War of the Roses

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —  The Kentucky Derby is many things, one of them a race that’s not supposed to be won by a horse who runs on the lead. Front-runners in the Derby usually wind up on the slag heap, exhausted from trying to set the pace in a grueling 11/4-mile endurance test.

But sometimes the conditions are right and the Derby turns into heresy. Saturday was one of those days. Before 145,033, on a perfect-weather day at Churchill Downs, War Emblem and his cool-as-ice jockey, Victor Espinoza, went to the front leaving the gate and were never headed. At the finish, War Emblem, a 20-1 longshot, was four lengths ahead of Proud Citizen, another longshot, and trainer Bob Baffert had won his third Derby in six years. His other two winners, Silver Charm and Real Quiet, were bought cheaply; this one came Baffert’s way three weeks ago, when his major client, Prince Ahmed Salman of Saudi Arabia, paid $900,000 to acquire the Illinois Derby winner.

Neither Baffert nor the prince apologized for winning a Derby with a newcomer, a colt the white-haired trainer had never run before.

“Everybody [who wins] buys their Derby winner,” Salman said. “If you raise a horse, you’re spending money to do that. So even that way, you’re buying a Derby winner.”

Baffert and Salman were crushed last year when Point Given, the Derby favorite, finished fifth. That Point Given went on to win the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, the other Triple Crown races, and didn’t lose the rest of the year did little to soften the memory.

This time, Baffert sneaked up on the opposition. Before he was sold on April 11, by Chicago industrialist Russell Reineman, War Emblem had won two consecutive races at Sportsman’s Park by 17 lengths, but because the Chicago track is perceived as a speed-favoring oval, those victories failed to impress Derby bettors. War Emblem, reaching the wire in 2:01, paid $43 for $2 as he earned $875,000 from Churchill and another $1 million from a Sportsman’s bonus for winning the Illinois and Kentucky Derbies.

It is unclear how Salman and Reineman will divvy up the bonus. Baffert said that he would split his share of the bonus--$100,000--with Frank “Bobby” Springer, the colt’s former trainer.

The 128th Derby figured to be a bizarre affair. At 6-1, Harlan’s Holiday went off as the highest-priced favorite ever. The Florida Derby and Blue Grass winner ran seventh in the field, which was reduced to 18 Saturday morning when Baffert scratched his other horse, longshot Danthebluegrassman, after he cramped up following a routine jog.

The first three finishers came out of the Illinois Derby, the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland and the Spiral at Turfway Park--hardly big-ticket preps for Churchill Downs. Perfect Drift was third, three-quarters of a length behind the Wayne Lukas-trained Proud Citizen. Medaglia d’Oro was fourth, another 31/4 lengths back. The rest of the order of finish was Request For Parole, Came Home, Harlan’s Holiday, Johannesburg, Essence Of Dubai, Saarland, Blue Burner, Castle Gandolfo, Easy Grades, Private Emblem, Lusty Latin, It’sallinthechase, Ocean Sound and Wild Horses.

The exacta on War Emblem and Proud Citizen, who was 23-1, paid $1,300.80. Perfect Drift, at 7-1, joined the first two for an $18,373.20 trifecta. The superfecta on the first four finishers returned $91,764.50.

The last gate-to-wire winner of the Derby was the filly Winning Colors, who caught a field similar to Saturday’s in 1988, when no other speed pressured her. Before Winning Colors, Spend A Buck in 1985 had also won a Derby on the front end, but before him Bold Forbes, in 1976, was the most recent.

“It was not hard,” said Espinoza, who had ridden Baffert’s Congaree to a third-place finish in his Derby debut last year. “I had a lot of horse left down the lane. When we cleared the first turn, it was easy to go around there after that. I just focused on my horse. I felt like I was sleeping.”

Buddha, the Wood Memorial winner and one of the horses who might have challenged War Emblem early, was scratched Friday because of a bruised foot. Another horse with early foot, Medaglia d’Oro, broke slowly and was taken out of trainer Bobby Frankel’s game plan. Proud Citizen and his jockey, Mike Smith, just sat behind War Emblem all the way, and didn’t have any punch through Churchill’s 1,2341/2-foot stretch.

The fractions for the first mile were :23, :47, 1:113/5 and 1:363/5, on a track that was playing fast for earlier races.

Asked about the half-mile time, Jerry Bailey, who rode Castle Gandolfo to his 12th-place finish, said: “A 47 is pretty soft for good horses. But the winner still ran very good.”

Baffert said War Emblem would be his only starter in the Preakness at Pimlico on May 18. More than Churchill Downs and Belmont Park, Pimlico is considered a track that especially favors front-runners, but Bailey issued a warning of sorts:

“War Emblem won’t be waltzing around there in the next one.”

When Danthebluegrassman ran last in the Santa Anita Derby a month ago, Baffert seemed to be out of Derby contenders. It was only as an afterthought that Baffert entered Danthebluegrassman for the Derby last Wednesday. After the Santa Anita Derby, Salman suggested to Baffert that they shop around for a Derby prospect. Coincidentally, Baffert received a call the same day from a bloodstock agent mentioning that War Emblem might be available.

Baffert and Richard Mulhall, Salman’s chief racing advisor, flew to Lexington, Ky., to inspect War Emblem at Keeneland.

“He was supposed to have been sold before, but he didn’t vet out,” Baffert said.

When he eyeballed War Emblem, Baffert was impressed.

“We didn’t even X-ray him,” Baffert said. “I didn’t care about that. I buy a lot of horses without X-rays. Real Quiet was another one.”

Reineman, 84, and Springer would have skipped the Derby and aimed for the Preakness had they not sold the son of Our Emblem and Sweetest Lady, a Lord At War mare. Our Emblem, unloaded by Claiborne Farm in Kentucky because his stud career started slowly, stands at a Maryland farm for a $4,000 breeding fee.

That’s a fee that will be going up substantially next year, thanks to Baffert’s short-order Derby magic.

“Don’t you think that’s the best and shortest training job of my life?” Baffert said.

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*--* The Finish at Churchill Downs HORSE (No.) WIN PLACE SHOW War Emblem (5) $43.00 $22.80 $13.60 Proud Citizen (13) $24.60 $13.40 Perfect Drift (3) $6.40

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*--* EXOTICS $2 Exacta (5-13) $1,300.80 $2 Trifecta (5-13-3) $18,373.20 $1 Superfecta (5-13-3-9) $91,764.50

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*--* Longshot Winners Highest payoffs for winners of the Kentucky Derby since $2 mutuel bets began in 1911: Winner Year $2 Payoff Donerail 1913 $184.90 Gallahadian 1940 $72.40 Charismatic 1999 $64.60 Proud Clarion 1967 $62.20 Exterminator 1918 $61.20 Dark Star 1953 $51.80 Thunder Gulch 1995 $51.00 Gato Del Sol 1982 $44.40 Bold Venture 1936 $43.00 War Emblem 2002 $43.00

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Kentucky Derby

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