BY FINISH, DERBY STAGE ALREADY SET.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Horse Racing horse racing, trials of speed involving two or more horses. It includes races among harnessed horses with one of two particular gaits, among saddled Thoroughbreds (or, less frequently, quarterhorses) on a flat track, or among saddled horses over a turf course with LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It is about a mile into the 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. , where the final turn joins Churchill Downs' famous homestretch home·stretch n. 1. The portion of a racetrack from the last turn to the finish line. 2. Informal The final stages of an undertaking. Noun 1. , that America's biggest thoroughbred race suddenly gets small. That's how trainer Ron Ellis Ronald John Edward Ellis (born January 8, 1945 in Lindsay, Ontario) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey right winger who played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Toronto Maple Leafs. , the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. native who has Atswhatimtalknabout in the Derby on Saturday, describes the point where the real running begins: ``(Beaten) horses drop back, and it becomes a much smaller race.'' Up to then, the track is unusually crowded, the contest stretches a daunting daunt tr.v. daunt·ed, daunt·ing, daunts To abate the courage of; discourage. See Synonyms at dismay. [Middle English daunten, from Old French danter, from Latin distance in front of the jockeys, and the Derby is a $1 million tactical fight for daylight. Romantics would like to think every Derby is won by the horse who's best on the day or by the horse with the most quaintly deserving owner. Close observers know it often is decided by the vagaries of positioning and pace. ``It's nothing like everyday races,'' said Shane Sellers Shane Sellers (born September 24, 1966 in Erath, Louisiana) is a retired American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey. At age eleven, he began working around horses and in 1983 rode his first winner at Evangeline Downs. , an 11-time Derby-losing jockey who rides long shot Lone Star Lone Star (or Lonestar) may refer to:
``More times than not, it's the horse that's the best on the day and can take the adversity that wins. You're not going to get too many smooth trips in the Derby.'' The 129th Kentucky Derby matches 17 horses, including heavy favorite Empire Maker, and their jockeys, among them six first-time Derby riders. Watching the race intelligently means knowing what to look for at five pivotal points in the race. 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. : Getting out of the gate slowly - because of a lapse of attention, bumping by an opponent or a stumble - can be disastrous in the Derby because the victim drops behind so many horses. Last year, contender Medaglia d'Oro bobbled at the break, lost his shot at the early lead and finished fourth behind unchallenged front-runner War Emblem War Emblem was the winner of the Kentucky Derby in 2002. This Thoroughbred's time was 2:01.13 around the 1 1/4 mile track. Victor Espinoza was his jockey for the Derby, never having seen the horse until the morning of the race. . The year before, Monarchos overcame an immediate bump to win because he was comfortable coming from behind. A slow-starting jockey must be careful not to use up his horse's energy with a panicked early rush to contention. Trainers ``school'' their Derby horses in the starting gate. Jeff Mullins Jeffrey Vincent Mullins (born March 18 1942) is a retired American basketball player and coach who is best known for his playing career with the Duke Blue Devils, the Golden State Warriors of the NBA, and later as selected a post position for Buddy Gil that will make the Santa Anita Derby The Santa Anita Derby is an American Grade 1 thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run each April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California and carries a purse of $750,000. winner one of the last horses loaded. ``We don't want to stand in there (for a long time),'' Mullins said, wanting Buddy Gil alert for the start. The ``clubhouse turn'': About one-quarter mile into the race, the horses hang their first left, and jockeys will have spent the entire first run past the grandstand trying not to lose ground (by being forced wide) or get cut off by veering rivals. In 1999, favorite General Challenge got squeezed so hard jockey Gary Stevens felt as if he'd been picked up and carried for a few yards. ``You've got to get good position in the first turn,'' said Bobby Frankel, Empire Maker's trainer, ``(or) it's difficult to come back.'' ``There are no more decisions to be made in the Derby (than in other races),'' Stevens said, ``but emotions boil over on the way to the gate and going into the first turn, so it's a matter of keeping your head and observing what the other jockeys are doing.'' The backstretch back·stretch n. The part of an oval racecourse farthest from the spectators and opposite the homestretch. : Between one-half and three-quarter miles into the race, Derby horses typically don't change position much, but this is where the leaders determine the pace of the race. The slower the pace, the better the chance the leaders will stay in front. In the past 20 years, if the early quarter-mile splits are faster than 23 seconds, 46 3/5 and 1:11 2/5, leaders have been vulnerable to late attacks by the come-from-behinders. Monarchos took advantage of a hot pace (1:09 1/5) that cooked favorite Point Given. War Emblem was handed a cool pace (1:11 3/5). ``I think that most of the (jockeys') decisions have to do with judging the pace,'' said Ellis, whose Atswhatimtalknabout is a late-runner ridden by David Flores Flores, town, Guatemala Flores (flōrəs), town (1990 est. pop. 2,200), capital of Petén department, N Guatemala. Flores was built on an island in the southern part of Lake Petén Itzá and on the site of the . ``Where they should be early in the race and when they should make their move.'' The turn for home: Weaker horses tire and still-hopeful jockeys try to pick the clear path to the front - dropping to the inside rail, knifing between rivals, taking to the outside or simply bulling through the crowd. The turn, between three-quarters of a mile and one mile into the race, is where Derby winners typically make their biggest gains. ``You see (beaten) horses start to back up on the backstretch. If you're in back of them, you better get out of there,'' said Sellers, who remembered how he finished a troubled third aboard Wild Gale in the 1993 Derby won by Jerry Bailey and Sea Hero. ``Me and Jerry went for the same hole on the turn. He got to it, and I hit a brick wall.'' The stretch: It's a ``smaller'' race now, and the survivors of the early battles of brain and brawn brawn n. 1. Solid and well-developed muscles, especially of the arms and legs. 2. Muscular strength and power. 3. Chiefly British The meat of a boar. 4. Headcheese. see what they have left for the final quarter- mile. Because the Derby is 1 1/4 miles, the longest a 3-year-old will have run, the public assumes the race is always won by the stamina displayed in the shadow of the finish line. But often it's really a 1 1/8-mile race with an epilogue. Of the past 40 runnings, 33 were won by the leader with one-eighth to run. And that winner probably got the best of the tense drama of the opening mile. ``The stopping, starting, horses that don't belong, riders who've never ridden it ... we have a lot of problems out there,'' said trainer 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. , a four-time Derby winner. ``You cannot mail it in. The trip and the luck factors are going to factor in. ``Then,'' Lukas said, ``it's nice to have Secretariat.'' DERBY HIGHLIGHT The Roughest Derby The idea that anything goes in the Derby came to life in the narrow victory by Broker's Tip and jockey Don Meade over Head Play and Herb Fisher in 1933. The riders waged a horseback fistfight in the homestretch. The result was upheld because Fisher seemed to start it by grabbing the on-rushing Broker's Tip's saddle, while Meade shoved him away. Fisher slashed Meade with his whip after they passed the wire. The two men fought again in the jockeys' room minutes later. Each was suspended from racing for a month. Saturday: The Biggest Upset - Kevin Modesti CAPTION(S): 3 boxes Box: (1) OUT OF THE GATE - Kevin Modesti (2) DERBY HIGHLIGHT (see text) (3) 129TH RUNNING OF THE KENTUCKY DERBY THE RUN for the ROSES Daily News SOURCES: Churchill Downs, Associated Press |
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