Millson: Fast track as big race fast approaches

Larry Millson, 03/05/08 at 3:29 PM EDT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Some comments on the racing surface Saturday at Churchill Downs as the big race approached.

John Velazquez who won the Churchill Downs with front-running Elite Squadron: “It's a fast track today.”

James Baker, trainer of Elite Squadron: “It's obvious the speed is holding today.”

Steve Asmussen, who sent out Noonmark to finish second in the Churchill Downs: “The racetrack is lightning tight. The question will be if you can reel ‘em (the front runners) in.”

La Troienne: Velazquez also had the winner of the sixth race, the $164,450 La Troienne Stakes for three-year-old fillies with 9-to-5 favourite Game Face with a ground-saving ride. She overtook Keep the Peace in the stretch to win by a neck in 1:28.44 for the race distance of 7 ½ furlongs.

Keep the Peace had battled for the early lead with Secret Gypsy in fractions of 22.61 and 44.96. The six furlongs was run in 1:08.89.

Game Face came from just off the early pace, sitting fourth after a quarter of a mile and third after one-half mile and was taken inside for the stretch run. Perhaps the riders found some more clues for the Derby in the way the track is playing.

• E-mail this post
• Link to this post
• Comments (0)

Millson: Derby track getting faster

Larry Millson, 03/05/08 at 2:00 PM EDT

LOUISVILLE, KY. -- Saturday afternoon: The sun is out.

The times have been fast all day even when the track was listed as muddy in the opening races. By the fifth race, it was listed as fast.

How fast? The fifth was $282,000 The Churchill Downs at seven furlongs. Elite Squadron broke from the No. 1 post position and led all the way on the rail for a 4 ½-length victory in 1:21.53. The fractions were 21.98, 43.70, 1:08.12. He paid $10.80.

At 1:30 p.m., Derby favourite Big Brown was at 5 to 2 odds. He was 7 to 2 at 7 p.m. on Friday. 

• E-mail this post
• Link to this post
• Comments (0)

Millson: Rain doesn't dampen party atmosphere at the Derby

Larry Millson, 03/05/08 at 11:30 AM EDT

LOUISVILLE, KY. -- Friday night: Rain kind of messed up Oaks day. Many people in the announced attendance of more than 100,000 before Proud Spell won the Kentucky Oaks.

There was more rain Friday night and at times it was heavy enough to move some of the Derby parties indoors.

My friend Mickey Clark celebrated his 68th birthday by playing a gig with Dale Perry who plays terrific guitar and sings the odd number too.

It was a barbecue place and some of Mickey's relatives from Florida popped in. I arrived a little later from Churchill Downs. We were told the restaurant had run out of food. They did rustle up some burgers and chicken brisket for us that was quite acceptable.

Mickey who is working on a new CD - Jerry Jeff Walker who knows Mickey from back in the 1960s is one of many to have agreed to perform on the album - and introduced a new song that was well received. It's called: Don't piss on my boots and tell me it's raining.

Mickey and Dale sure do honest sets, plenty of tunes and energy.

Mickey's wife, Sandy, was there and their son Brennan showed up with his friend Kyle, who likes to talk baseball so we hit it off pretty good.

In our chat, he was questioning the way Blue Jays manager John Gibbons handles pitchers.

These guys have some wicked talent in the video field. They were in Toronto for a few days recently to work as part of a prize they won for a submission. I was out of town covering TFC and the Raptors so missed them.

After Mickey had taken down the equipment we were off to the home of his brother Bill and his wife, Theresa, who had their annual Derby party. It was nearly midnight by the time we got there and raining. Brennan and Kyle went to another party.

Just about everybody has a Derby party so all the street parking was pretty well taken. I missed Mickey's mother, Isabel, who already had left and will turn 100 next week, and is still sharp as can be. Mickey's brother Del was there, too. He refers to me as the Canook. It was too late for the brothers to do some jamming.

We also visited some neighours whose house is next to the city's biggest Derby bash, the Barnstable Brown Gala held at the residence on Spring St. of Tricia Barnstable Brown.

The celebrity list included Tom Brady, Smokey Robinson, Hugh Hefner, Bo Derek, Travis Tritt, Mary Wilson, Lee Ann Womack, Anastasia Brown - you get the idea.

There was some pretty good music played at that party, even late. Could hear it next door, no problem.

On the way home on Speed Avenue, we pass a banner outside a house proclaiming the third annual Unstable Clown Derby party.

