Sunday, May 06, 2001
Derby gets Kentucky winner
Monachos jets to second-fastest finish
By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LOUISVILLE — This race used to be about Kentucky, about local trainers and jockeys deciding state bragging rights. But a lot changes over 127 years. The Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs became horse racing's world championship. So there was something sweet Saturday when the trophy came back to the Commonwealth.
|
PHOTO GALLERY
|
Monarchos (far left) makes his move in the final turn.
|
John T. Ward Jr., the lone Kentucky native training a horse in the race, fulfilled a three-generation longing when Monarchos blazed to the second-fastest Derby triumph in history. A two-decade partnership with owner John Oxley, who owns a farm in Midway, Ky., paid off with a performance as stirring as their story.
“I try to train the old-fashioned way, the way I was brought up,” Ward said. “This is one for tradition.”
Ward's father, John Sr., and his grandfather, John S. Ward, were prominent horsemen, as was John Sr.'s brother, Sherrill, trainer of famed gelding Forego (fourth in the 1973 Derby). John S. Ward had four Derby starters from 1916-18, including third-place finisher Franklin in '16.
Ward, a Lexington native, had laughed this week as he observed the international nature of this event, with trainers and owners from all over the world.
“I'm the only hardboot in the game,” he said. “I'm as Kentucky as the bluegrass.”
|
FASTEST TIMES
|
Fastest times recorded by winners over the 1 1/4-mile course of the Kentucky Derby:
• Secretariat (1973) 1:59 2-5
• Monarchos (2001) 1:59.97
• Northern Dancer (1964) 2:00)
• Spend a Buck (1985) 2:00 1-5
• Decidedly (1962) 2:00 2-5
• Proud Clarion (1967) 2:00 3-5
• Grindstone (1996) 2:01)
• Fusaichi Pegasus (2000) 2:01)
• Lucky Debonair (1965) 2:01 1-5
• Affirmed (1978) 2:01 1-5
• Thunder Gulch (1995) 2:01 1-5
|
|
PAYOUTS
|
• Monarchos $23, $11.80, $8.80
• Invisible Ink $46.60, $21.20
• Congaree $7.20
• Rest of finishers: 4. Thunder Blitz, 5. Point Given, 6. Jamaican Rum, 7. A P Valentine, 8. Express Tour, 9. Fifty Stars, 10. Startac, 11. Millennium Wind, 12. Arctic Boy, 13. Songandaprayer, 14. Balto Star, 15. Dollar Bill, 16. Keats, 17. Talk Is Money. |
Now his unsung steed is a permanent part of history in the state's signature sporting event. Monarchos, who went off as the sixth choice at 10-1, took advantage of a super-fast track to win in 1:59 4/5 (technically, 1:59.97), second only to the 1:59 2/5 posted by Secretariat in 1973.
Ward had said his horse had shown great closing speed that would be accentuated at the Derby's distance, 1 1/4 miles. Jockey Jorge Chavez held Monarchos back in 13th place after a half-mile, then steadily made a charge around the second turn.
He was sixth after a mile, then second to Congaree at the top of the stretch. He blew past and finished 4 3/4 lengths ahead of Invisible Ink, a 55-1 shot.
“I just waited my turn, because I knew he was going to explode,” Chavez said. “I have so much horse.”
Chavez was surprised to learn he had nearly broken the track record, indicating he didn't feel the horse had run a perfect race.
“I could have gone faster if I had asked him (for speed) sooner,” he told Ward.
Monarchos was a forgotten figure in this year's Derby picture, mostly because all attention had been turned to Bob Baffert's super duo of Point Given and Congaree. Those horses were the two favorites in the morning line, and Point Given was being touted as Triple Crown material.
But in one bold stroke March 1 at the Florida Derby, Monarchos emerged from the relative obscurity of Gulfstream Park maiden and allowance races. In his first stakes race, he steered wide around the far turn and blazed to a 4 1/2-length victory.
The buzz died down when he finished second to Congaree in the Wood Memorial, but Ward kept talking that up as a positive step. He spent the past week being outspoken about the extra fuel his horse had left in the tank.
“I put myself on the line all week long, and ... I kind of got away with it,” he said. “You can really embarrass yourself like that. But you've got to have confidence in the animal. I said that since his maiden race, he has continually been coming at the end of the race. He always had something left.”
Ward, 55, had to wait a few more anxious minutes to be sure he had won. John Velazquez, Invisible Ink's jockey, filed an objection stating Monarchos had cut off his horse at the top of the stretch.
The stewards needed little time to reject the claim. No winner in a Triple Crown race has ever been disqualified.
“I touched nobody,” Chavez said. “I was clear. I didn't even see him.”
Congaree finished third and Point Given fifth.
Ward has been training thoroughbreds for Oxley for 21 years. But after they got their first two horses to the Derby — Jambalaya Jazz finished 15th and Pyramid Peak 17th in 1995 — the two restructured their program to aim for the first Saturday in May.
“Absolutely, no doubt about it — the Kentucky Derby,” Ward said earlier this week. “Size of horse, foaling dates, pedigrees, where they started, when you first breezed them, what you did as 2-year-olds. Everything is geared for Derby, Derby, Derby, Derby.”
Leaving Florida after the Gulfstream meet, Ward brought Derby prospects Hero's Tribute, Holiday Thunder and Monarchos to Churchill Downs instead of Keeneland, which is located across the road from his farm. Only Monarchos stayed on the Derby trail.
He was enough.
“I've been around John 20-some years, and I never seen him this confident,” Ox ley said. “Each race moved the horse forward. The target, the goal, was today, and John was confident throughout the trip.”
It was also big for Chavez, who had ridden only three previous Derby horses — his best finish being 11th last year aboard Trippi.
“It was my first (Derby) horse with a chance,” Chavez said. “I said, "I have to do it now.'”
Oxley — who owns Oxley Petroleum, an oil and gas exploration company in Tulsa, Okla. — has been in the horse business for 27 years.
SULLIVAN: Ward gets the last word
Photo galleries: The race | Hats & headwear | Celebs & scenes
Kentucky Derby notebook
Anything goes at infield party
Celebrities turn out for Derby
Derby fans shameless about hats
Sports Stories
Padres 5, Reds 2
Deion breaks 0-for-12 slump
Reds struggle on defense
Larkin may return today
Henderson finds fountain of youth
Reds box, runs
Ballpark costs on fast track
Bengals' pick just a hard-workin' boy from the heartland
Elvis is alive - in LeBeau
Bengals pin hopes on Webb
Bengals waive former No. 2 pick
Five Questions with: Thad Matta
Butler promotes Lickliter to head coach
Sharp wins UC basketball award
Derby gets Kentucky winner
