The first Saturday in May has come and gone with no Kentucky Derby, and, thus, no big thrills for racing fans. The Belmont Stakes, usually the last of the Triple Crown races, was run this year in June as the first, and proved to be a decent race, but, again, with no real thrills, probably due to there being no fans in the stands. NBC produced a virtual race for Derby Day, instead, called the Triple Crown Showdown, which saw VR versions of all 13 Triple Crown winners running against each other. A decent way to burn off a couple of hours on a Saturday, and interesting that Secretariat won this made-up battle of the 3-year-old greats, but again, not exactly what you’d call thrilling.
In the early 1980s, a son of one of our Derby infield compadres did roughly this same thing, but he used a cassette recorder and called the race with his still-changing 13-year-old voice. Pretty special for a boy that young to have such an interest in horse racing, and, since he was young, he can be forgiven for giving Whirlaway the victory over Secretariat. Many years later, that young man attended the Derby with his father as part of our infield group. As it happens, that was the year that we were filmed and included in the PBS documentary You Ain’t Seen Nothin’, and that young man had a speaking part that made the final cut of that epic piece of celluloid. Now that was pretty thrilling for all of us.
The dozens of years I attended the “run for the roses” brought me many wonderful memories, like having a winning bet on Ferdinand at my first Derby in 1986. There were other highlights, like being in the movie – and knowing that it was shown across the entire country – and Barbaro winning in 2006, thus giving me a really nice pick-three payoff. But the most special moment, by far, was when this now-aging infield patron was joined by his son to experience the Derby, together, in person. That, you can safely say, was the thrill of a lifetime.
So who knows if the 2020 Derby, which is now slated to be run in September, with a decision on fan attendance still pending, will have thrills or not? There will be the inherent excitement of the race, of course, but my instinct is that some indefinable element can’t help but be lacking. On a personal level, my streak of 34 consecutive years at the race will end this year, for many reasons, so for me the excitement will be much more subdued. I suspect, however, that I’ll still get the tingles when I hear “My Old Kentucky Home” on race day. That never disappoints.
I’ve talked earlier about the thrill of owning my first racehorse and some of the exploits of the Gray Dog, and I mentioned in the telling that I knew then that he would not be my last horse. And he wasn’t. In 1976, I and two new partners, Al and Mary, acquired a three-yearold filly named Martha D. She was bred and raced by Anne, my original partner in Monsieur Leclercq, and was named after someone very special to Anne.
Martha was born in 1973, sired by the Ohio stallion Piker, who was a son of the famous Mr. Prospector, the world’s leading sire many times over. She was out of the mare Pleasant Grace, a daughter of the 1961 Kentucky Derby winner Pleasant Colony. As the saying goes, hope springs eternal, and ours certainly was as we prepared to add this lovely filly to our new racing stable.
Martha had already broken her maiden as a two-year-old the year before our purchase, winning at odds of 17-1. The following spring, as a three-year-old under Anne’s ownership, Martha ran in several allowance races (those in which horses cannot be claimed.) After finishing 4th at odds of 23-1 in another such race, we made Anne an offer, and the filly became the first horse for our new partnership. And the thrills continued to build.
Three weeks later, on May 17th, 1996, we entered our new acquisition, wearing the black silks of my new partners, in another allowance race. Our trainer, Andy, thought we should run her in a distance race of a mile and 70 yards, a bit longer than the 3/4th of a mile (6 furlongs) she had been running in. We agreed, somewhat tentatively, crossed our fingers, and hoped for the best. The race had a field of 9 horses in it, and Martha went off at 25-1. She jumped to the lead and held it though most of the race, was eventually run down by a couple of other horses, but fought on to finish third. Wow! Our first race as new partners, and we got both thrills and a check for her show finish. (In most races in this country, winners get 60% of the purse, the place horse gets 20%, and the show horse gets 10%.) We could hardly wait the two weeks to enter her again. This next time, Martha went off at 8-1, again showing her speed, but tired a bit and finished 4th. A good performance, and another check (in this race, 4th place got 5% of the purse.) Trainer Andy then decided that she needed a break, as she had been either racing or training for over six months straight. So off to the farm for some down time, a little relaxation in an open pasture, and a bit of being just a horse.
Anne had another three-year-old filly by Piker that she’d bred who had broken her maiden as a two-year-old, as well. We brought Martha back from the farm after her break and were preparing to run her in a six-furlong race on August 4th. Coincidentally, Anne had her filly, who was raised with Martha on Anne’s farm, running on the same day in a different allowance race. Martha went off at 11-1, but this time did not take the lead, instead sitting second behind one of the favorites. She was unable to catch the lead horse, but gamely held on to finish second. What a race, what a check, and what a thrill for the new partners! A few races later, on the same card, Anne’s filly went off at odds of 17-1. She went to the lead immediately out of the gate and never looked back, winning fairly handily for not only a great win, but a really nice check for Anne, as well. (As it happens, about a year later we purchased that filly, Strike Number One, as well. But more about that later.)
By now convinced that Martha could run long, Andy entered her in another race, this one a full mile. This time, she went off as longest shot on the board. She showed her usual speed early, but wound up fading in the stretch to finish last. To our surprise, Andy was not disappointed at her effort, saying that she’d showed her speed and hung in there until late in the race, and ultimately only finished 7 lengths behind the place horse, who’d been beaten by a filly who had already won at the distance. He was certain she could be effective running the longer distance. Little did we know what he had in mind.
For standard races, tracks put up money to attract horses to run so they can make money off the bettors’ wagers; when they offer bigger purses, owners must pay to run for those larger amounts. Stakes races are such races. Andy was a pretty conservative guy, so when he suggested we put up the money to run Martha in such a race, we were, to say the least, surprised. Martha was a fine horse, it was clear, but she’d still only won a single race, and now Andy wanted to run her for a distance at which she had not yet been successful, against fillies that had already won at the distance, and one who had already won a Stakes race? And we had to pay for the privilege? So the decision was upon us: play it safe, or take a chance? Fortunately, my partners were, like me, gamblers as well as owners. So we wrote the check and sent it off, and, on September 8th, 1996, we were joined by over twenty of our friends to see our girl run in the Tougaloo Stakes at Thistledown Race Track, just east of Cleveland in North Randall, Ohio.
You want to talk about thrills? Buddy, you ain’t heard nothing yet.
(to be continued)