Saturday morning. Cloudy and damp again. The infielders arrive early prepared for damp and cool weather. Somehow their spirits won't be dampened. The infield on Derby day is one of the better shows in sport.

By 10 a.m., the sun is trying to break through.

Someone has been selling fake media credentials in the parking lot at Churchill Downs. Media members were being asked to keep some photo ID handy, just in case they are checked.

• E-mail this post
• Link to this post
• Comments (0)

Millson: Big Brown the 7-to-2 Kentucky Derby favourite

Larry Millson, 02/05/08 at 7:59 PM EDT

LOUSVILLE -- Big Brown was the 7-to-2 Kentucky Derby favourite as of 7 p.m. EDT on Friday. Earlier in the week, the colt who is undefeated in three career starts, was made the 3-to-1 favourite in the morning line for Saturday's race at Churchill Downs. Scheduled post time is 6.04 p.m.

As of  7 p.m. Friday, the Kentucky Derby odds from all betting sources were: No. 1 Cool Coal Man, 36 to 1; No. 2. Tale of Ekati, 45 to 1; No. 3. Anak Nakal, 57 to 1; No. 4. Court Vision, 14 to 1; No. 5. Eight Belles, 8 to 1; No. 6. Z Fortune, 17 to 1; No. 7. Big Truck, 20 to 1; No. 8. Visionaire, 22 to 1; No. 9. Pyro, 5 to 1; No 10. Colonel John, 4  to 1; No. 11. Z Humor, 67 to 1; No 12 Smooth Air, 40 to 1; No. 13 Bob Black Jack, 26 to 1; No. 14 Monba, 30 to 1; No. 15, Adriano, 24 to 1; No. 16 Denis of Cork, 27 to 1; No. 17 Cowboy Cal, 42 to 1; No. 18 Recapturetheglory, 47 to 1; No. 19 Gayego, 21 to 1; No. 20 Big Brown, 7 to 2.

Friday afternoon: The rain that appeared to be on its way at 5 a.m. finally did come later in the afternoon. Then it came down hard enough to make for a sloppy track. Hard to say how that will affect Saturday's Kentucky Derby.

It made for a wet afternoon for the Kentucky Oaks Day crowd of 100,046.

The rain meant that Elusive Lady was scratched from the Oaks because she has “never shown an affinity for running on an off track” according to her trainer John Kimmel.

The $581,659 Oaks was run on a sloppy track and Brereton C. Jones's Proud Spell found it no problem in winning the 1 1/8-mile race for three-year-old fillies by five lengths at odds of better than 3 to 1.

Little Belle was second and Pure Clan was third. Proud Spell ran the distance in 1:50.01.

Trainer Larry Jones and jockey Gabriel Saez have a chance for a rare Kentucky Oaks-Kentucky Derby double. Saez rides Fox Hill Farms' Eight Belles, who is trained by Jones,  in Saturday's Kentucky Derby.

Eight Belles is the only filly in the Derby. She also was entered in the Oaks as a precaution but it was decided that she would go against the colts.

Jones did not feel that the wet track helped Proud Spell. “She can handle any kind of surface and actually Churchill's track when it gets wet is very good.”

The most recent rider to win the Kentucky Oaks-Derby double was Jerry Bailey in 1993 who won with Dispute and Sea Hero.

Trainer Ben Jones did the double in 1952 with Real Delight and Hill Gail.

The Oaks-Derby double with Proud Spell and Eight Belles would pay $212.00.

The Oaks- Derby Double pay outs with Proud Spell are: Cool Coal Man, $436.00; Tale of Ekati $312.20; Anak Nakal, $778.00; Court Vision, $132.20; Eight Belles, $212.00; Z Fortune, $143.60; Big Truck, $848.40; Visionaire $235.60; Pyro $55.80; Colonel John, $54.80; Z Humor, $644.80; Smooth Air, $369.60; Bob Black Jack, $514.80; Monba, $281.60; Adriano, $297.00; Denis of Cork, $224.20; Cowboy Cal, $593.80, Recapturetheglory, $578.60; Gayego, $227.00; Big Brown $37.80.

• E-mail this post
• Link to this post
• Comments (0)

Millson: Oaks day

Larry Millson, 02/05/08 at 10:57 AM EDT

LOUISVILLE -- Friday morning: There was the menacing flash of lightning at 5 a.m. Then another. There was a low growl of thunder. It was more like background noise. No sharp claps.

