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Wednesday Notebook Kimmel has no regrets over delayed Derby arrival
Posted: Wednesday May 03, 2000 06:06 PM
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- John Kimmel finally has his first Kentucky Derby horse in Wheelaway -- five years after he watched Thunder Gulch, a horse he used to train, win the race for trainer D. Wayne Lukas. "It doesn't really come back and haunt me," Kimmel said Wednesday after Wheelaway galloped 1 1/2 miles over Churchill Downs. "If anything, it's something that probably helped my career more than hindered it." Kimmel, 35, not only trained Thunder Gulch until the colt was sold for $500,000 to Michael Tabor in November, 1994, but he also picked him out of the Keeneland 2-year-olds in training sale for $125,000. The problem, though, was that the original buyer -- Howie Rozins, a bagel-shop owner from Long Island, N.Y. -- could muster only 60 percent of the money, leaving Ken Ellenberg, the consignor, owning the remaining 40 percent and wanting to sell. "Really, the sale of the horse was out of my hands, and people took note of that," Kimmel, the son of longtime horseman Caesar Kimmel, said. "I do a lot of consulting work and I buy a majority of the horses for my clientele. When you purchase Derby winners, people know about it." In 1995, Kimmel trained 25-30 horses. Today he has about 100 for such outfits as The Thoroughbred Corp. and Juddmonte Farms. "I think we're getting better and stronger and have nice young horses to work with," said Kimmel, who is based in New York. "It's great to be at my first Derby, and my horse deserves a chance. If I don't win this year, I'm going to be back many times and maybe some day I'll be fortunate enough to win it." In Wheelaway, Kimmel says he has a 3-year-old colt ready for a big improvement off his closing third-place finish in the Blue Grass behind High Yield and More Than Ready. It was the first time the Tampa Bay Derby winner had run against topnotch competition. "This horse is going to improve three to five lengths off that performance," Kimmel said of his horse who did not race as a 2-year-old. "And to me that puts him right in the mix. "His running style is conducive to this race, and there's so much speed I think a lot of these horses will be backing up significantly in the latter three-eighths of this race." Kimmel purchased Wheelaway, son of 1990 Derby winner Unbridled, for $250,000 for his father and Philip Solondz. Wheelaway has won two of five career starts, with one second and a third. The only Derby winner unraced at 2 was Apollo in 1882. The gray colt will work three furlongs on Thursday. McCarron's first derbyChris McCarron has won the Kentucky Derby twice and will be riding in his 17th Derby when he climbs aboard The Deputy on Saturday. But he still remembers his first Derby, a sixth-place finish for the Sonny Hine-owned Cojak in 1976. "I was awestruck at riding in the Derby, and I probably should have been disappointed with the way he finished," the Hall of Fame rider said. "But I leaped off the horse -- I did one of Cordero's dismounts -- and said, 'I rode the Derby!' " "Sonny wasn't too pleased with me. 'You ran terrible, he said.' "I said, 'Yeah, but we just ran in the DERBY!'" MarginsThe largest margin of victory in a Kentucky Derby was eight lengths, by Rosebud (1914); Johnstown (1939); Whirlaway (1941); and Assault (1946). The smallest margin was a nose by Spokane (1889); Azra (1892); Ben Brush (1896); Plaudit (1898); Alan-A-Dale (1902); Tomy Lee (1954); Iron Leige (1957); and Grindstone (1996). Bonus centralShould Fusaichi Pegasus win the Derby, owner Fusao Sekiguchi and trainer Neil Drysdale will collect a $250,000 bonus from the New York Racing Association for completing a Wood Memorial-Kentucky Derby double. The owner gets $150,000, the trainer $100,000 The last horse to pull off the Wood-Derby double was Pleasant Colony in 1981. Also, Visa USA once again is offering a $5 million bonus for a Triple Crown winner. Quoting"I told him it was a big job, and that he should scratch three." -- trainer D. Wayne Lukas when asked what advice he had for his former assistant, Todd Pletcher, who has four horses in the Derby. "Both horses couldn't be feeling any better" -- trainer Neil Drysdale on his two Derby horses, the favored Fusaichi Pegasus and War Chant. Finish lines Aptitude, trained by Hall of Famer Bobby Frankel, had his final Derby workout, covering a half-mile in 47 1-5 under Robby Albarado, who will be aboard Captain Steve, trained by Bob Baffert, in the Derby. Albarado filled in for Alex Solis, who is replacing Brice Blanc for the Derby ride on Aptitude. ... China Visit, who will give Godolphin Racing its second shot at winning a Derby, went six furlongs in 1:13 2-5 in his final Derby workout. Last year, the Dubai-based stable's Worldly Manner finished seventh.
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