HALL OF FAMERS TALK OF FAMOUS HORSES AND THE 2015 KENTUCKY DERBY

The Kentucky Derby Museum Friday night presented the fifth annual program called “My Kentucky Derby.”  The entertaining 75-minute discussion between the moderator–Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas–and five retired Hall of Fame jockeys was held in the Sales Pavilion at Keeneland.  The jockeys on the panel were Angel Cordero Jr., Pat Day, Chris McCarron, Laffit Pincay Jr., and Jorge Valasquez.

Lukas has trained four Kentucky Derby winners and the jockeys have collectively ridden eight winners of the Run for the Roses.

Two questions from the audience were particularly revealing.

Question:  What is the best horse you ever rode in a race?

Cordero:  Seattle Slew

Day:  Easy Goer

McCarron:  Alysheba

Pincay:  Sham

Valasquez:  Alydar

The only jockey who equivocated in his choice was McCarron, who seemed to not be convinced that Alysheba was better than Sunday Silence, his winning mount in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Interestingly, the choices of Cordero, Day, Pincay, and Valasquez were not their Kentucky Derby-winning mounts.  Alydar ran second in all three Triple Crown races to Affirmed and Sham ran second to Secretariat in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.  Similarly, Easy Goer was second to Sunday Silence in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, as well as in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.  While Seattle Slew won the Triple Crown, Cordero was not his rider in those races.

Question:  If you could train (for Lukas) or ride (for the jockeys) a horse in the 2015 Kentucky Derby, who would be your choice?

Cordero:  American Pharoah

Day:  American Pharoah

Lukas:  American Pharoah

McCarron:  American Pharoah

Pincay:  American Pharoah

Valasquez:   American Pharoah

No one hesitated even a little in answering this question and the name Dortmund was not even mentioned in passing.  We will soon see how the panel’s resounding endorsement of American Pharoah over his stablemate turns out.

(Sidenote:  Did the owner of American Pharoah intentionally or mistakenly misspell his colt’s name?  Shouldn’t it be American Pharaoh?)

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Tuesday (April 21) I’ll post an interesting anecdote that D. Wayne Lukas told about Grindstone, the Kentucky Derby winner he trained for William T. Young of Overbrook Farm.

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