Not another one of those mornings, I was thinking. Walking around the backstretch, ducking for shelter where possible, feet getting wet and muddy and wondering if the computer in my backpack was going to be too damp to function. Besides, it is Oaks day, which is not quite as big as Derby day but still well attended.

It is 10:30 a.m. now and so far there has been no rain. It is still hazy, but the sun has made an appearance and it is warm enough to make a jacket unnecessary.

Talked to a few people including former jockey Sandy Hawley, who is here for Woodbine Entertainment. He kind of likes Court Vision as a horse to put in triple wagers on the Derby. He was closing third in the Wood Memorial won by Canadian-owned Tale of Ekati.

Had a nice chat with Bennie Stutts, Jr., who trains Smooth Air in the Derby. He's just happy to be here. Nice change from talking to some of the big trainers who look like they are on a corporate golfing jaunt.

Refreshing is a word that comes to mind. That also applies to Charles Fipke, who owns Tale of Ekati.

He was asked who is mentor was when he got involved with thoroughbred racing.

“I didn't really have a mentor,” he said. “The thing that really inspired me and has always inspired me is Secretariat. It won the Belmont by 31 lengths and I just think he was like an awesome role model. I eventually did get a mare by Secretariat.”

Asked about drawing the No. 2 post position in the field of 20: “I was devastated when I found we had 17th on the post draw. We had 17th pick and got post two and we were very delighted with it.”

He said the reason for his good fortune was in his wallet and he produced a five-leaf clover from one of the compartments.

Someone asked him how many horseS he has in training: “I don't like commenting on the horses I have because I think the more horses you have the less intelligent you are. Like I'm a moron.”

Then he said, “I think I have about 30 horses in training.”

• E-mail this post
• Link to this post
• Comments (0)

Millson: Old friends

Larry Millson, 01/05/08 at 12:25 PM EDT

LOUISVILLE -- Wednesday night: Went to dinner at Dittos Grill on Bardstown Rd. with my friends of longer than any of us cares to remember, Sandy and Mickey Clark. They are my Louisville family and take me in every time I'm in town for the Derby or Breeders' Cup. Well, a couple of years ago they had this flood and I stayed in a hotel that time for the Breeders' Cup.

Mickey, who is a singer and writer who deserves more recognition than he receives outside of Louisville, was working in Nashville recently and talked enthusiastically about his new CD that'll include performances by some intriguing names.

He has that combination of energy and perspective that comes with being over 65. Can't believe we first meet in 1966 when Mickey was working Steele's Tavern on Yonge St. and I was between assignments, which means I was going to the racetrack every day at Woodbine.

Mickey has a gig on Derby eve,  then we head to his brother Bill's place for the annual family Derby. The Clarks set up a stage on the front lawn and strum and sing into the night.

In praise of older people: My aunt Isobel was named her company's employee of the year last November. She's 79 and still a crackerjack on the job.

Thursday morning: Just completed what I call to myself the Milt Dunnell walk. It starts from the barn area, runs through a maintenance yard, thought a tunnel under the track, through the infield that will be filled with revellers for Saturday's 134th Kentucky Derby, through another tunnel the track to the grandstand area and finally an elevator for the press box.

Milt, my first sports editor and the best by so far it is impossible measure, showed me this way from the backstretch of Churchill Downs 32 years ago when I was at my first Derby. I was working for the Globe and Mail by then. I had left Milt's paper, the Star, in 1967 for the Telegram which folded and became the Sun in 1971.

Milt still treated me like I was one of his. I had no credentials for that year's Derby, for instance, but I had a hotel reservation. I guess Jim Vipond, the Globe sports editor, and another good one of the old school, had thought it was all-inclusive hotel-credential application. Anyway, Milt vouched for me and saved the Globe and me some embarrassment. I got the credential.

Milt was one of those columnists who did not mind muddying his shoes on the backstretch, even when there was no big race. In Toronto there have been racing writers who hardly went to the backside. Milt was at Woodbine a minimum of once a week no matter what else he was covering.

When you enter the first tunnel, which takes a curve, there is a stoplight near the entrance for the maintenance vehicles. It says No Baby No next to  the red light and Go Baby Go next to the green light. The light changes every 45 seconds. Just in case you were wondering.

By the time I had completed the walk over to the front side, the sun was warm. Earlier in the morning, around 6:30, it had been a little chilly, jacket temperature.

As usual just about every radio and TV station in the area is doing the morning show from Churchill Downs. These portable studios are set up on the backstretch in front of the recreational building that serves as a press centre during the Derby buildup.

