Louisville Magazine

MAR 2013

Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.

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bred dreams, without a single Derby starter. A lot of good horses, some ordinary ones, a couple of duds ��� and one real contender. A year ago, Glasscock and the Starlight partners raced a horse called Algorithms, who zoomed to the top of the Toroughbred charts with a sizzling January stakes victory in Florida. But the Derby dream vanished when Algorithms was injured before the Derby. He never ran again. ���Tirty-two thousand Toroughbreds born three years ago in North America, and just one of them can win the Derby,��� Glasscock says. ���Tink of that! And just 20 of 32,000 will make it into the race.��� But that doesn���t stop him from hoping he can be in the 20, and maybe the one. ���You know, people always say it���s a dream come true and all of that,��� Glasscock says. ���Te fact is, a dream is exactly what it is.��� Meanwhile, University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino owns part of a horse named Goldencents that, as of this writing, is tied with Shanghai Bobby at the top of the points rankings that will determine the Derby feld. Another team of Louisville partners, Jim Shirclif and Dr. Harvey Diamond, have run horses in each of the past two Derbys ��� Twinspired in 2011 and Hansen last year ��� and cling to a slim hope they might return this year with a promising colt named Moro Tap. Local trainer Jef Greenhill and his wife Sherri have a Derby candidate they own named Mac the Man. ���And don���t forget the Golden Boy,��� Glasscock says. ���I think Paul Hornung likes that horse he���s got with (trainer) Wayne Lukas.��� Hornung does like Titletown Five, the name referencing Green Bay and its Packers, whom Hornung helped win fve NFL championships. In all, recent years have seen the largest assault by Louisville owners on racing���s greatest prize in ��� well, maybe ever. Troughout its 138 runnings, the Kentucky Derby has been dominated by national stables, not by those based in Louisville. In fact, it���s been 106 years since a local owner won the Kentucky Derby. Louisville industrialist George J. Long and his Bashford Manor Farm stable won the 1906 Kentucky Derby with a horse named Sir Huon ��� and wiggle your ears if the name Sir Huon sounds familiar. Tere���s an asterisk with that stat, because Debby Oxley, wife of Oklahoma oilman John Oxley, grew up in Louisville and holds a master���s degree from U of L. Te Oxleys, of Tulsa, won the 2001 Derby with Monarchos. But that���s the only exception we can see since Sir Huon. So maybe Louisville, as they say, is due. ���I know we���re going to keep trying,��� says Shirclif, a co-founder of River Road Asset Management, who adds that partnerships make more sense today than ever. Te glory days of Calumet Farm and the Whitneys owning farms and stallions and broodmares to keep private trainers well stocked with fast racehorses belong to the 20th century. ���Pooling resources is an excellent way to increase your buying power, to own more and better horses, to maximize your chances,��� Shirclif says. Te partnerships also provide the Louisville investors with access to top trainers and premier riding talent. Eclipse Award-winning trainer Todd Pletcher handles horses for the Starlight partners. Eclipse Award-winning jockeys Mike Smith and Ramon Dominguez rode Shirclif���s and Diamond���s Derby starters. Leading California trainer Doug O���Neill reached across the country for a relatively unknown young talent, Kevin Krigger, to ride Pitino���s Goldencents. Budding star Rosie Napravnik is aboard Shanghai Bobby. Tat���s impressive frepower. ���But I think the best part of it, and what means the most to me, is the camaraderie,��� says Shirclif, who has ���Not too many guys grew up in Louisville and worked at Churchill Downs. I worked as an usher on Derby Day for $40 when I was a kid, lying about my age so I could get a job.��� But it���s not just the memories of days gone by that drive Hornung to dream Derby. He also loves mornings on the backside with Lukas and his horse. Not surprisingly, Hornung sees the athlete in Titletown Five. ���He���s a fantastic horse,��� says Hornung, whose partners include former Packer teammate Willie Davis and Packer exec Ed Martin along with Louisvillian David Miller. ���I���ve watched him work. I told Wayne, ���When he gets to the fve-eighths pole to begin his workout, he really starts to run.��� He���s a sonofagun coming around there. He really looked great in the morning, and then when he beat that other horse 11 lengths at Churchill last fall (a seven- ���You know what the Derby would do to me? Be the biggest thrill of my life.��� ��� Paul Hornung, part-owner of three-year-old Titletown Five a defnite date for when he will cease trying to win the Kentucky Derby: ���Te day I die, or run out of money,��� he says. ���Whichever comes frst.��� Pitino co-owns Goldencents, winner of the rich Delta Jackpot in Louisiana and the Sham Stakes in California, with two California partners. Te coach also owns three colts in partnership with Glasscock, including South Floyd, Avare and Russdiculous, named for U of L star Russ Smith. Fun as it would be to see Russdiculous in the starting gate come the frst Saturday in May, Goldencents is Pitino���s Derby horse. ���Te trainer and the other owners think we have something special in this horse,��� says Pitino, who can���t stop smiling while he insists he won���t catch Derby Fever. (He���s owned a pair of Derby starters: Halory Hunter, who ran fourth in 1998, and AP Valentine, seventh in 2001.) ���Nah, I���m excited,��� Pitino adds. ���But horse racing is a great distraction to the tough game of life. For us it���s basketball. Would you rather go to the Final Four or win the Kentucky Derby? For us, it���s ���Give me a hundred Final Fours; let me fnish dead last in the Kentucky Derby.��� Te Derby doesn���t mean a whole lot to me. Now it does to Doug O���Neill and some of those people ��� that���s their profession. But I���m going to have a great Derby whether I have a horse in it or not.��� No doubt. But raise your hand if you believe Rick Pitino is at all interested in running last in the Kentucky Derby. While some might try to ward of Derby Fever, Hornung wants to know where he can catch it. ���You know what the Derby would do to me? Be the biggest thrill of my life,��� says Hornung, whose Titletown Five is training with Lukas at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas. furlong maiden race with a $50,000 purse), he ran the same way. He got to the quarter pole, he was RUNNING!��� A subject the Golden Boy would know something about. Tis year, Shanghai Bobby may have the best chance of ending Louisville���s 106-year dry spell. Wolf says the colt will be handled diferently than his Harlan���s Holiday, who won the Florida Derby and Blue Grass Stakes before fnishing seventh as the Derby favorite in 2002. (Incidentally, Harlan���s Holiday is the sire of Shanghai Bobby and the grandsire of Goldencents.) ���I was so green,��� Wolf says. ���Tat was my frst year in the business. We ran him too many times. Ran him too many times in Florida; then we ran him at Keeneland, and by the time he got to Churchill he was a tired horse.��� In contrast, Shanghai Bobby will have only two prep races this year ��� his last a start in the Florida Derby fve weeks before the Derby. ���Of course, the buck-and-a-quarter is a concern,��� says Glasscock, noting the Derby���s 1��mile distance. ���I think he can handle the nine furlongs in the Florida Derby, and just hope he runs well. Ten we���ll see about the Derby.��� But Glasscock believes Shanghai Bobby has a fghting chance every time he goes to the post. After opening his career with four consecutive victories in New York, the colt went straight to the front in the Breeders��� Cup at Santa Anita. But turning for home he looked like just another front-runner run out of gas ��� the feld about to roll past him. Instead, Shanghai Bobby rallied along the rail to win by a head. ���He re-broke,��� says Glasscock. ���You just don���t see horses do that.��� Maybe only certain ones. 3.13 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 2 3

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