racing certainly has more intrigue and, imagined or not, with in New York in 1997, then losing the Continued on Page 7 Belmont by a nose the following year with . He won the first two legs of the Triple Crown again in 2002 with .

But in 1948, trainers Ben Jones and his son Jimmy Jones were having a not so “real quiet” battle of their own. They both eventually made the Hall of Fame, but back then Ben was trying to become the second trainer to win four Der- bies and Calumet was odds-on to win it either with Coal- town or Citation.

Jimmy had been campaigning Citation anywhere he could find a race for him and was listed as the “trainer.” But when it came time for the Derby, Jimmy’s name came down and up went ole Ben’s, though Jimmy did get to sad- dle the winner.

“Sonofagun,” said Jimmy to Heywood Hale Broun when they were both still hale and hearty, “he just stole him from me.” I was standing next to the cameraman as the CBS News producer of their interview and Jimmy appeared to be getting hot under the collar over something that had happened 50 years before. It was almost as if he was let- ting out the hurt he had felt for all those years. Citation had 45 career starts, finishing out of the money only once, and Jimmy was there for every one of them. He really loved Citation like no other campaigner he had ever trained and he kept trumpeting that brilliance until the day he died.

According to an obituary in the Los Angeles Times when Jimmy Jones died in 2001, this conversation took place in the saddling area of just before the 1948 Derby. “Are you sure I’m on the right horse,” Ed- www.PaulickReport.com Page 2 Pedigree Spotlight Mubtaahij’s International Intrigue By Frank Mitchell

Flying the flag of international competition as a prospect National Stakes at the Curragh as a juvenile, then the Irish for this year’s , Mubtaahij won three of his 2,000 Guineas and at 3. four starts in 2015, including the UAE Derby in impressive was also third in the Derby. style. Racing for Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa of Dubai, Mubtaahij is the son and grandson of important racehors- All said, however, what has made Dubawi such an impor- es bred by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the tant sire? Because he is, without much doubt, the most ruler of Dubai, and raced by , Sheikh Moham- important stallion in Europe not from the med’s international racing operation. line. Perhaps the extra touch of precocity to win a G1 at 2? Or the extra touch of class to land third in the Derby when Most importantly, Mubtaahij is a it wasn’t really his distance? grandson of the marvelous , a son of Seeking the Whatever the reason, Dubawi has Gold and the made a serious name for himself Colorado Dancer. A racehorse with in Europe and has gone a long way a piercing turn of foot, Dubai Mil- toward entrenching the male line lennium won nine of his 10 starts, of Mr. Prospector through Seeking losing only the English Derby. The the Gold as a major force in Euro- bay won four times at the G1 level, pean breeding for the future. twice at a mile in the Prix Jacques le Marois and the Queen Elizabeth II Dubawi is the sire of 87 stakes win- Stakes, and twice at 10 furlongs in ners, including 58 group stakes the and the Prince winners and 17 G1 winners. That of Wales’s Stakes. is breathtaking for a sire who is only 13 and who has six crops to Dubai Millennium appeared ready to race age 3 and older. In addition to extend his dominance to the 12-furlong races in Europe Mubtaahij, Dubawi has sired the English 2,000 Guineas when a fracture to a hind cannon ended his career. Re- winners and , plus Dubai World Cup tired to stud at Dalham Hall in , Dubai Millennium winners and 2015 winner , a attracted an extraordinary book of before tragedy gelding from his sire’s first crop. struck and the horse fell victim to grass sickness part way through his first season at stud. A further point of interest is that the Dubawi’s G1 winners have won around the world from England and France to From 56 foals, Dubai Millennium sired some good , Italy, Germany, South Africa, Hong Kong, Australia, Cana- including one who was almost as good as himself in Dubawi, da, and the U.S., where Dubawi Heights won a pair of G1 the winner in five of his eight starts at 2 and 3. Dubawi won stakes in . PRS G1 races both seasons that he raced, accounting for the

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Misplaced Vowels And The Road To The Tripel Crown (Sorry, We Had To) By Natalie Voss

