BELLAMY: ROAD TO GLORY? STEINBRENNER IS HOPING COLT CAN CLEAN UP AT CHURCHILL DOWNS.Byline: Kevin Modesti Staff Writer LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Wherever he was this week, George Steinbrenner George Michael Steinbrenner III (born July 4, 1930 in Rocky River, Ohio), often known as "The Boss", is an American billionaire businessman and the principal owner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees. must have wondered if Bellamy Road can swing a bat. ``There was talk that if Bellamy Road wins (today), he'll be playing for the Yankees next week,'' joked Edward Sexton “Like Lennon and McCartney, Edward Sexton’s name is inextricably linked to the late Tommy Nutter. The shop this dynamic duo opened together on Saint Valentine's Day in 1969 – Nutters of Savile Row – revolutionized the Row. , manager of Steinbrenner's Florida horse farm. Why not? So far in a year when the The Boss's baseball team is slow out of the starting gate starting gate n. Sports 1. A series of stalls with interconnected doors that open simultaneously at the beginning of a race. 2. , Bellamy Road is the best athlete in Steinbrenner's equine or human stable. A 17 1/2-length victory in New York's Wood Memorial last month has made Bellamy Road the leader of trainer Nick Zito's five horses in this evening's Kentucky Derby Kentucky Derby One of the classic U.S. Thoroughbred horse races. It was established in 1875 and run annually on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs track in Louisville, Ky. With the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, it makes up U.S. racing's coveted Triple Crown. and the likely favorite of the 140,000 bettors expected at Churchill Downs Churchill Downs, Ky.: see Louisville. . A victory over 19 other 3-year-olds could give Steinbrenner's Kinsman kins·man n. 1. A male relative. 2. A man sharing the same racial, cultural, or national background as another. kinsman Noun pl -men Stable his first victory in the Derby in six tries dating back 28 years. And it might - might - take Steinbrenner's mind off the Yankees. ``It's like the Yankees are work and the horses are his pleasure,'' Sexton said. ``Of course, (the chance to win the Derby) means the world to him. He says second is like kissing your sister.'' The most famous blowhard in sports ownership has been a veritable shrinking violet during the buildup to the Derby. He has turned down interview requests and pleas from horse- racing publicists to sit still for a telephone press conference. He was rumored to be arriving in Louisville on Friday but had not been spotted at Zito's barn by mid-afternoon. Steinbrenner's only published comment on the Derby this week was a fragment reported in the Louisville Courier-Journal. He called a Courier-Journal writer and explained he couldn't make time for an interview because he'd been traveling ``back and forth to New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of (from Florida).'' He added: ``We've got some problems there right now, you know.'' On the Churchill backside, ``NY'' caps have been more prevalent than usual. Everybody remotely connected to Bellamy Road claims to be a Yankees fan. ``I am now,'' said Dianne Cotter cot·ter n. 1. A bolt, wedge, key, or pin inserted through a slot in order to hold parts together. 2. A cotter pin. [Origin unknown. , the 67-year-old Florida woman who is responsible for the mating of her mare Hurry Home Hillary with Steinbrenner's Concerto that produced Bellamy Road. Jockey Javier Castellano Javier Castellano (born October 23, 1977 in Maracaibo, Zulia, Venezuela) is a jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing. Castellano began his riding career in his native Venezuela in 1996 and in June of 1997 moved to the United States where rode at race tracks in southern , Yankees cap in place, said he's excited about the possibility of meeting the club's owner. ``I hope to meet him in the winner's circle win·ner's circle n. pl. winners' circles An enclosed area at a racetrack where the winning horse and jockey are brought for awards and publicity. Noun 1. ,'' Castellano said. If Bellamy Road fights off the expected early pressure from long shot Spanish Chestnut and other front-runners and holds off well-regarded stalkers like High Fly and Bandini and come-from-behinders Afleet Alex Afleet Alex (born May 9, 2002 in Florida) is an American thoroughbred race horse who, in 2005, won two of America's classic races, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. and Noble Causeway, he'll write George Steinbrenner III into racing history as the Yankees' six World Series championships under his rule have stamped the name in baseball lore. One big difference in his approaches to the two sports: Bellamy Road did not cost big free-agent money, coming to Steinbrenner for $87,000 at an April 2004 auction of 2-year-olds in Ocala, Fla. One big similarity: His employees live in trepidation. ``I call him `the Boss' or `Mr. Steinbrenner,' never `George,' '' Sexton said. What the Boss wants, the Boss gets. As soon as Sexton, an Irish-born former trainer, was hired in January 2004 to manage Steinbrenner's 750-acre Kinsman Farm near Ocala, he recommended the auction purchase of a big colt he had galloped while breaking young horses at Ocala Stud. ``(Sexton) said, `How much (will you pay)?' '' Cotter recalled. ``Mr. Steinbrenner said, `Just bring him home.' '' If Steinbrenner, 74, has been conspicuous by his absence, that probably should not be interpreted as lack of interest or confidence. But Sexton said Steinbrenner is a ``realist'' who didn't want to contribute to pre-Derby hype and then watch Bellamy Road foiled by the vagaries of racing. The best Derby showing by a Kinsman Stable horse was Steve's Friend's fifth-place finish behind Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew in 1977 - nearly five months before the Yankees beat the Dodgers to give Steinbrenner his first World Series. The Derby became Bellamy Road's target as soon as he won his first two starts last summer. After a seventh-place finish in the Grade I Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland in October, the colt got a vacation and Steinbrenner fired trainer Michael Dickinson. Sexton said there were no hard feelings, and Dickinson might train for Steinbrenner again, the Billy Martin scenario. The new trainer was Zito, whose Derby victories with Strike the Gold (1991) and Go for Gin Go for Gin (foaled 1991 in Kentucky) is an American thoroughbred racehorse most well known as the winner of the 1994 Kentucky Derby. He was sired by Cormorant out of the dam Never Knock. (1994) made him the East Coast's go-to trainer for 3-year-olds. ``To take a horse to the Derby, you need someone who's been there,'' Sexton said. ``It's an art.'' Said Zito: ``I've always gotten along well with George. They tell me I'm one of the few people who can say that.'' With Zito, Bellamy Road is 2 for 2, beginning with a 15 3/4-length allowance-race victory at Gulfstream Park near Miami. His Wood Memorial victory at Aqueduct earned the highest Beyer speed figure The Beyer Speed Figure is a system for rating the performance of Thoroughbred racehorses in North America designed in the early 1970s by Andrew Beyer, the syndicated horse racing columnist for The Washington Post. by a 3-year-old before the Derby in the 15 years that performance rating has been published. For Zito, Bellamy Road is the best of the quintet that ties the record for Derby entrants set by D. Wayne Lukas Darrell Wayne Lukas (born September 2, 1935 in Antigo, Wisconsin) is a former educator who became one of the most successful horse trainers in American Thoroughbred horse racing history and a U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee. when he won the race with Grindstone grindstone or grind common metaphor for industriousness. [Pop. Culture: Misc.] See : Industriousness in 1996. If he played for the Yankees, Bellamy Road might be the heart of the order. Kevin Modesti, (818) 713-3616 heymodesti(at)aol.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos, box Photo: (1 -- 2 -- color) A Kentucky Derby win by his horse Bellamy Road, right, might distract Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, left, from his baseball team's woes. Chris O'Meara/Associated Press Box: BOTH SIDES OF THE FENCE |
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