Kentucky Derby: Little guys have big shot with California Chrome

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Horse racing long has been known as the Sport of Kings, but it truly is one of the few places where some of the wealthiest people in the world routinely mingle with an income strata far below, where a billionaire will think nothing of asking a destitute tout who he likes in the fifth.

The Kentucky Derby has proven to be a great equalizer over the years. Old money won last year, when Orb brought the Phipps family its first Derby victory. That came on the 10-year anniversary of Funny Cide, who was owned by 10 friends from upstate New York who arrived at Churchill Downs in a yellow school bus.

This year’s Derby, run for 140th time on Saturday, is proof that no matter how much money you spend, or how many horses you have, fate can reward anyone.

Ride On Curlin is trained by Billy Gowan, who has exactly three horses in his care, one fewer than the four high-powered Todd Pletcher will run the Derby alone.

Medal Count is owned by B. Wayne Hughes, a regular resident in the Fortune 400 owing to the success of his well-known company, Public Storage. He has an estimated net worth of $2.2 billion, according to Forbes.

Samraat is owned by Len Riggio, the founder and chairman of chain booksellers Barnes and Noble, a Fortune 500 company.

But the horse to beat in this Derby is from a one-horse stable of a couple of working folks – Steve Coburn and Perry Martin – who live on either side of the California-Nevada border near Reno. They bred their $8,000 mare to a $2,500 stallion – a decision that prompted a friend to call them “dumb asses,” and which they used as inspiration for their silks, on which there is the abbreviation “DAP,” for Dumb-Ass Partners.

That mating produced a colt, and before that colt ever ran, they sent an e-mail to trainer Art Sherman that was headlined “Road to the Derby,” which Sherman said he found a bit ambitious.

Yet here they all are, having passed every mile marker on that road, with the morning-line favorite for the Derby in California Chrome.

“It’s like a storybook kind of thing,” Sherman said the other morning. “It gives everyone the idea that they’ve got a chance.”

California Chrome’s backstory undoubtedly has fueled his popularity, but it’s his race record that will make him the betting favorite. He has won four straight races, all in concert with jockey Victor Espinoza, most recently a runaway in the Santa Anita Derby.

For this storybook to have the happiest ending, though, California Chrome will have to outrun as many as 19 rivals, and will have to negotiate 1 1/4 miles for the first time in his first start outside his native state of California.

The potholes that can cause a Derby travelogue to end prematurely claimed a horse on Thursday, when Hoppertunity, runner-up in the Santa Anita Derby, was scratched from the race with an issue to his left front foot, which trainer Bob Baffert believes to be merely a foot bruise.

There were 21 horses entered in the Derby on Wednesday, but the starting field is limited to 20. So, Pablo Del Monte was placed on the also-eligible list. The scratch of Hoppertunity allowed Pablo Del Monte to move into the field. He would have started from the outside post, but his connections on Friday decided to pass the race.

Because of his withdrawal, 19 are now in the starting gate. The inside stall will be left open, and the 19 runners will go from posts 2 through 20. Saddle cloth numbers are unchanged.

Hoppertunity was the original second choice on the morning line of Mike Battaglia of Churchill Downs, who now has Wicked Strong as his second choice. Mike Watchmaker, Daily Racing Form ’s national handicapper, had Wicked Strong as the second choice in his original line, with Hoppertunity as his third choice. Both have California Chrome as the favorite.

California Chrome’s saga is one of several compelling story lines in this Derby.

Wicked Strong was named by his Boston-based ownership group, Centennial Farms, to honor the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. Some survivors of that attack are scheduled to be at this Derby, as guests of the owners.

Vinceremos is named after a therapeutic riding center in Florida that works with children and adults with physical and emotional disabilities. A young child who attends the center, and who has become a fan of the horse Vinceremos, will attend the Derby as guests of his owners, WinStar Farm and Twin Creeks Racing.

We Miss Artie was named by owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey in honor of a family member in Michigan who died two years ago.

Uncle Sigh is owned by Chip McEwen, who named his racing stable Wounded Warrior Stables and donates 10 percent of his earnings to wounded vets.

Irad Ortiz Jr., the rider of Uncle Sigh, and his brother Jose, who rides Samraat, will become the first brothers to ride in the Derby since Eddie and Sam Maple in 1984.

Joel Rosario, the jockey on General a Rod, won last year’s Derby on Orb and is seeking to become the first jockey to win consecutive Derbies since Calvin Borel in 2009-10.

There’s a bit of mirth to this Derby. Danza was named in honor of the actor Tony Danza, who has embraced the sudden celebrity of the horse and cheerfully accepted an offer from the colt’s owners, Eclipse Thoroughbreds, to attend the Derby. There is no truth to the rumor that if Danza wins, the new giant video board on the backstretch here will play episodes of “Who’s the Boss” on a loop.

And there’s a bit of tension in this Derby regarding Tapiture, and his trainer Steve Asmussen, who was accused by The New York Times, and an accompanying video by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, of not caring properly for his horses. Asmussen has become a lightning rod in the sport, with camps as varied as the chairman of the Jockey Club insisting he not even show up this week, to those who believe Asmussen deserves due process and has done nothing illegal.

That is the background under which this Derby will be contested. It might not be the strongest or deepest field, but it is a part of the great American fabric, a spectacle as much as a race. Only a dumb ass would miss it.