Ever since American Pharoah emerged a star juvenile last The gelded son of Jump Start has gone on to achieve at year, English majors everywhere began scratching their least as much attention as an eventer, if not more, with heads over the placement of the last two vowels in the 3,300 Facebook fans as he has progressed to the prelimi- colt’s name. nary level under Olympian Phillip Dutton. The horse was in fact named for the fictional school teacher Ichabod Crane Although there are many rules about the length and con- in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. tent of a horse’s Jockey Club-registered name, Merriam Webster’s blessing is not required. Approved name re- “I went to school in Sleepy Hollow, so I know just where the quests are sent back to owners, providing them another headless horseman rode,” Earle Mack said after Evan Ship- opportunity to notice any mistakes, but Jockey Club officials man Stakes. are used to seeing odd spellings. ‘Icabad’ was phonetically correct, anyway, as was Govenor “Normal course of business is to check the names as Charlie, the Bob Baffert trainee who won the Grade 3 Sun- presented to the Registry Office,” said Rick Bailey, Jockey land Derby then finished eighth in the 2013 Preakness. Club registrar. “Anecdotally, a good number of misspelled The Govenor is still in training at Baffert’s home base at names are submitted that way , sometimes Santa Anita. because of the way a name is spelled/misspelled in the pedigree.” Continued on Page 4 Although that doesn’t appear to have been the case here, American Pharoah’s connections are certainly not the first on the trail of a Triple Crown race to misplace a few letters on their horse’s registration papers.

In 2009, a horse called Friesan Fire swept the Le Comte, the , and the for Larry Jones and Vinery Stables/Fox Hill Farm. The A.P. Indy colt was 18th in the Kentucky Derby and 10th in the Preakness. Since Friesan isn’t recognized as a word, it’s likely the horse was named for the medieval ethnic group inhabiting the German and Dutch coasts, or perhaps the drafty-type breed of black horses originating from that area. Both the people and the horse are called ‘Friesians’ (or sometimes Frisians).

One year earlier, Icabad Crane finished third in the Preak- ness for owner Earle Mack and trainer Graham Motion.

RANDOM FACTS by Ray Paulick More than 7,800 liters of bourbon (about 175,000 “shots”) will be needed as the major ingredient for Mint Juleps on Saturday. Churchill Downs will go through 475,000 pounds of shaved ice for Oaks and Derby day.

155632-MargauxFarm-QTR-PRS.indd 1 4/24/15 10:03 AM www.PaulickReport.com Page 4

Continued from Page 3 Spelling errors have not been restricted to also-rans in the the Mint and Toll Booth. The John Schiff homebred retired Triple Crown races, however. The 1983 Preakness winner to Gainesway Farm before shipping to South Africa. was a horse called . Although ‘deputed’ is a thing (it means appointed or instructed), many people 2002 Preakness run- were caught up with the notion that the first word was ner-up meant to have been ‘Disputed,’ evidently ignoring the mis- nearly didn’t make it spelling of ‘testimony’ altogether. to the races after a severe ankle infection The horse’s success was undisputed, as he went on to col- almost killed him at lect three more stakes wins, including the Haskell. three months old. One- woman operation Nan- The 1980 winner was named for Temper- cy Alberts wanted to ance Hill -- in owner John Ed Anthony’s home base of Arkan- name the horse for the Govenor Charlie sas. The ‘a’ was inadvertently replaced with another ‘e’ on veterinarian who saved the horse’s Jockey Club application, however, and the swap him, Dr. Allen Wisner, carried over, likely to the frustration of Arkansas turf writ- but added an extra ‘e’ on the horse’s paperwork. ers. Temperence Hill picked up four more graded stakes wins after the Belmont and collected the for Then there are the misspellings that are a little harder to 3-Year-Old Colt in 1980. forgive. A horse named Rhoman Rule (not to be confused with Roman Ruler, who came along later), was ninth in the Earlier the same year, a horse named Plugged Nickle was 1985 Kentucky Derby. There is nothing in the horse’s pedi- seventh in the Kentucky Derby. The misspelling of ‘nickel’ gree to suggest the extra ‘h’ was carrying on a family tradi- was blamed on an unidentified clerk (though it’s not clear tion, though Los Angeles Times sportswriter Jim Murray whose clerk), but it seems clear the connections were mak- stated in 1991 that the error was somehow intentional, ing a play for the coin, as the horse was the son of Key to to Murray’s frustration. A bigger crime, in his opinion? The combination of a pun and a spelling mistake in Esops Foibles, who ran fifth in the 1978 Kentucky Derby. Fortu- Get the latest headlines nately, most of the racing world’s attention was focused on delivered straight to your the race’s first two finishers. None of these is as memorable as a 1700’s racehorse inbox each morning. named Potoooooooo, who got his name from a misunder- standing (or practical joke, it remains unclear) between an owner and a groom. The owner told the boy to write the horse’s name, ‘Potato’ on his stall, and what appeared there was “Pot” followed by eight ‘o’s. The result amused breeder Willoughby Bertie so much, he kept it. Pot-8-0s, as he was often referred to, won 30-odd races in seven years. PRS