Inside the building, the Salvation Army sets up that dangerous breakfast combination of coffee and doughnuts and there is a long line up. Any one who must use a glucometre (like me) to check glucose levels had best avoid the doughnuts, at least. Coffee isn't great, either. Best to go for some real breakfast food in the track kitchen. Turns out there is cereal in the press box area on the other side and it is not the high-glycemic corn flakes stuff.

Just to one side of the backside recreational building, there is a trailer selling Derby merchandise and in front of that a Crown Royal sampling booth. There was a lineup for that, too. Even in the drinking days, never imbibed at 7 a.m., unless of course it was on the continuation play. Always believed in getting back to the hotel before your wake up call, too, otherwise people get needlessly worried.

Walked past D. Wayne Lukas's barn, No, 44. It used to be when he was big in these races there'd be a crowd hovering nearby but not these days.

Todd Pletcher, a big-time trainer who always seem to have a couple of horses in every stakes race (Cowboy Cal and Monba in the Derby) walks briskly by, coming back from the track, his fresh haircut obvious unless he just sprays it on.

Visit barn No. 48, where Charles Fipke, now of Kelowna, B.C., chats away am amiably about the chances of his Derby runner, Tale of Ekati. I get the impression talking to a couple of U.S. reporters that this would be a popular victory.  He shows a terrific sense of humour.

At about 8:30 a.m. after racing surface has been renovated horses return to the track and there is a little religious moment over the backstretch public address system. There's a Biblical verse and a short sermon.

Former jockey Pat Day, who won his share of big races, walks past to set up a post at trackside wearing a hat that says “Jesus is my boss” on the front.  He had one like that last year, too.

Eight Belles the only filly in the Derby prances by and she looks to be eager to run. The 3-to-1 morning-line Derby favourite Bib Brown worked out after the break and looked strong, No time yet available for his three-eighths of a  mile breeze but he was hard to pull up.

Later, back at barn No. 22, where the colt is stabled for trainer Richard Dutrow, Jr., part owner Michael Iavarone explains that the No. 20 post position is not all so bad for Bib Brown. He is the outside horse so there will be no outside horse coming over on him. He's confident Big Brown will be able to take a favourable position from out there. Bit Brown has won all three of his career races by a total of 29 lengths.

Nice day but there are showers being called for Friday, which is Kentucky Oaks Day and also draws big crowd.

• E-mail this post
• Link to this post
• Comments (0)

Millson: Tagg takes different path to Derby

Larry Millson, 01/05/08 at 10:23 AM EDT

LOUISVILLE, KY. -- The last time we looked in on trainer Barclay Tagg was in the winner's enclosure at Tampa Bay Downs when Big Truck, a three-year-old colt he trains for Eric Fein, had won the Tampa Bay Derby (GIII) .

The big story from that race was the War Pass, then the big favourite for the Kentucky Derby finished absolutely, as in absolutely last.

War Pass came back to lose another day, this time in the Wood Memorial (GI) in New York. This time War Pass finished second to Tale of Ekati, owned and bred by Charles E. Fipke of  Edmonton who lives in Kelowna, B.C.

Tagg was the winning trainer again.

Well, Big Truck and Tale of Ekati are in Saturday's big race but War Pass is not. X-rays showed a small fracture in his left ankle so he is out of racing for now.

“I don't know if they're good enough to win the race, but they're both very nice horses,” Tagg said.

You might also remember Tagg as the trainer of Funny Cide, a New York-bred gelding that had a bunch owners who made the whole Triple Crown a funny story.  Funny Cide won the Derby and the Preakness in 2003 but finished third in the Belmont Stakes when he tried to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.

The difference between Big Truck and Tale of Ekati is that they have won graded stakes leading up to the Kentucky Derby.

“They've both won a prep,” Tagg said. “Funny Cide didn't win a prep. He ran three preps and didn't win any of them. These horses each won a major prep. They certainly stamped their ticket to be in here.”

But, he said, “(Funny Cide) was a monster. These horses are a  little more laid back than he was. He was explosive. I had more confidence in that race and in that horse than probably any other race I've run in.”

There are many factors involved in winning the Kentucky Derby. “You have to have a horse that's peaking physically growth-wise and everything else,” Tagg said Wednesday. “Sometimes in the spring, when they are two-year-olds turning three, they go through growth spurts and things like that. So you've just go to be lucky that it's all happening on the right day, which is the first Saturday in May. You have to have purse money behind them, you have to have soundness and everything else going for you. It's very difficult.”

• E-mail this post
• Link to this post
• Comments (0)