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Hope & Derby Road to Derby is no sentimental journey
Posted: Tuesday May 02, 2000 06:38 PM
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Harold Rose and Roger Velez might appear to be taking a sentimental journey with Hal's Hope in the Kentucky Derby. The 88-year-old owner-trainer and 43-year-old jockey have a different view. They believe the Florida Derby winner is a legitimate Derby contender despite finishing last in the Blue Grass on April 15 at Keeneland. "When I walk around a lot of people come up to me and say, `We're still going to bet on your horse,'" Rose said Monday. "So the public hasn't lost faith on this horse." Of course, many might be betting on Hal's Hope because of what he's done for Rose and Velez. Rose had quadruple bypass surgery last year after a stroke. Velez was a rising star in the late 1970s whose career was wrecked by alcohol. Rose was told he'd be hospitalized for eight weeks but got out in three weeks. "One of the reasons I got back so quickly is I had Hal's Hope," Rose once said. "I knew I had something special the first time I saw him." "Wherever he finishes Saturday, he's my hero," said Velez, who will be riding in his first Derby. Velez has ridden Hal's Hope in all of the colt's nine starts. "He was able to get more out of some of my horses than other riders did, and he did what I told him to do," Rose said. This will be the second Derby for Rose, who finished 10th in 1984 with Rexson's Hope, a horse he bred and the maternal grand sire of Hal's Hope. "The last horse was definitely a long shot," Rose said. "He was here so I ran him. I think Hal's Hope is a contender." Rose throws out the colt's performance in the Blue Grass. "He didn't like the track as well as I thought he would," Rose said. "He wouldn't be the first horse who didn't like the Keeneland race track, then won the Derby." Sea Hero (1993) and Thunder Gulch (1995) each won the Derby off of a fourth-place finish in the Blue Grass. Hal's Hope was eighth in the Blue Grass, 15 lengths behind winner High Yield. Velez said the colt could have been closer, but he didn't use him in the stretch. "If he wasn't going to win it, there was no reason to beat him up," Velez said. "When he didn't respond, I thought, `I'll save him for the next dance.' He just didn't like the race track." Hal's Hope seems to like Churchill Downs. With Velez up, the colt worked a half mile in 46 2-5 seconds Sunday. "You don't know how relieved I am," Velez said. "I was so happy because he wasn't all out." A Derby contender who worked Monday was War Chant, the Neil Drysdale-trained stablemate of favored Fusaichi Pegasus. War Chant went three-quarters of a mile in 1:13 4-5, and Fusaichi Pegasus worked three-quarters Sunday in 1:14 3-5. Hal's Hope won two of five starts as a 2-year-old, all at Calder and none in a stakes. This year he won the 1 1-16-mile Holy Bull as a 40-1 shot, finished second to High Yield in the 1 1-16-mile Fountain of Youth and beat High Yield by a head in the 1 1-8-mile Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park before he ran in the Blue Grass. "He was able to be High Yield in the Florida Derby, so I know he's competitive with High Yield," Rose said. High Yield appears to be the best hope for a fifth Derby victory for trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who won last year with Charismatic. His other Derby candidates will be Commendable and Exchange Rate.
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