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Ray Paulick - Publisher [email protected] www.PaulickReport.com Emily Alberti - Director of Advertising [email protected] Scott Jagow - Editor-in-Chief [email protected] Your trusted, independent source for Mary Schweitzer - News Editor [email protected] racing and breeding news, opinion, Natalie Voss - Features Writer [email protected] and investigative reporting. Emily White - Weekend Editor [email protected] Frank Mitchell - Contributing Writer For advertising inquiries please call Emily at 859.913.9633 COPYRIGHT © 2014, PUBLISHING LLC www.PaulickReport.com Page 5 The Derby Field By The Numbers M. Wooley/Equi-Sport By Natalie Voss

There’s no debating that power and majesty of a can’t be distilled into numbers and bar graphs. After 140 years of Kentucky Derby his- tory however, there is a lot of data out there to put this year’s field into context.

Here are a few statistics behind this year’s Derby hopefuls:

• Two-year-old starts: The average number of starts among this year’s field is 3.1. One horse, Materiality, will try to become the first Derby winner since in 1882 to win the roses without having raced as a 2-year-old. Since 1937, 58 horses have tried and failed to overcome the curse; three of tem finished second, with the most recent being Bodemeister in 2012. Three horses in this year’s field, Itsaknockout, War Story, and Tencendur had one juvenile start.

• Birth Month: Astrology buffs may be interested to know that most of this year’s field was born in the month of March. The oldest horses in te field are Mr. Z and Firing Line, both January babies, while foreign shipper Mubtaahij is the youngest—he will be just four days past his foaling date when he enters the Derby starting gate. Over the past 20 years, the most common birth month for Derby winners is Feb- ruary. February foals in this year’s field include Dort- mund, Carpe Diem, American Pharoah, and Bolo.

• Undefeated: Since 1915, 24 horses have entered the Derby with undefeated records (15 of them bet- ting favorites). Seven of them have left undefeated, most recently 2008 winner .

• Millionaires: Only two horses— in 2007 and last year—have ever entered the race millionaires and won. Five contend- ers this year—International Star, Dortmund, Carpe Diem, and American Pharoah, Mubtaahij—are all mil- lionaires.

• Million-dollar baby: Carpe Diem was the most ex- out of this year’s group, having raised $1.6 million at the OBS March sale as a 2-year-old. The least expensive horse was Far Right at $2,500 as a short yearling at the January sale. All but two horses in the field--Frosted and Tencendur--went through the sales ring.

• Three-year-old debut: Most of this year’s field start- ed their 3-year-old season as soon as possible—12 of them began in January, four in February, and four in March. Since 1929, just 15 winners have made Continued on Page 6 www.PaulickReport.com Page 6

Continued from Page 5 their 3-year-old debut in March.

• Running style: 22 Derbies have been won wire-to- wire. Three horses in this year’s field have won races Your dollar is wire-to-wire so far. Only two, Dortmund and American Pharoah, have won more than one race in this style. getting $tronger Two horses in this field—War Story and Far Right— have won races after having been last at one point of call in the race. The last-to-first strategy has succeeded just eight times in Derby history, with the most recent in Europe performance being in 2009.

• Pilot success: It’s not often that the national leading rider by money or by races won also wins the Derby in the same year they sit atop the lead- erboard. Per- haps there’s only so much racing luck to go around. The last one was in 1996 (leader by earnings, rider of Grind- stone). This In Ireland, France and Germany: year’s leaders: Spring 2014 Spring 2015 Javier Castel- Javier Castellano lano by wins €100,000 purchase price $139,000 $105,500 and Victor Es- €25,000 annual training fees $34,700 $26,200 pinoza by earnings. €20,000 stallion nomination $27,800 $21,000 • Was that a drop? Nine of the 20 starters have had In Britain: experience on off racetracks. Eight of the nine have hit the board on an off surface. Spring 2014 Spring 2015

• Place of origin: Unsurprisingly, more horses in this £100,000 purchase price $171,000 $146,500 year’s field have been bred in Kentucky (14) than any- £20,000 annual training fees $34,200 $29,200 where else. Three hail from New York, one from Flori- £25,000 stallion nomination $42,700 $36,500 da, one from Ontario, and one from Ireland.

• Kings of the road: New York and Louisiana proved the most popular place for this year’s field to get their last preps in, with four Derby starters having wrapped up their spring 3-year-old campaigns in each place. In all, the field will hail from six different states (based on last start) and one foreign country. The first seven points-holders each finished their Derby campaigns in [email protected] different states. PRS www.destinationeuroperacing.com www.PaulickReport.com Page 5

PR Trivia: Know Your Kentucky Derby History? By Mary Schweitzer

1. Name the only U.S. President to attend the Kentucky Derby while in office. 2. The Kentucky Derby was originally run at the distance of 1 ½ miles. In what year was it changed to its1 ¼-mile? 3. In 1895, this iconic landmark made its first appearance at Churchill Downs. What was it? Equine Management System 4. Sixteen female trainers have saddled Derby starters. Web based Equine Management System keeps track of all costs and Name the trio that finished in the top three. activities for all your horses. Your secure information on all platforms. 5. Only one trainer has more Derby victories than D. Wayne Lukas. Who is it? • Activities • Billing/Payments 6. At age 52, (Firing Line) could become the • Expenses • Reports • Purchases • Trainer Management 2nd-oldest jockey to win the Derby. Who’s the oldest? • Sales • Syndicate Management 7. Who is the only jockey to have won both the Kentucky • Healthcare • PC’s, IPAD’s, Mobile and Epsom Derbys? • Workouts/Scheduling • Stopwatch Feature 8. Who is the only jockey to win the KY Derby that also went on to train a winner of the race? Free 30 Day Trial 9. Historic has bred nine KY Derby winners, • Owners • Trainers • Managers • Partnerships eight of which they owned. Name the one that did not race in the devil’s red and blue silks. www.talkofthetrack.com 10. Who was the last Derby winner inducted into the rac- ing Hall of Fame? Continued from Page 1

Machiavellian plots than those other sports soap operas that go on endlessly about deflatable balls or juiced-up play- ers who can’t wait for the next hit. Racing has its own juice problems, but it also allows us to dream.

Heywood Hale Broun once wrote, “unfinished dreams are the best kind and the moving ceremony in my fantasy in which I accept the elaborate cup is more wonderful than the more likely reality; someday a silver mug for winning the secondary feature at Oaklawn Park. But looking back, NEW DATE OCT. 4th, 2015 would I change it? I don’t think so. I would miss out on so much mirth, peace and amity.” PRS

E. S. (Bud) Lamoreaux III is the former Executive Producer of CBS News Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt who won four Eclipse Awards for his backstretch profiles. Featured Yearling Session Catalog Fee $500.00 Commission 5% Mixed Sale – Horses of all Ages with a $150 minimum Catalog Deadline August 25th Trivia Answers Supplemental entries

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www.heritageplace.com third (Imperialism, Mulhall Kristin 1992), second, Lies, (Casual email: [email protected] Shelley 4. Spires; Twin The 3. 1896; 2. 1968; Nixon, M. Richard 1. www.PaulickReport.com Page 8 Five Longshots to Watch By Scott Jagow

The post-time favorite has won the last two Kentucky Der- While soundly beaten in the Wood Memorial, the Scat Dad- bies, but we all know that doesn’t happen often on the first dy colt didn’t get going until late, on a flying-dirt track chal- Saturday in May. A look at some horses that could surprise lenging to closers. He picks up three-time Derby winning at long odds: rider Calvin Borel, who rode him at Churchill Downs last fall. Based on his nine-start foundation and never-worse-than- Will the last-second surge in the that fourth record, leaving this colt off your wagers is a mistake. gave Bolo just enough points to make the Derby field be for- tuitous? He traveled the equivalent of almost eight lengths Far Right may not be the Mine That Bird of this Kentucky farther than the winner and Derby favorite Dortmund, and Derby, but he’s close. From the barn of under-the-radar the son of Temple City came into his previous prep short on trainer Ron Moquette, the $2,500 yearling doesn’t ap- training. This colt obviously likes the grass, but several turf- pear to match up with this field’s heavy hitters, but he’s got pedigreed runners have won or come close in the Derby in things going for him. To be ridden by veteran big-race jockey recent memory. Mike Smith, who stunned the 2005 Derby field aboard 50-1 , Far Right has more seasoning than many of his Plenty of Kentucky Derbies have been won by horses that rivals, having raced nine times since getting an early start failed to win their final prep but took a step forward in that to his career a year ago. He’s also shown the ability to ma- race. Moon showed significant improvement in the neuver in traffic, and his pedigree has back class for getting Blue Grass, finishing a fast-closing second to Carpe Diem. the distance. His pedigree suggests he’ll like the distance, and the son of Malibu Moon is at least a threat to sweep past the handy International Star is speed-challenged on paper but has types exhausted by a swift pace. several positive intangibles. By Derby winner Fusaichi Pega- sus, this guy has shown the kind of moxiePRS and maneuverabil- El Kabeir’s pedigree doesn’t scream 1 1/4 miles, but his ity that’ll give him an edge late in the crowded, tiring Derby determination and consistency make a loud statement. field. Also note that three of the last four Kentucky runner-