Showing Up The Guys At The Downs

"No, to the Derby," said Bert.

Genuine Risk remained dull on Tuesday, so Jolley kept her in the barn on Wednesday. He not only thought that saving her for the filly races made more sense, he says, but he also feared the possibly destructive effects the Derby might have on her. Not robust, Genuine Risk is distinctly feminine in type, physically refined. While some trainers won't put a colt in the Derby because they believe it too early in the year to ask a 3-year-old to go a mile and a quarter, many wouldn't even consider entering a filly. Fillies tend to be more delicate and to suffer longer from the stresses of a race, thus the five-pound weight allowance sanctioned by the Jockey Club at this time of year. Fillies frequently beat the colts abroad and, in fact, have won four of the last eight runnings of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Europe's premier race.

But Angel Penna, the trainer of two of those fillies, San San and Allez France, points out that the Arc is in October, and by then a 3-year-old filly is becoming as mature as a 3-year-old colt. When horses are young 2-year-olds, Penna says, they are like young children, and, as children, girls are often able to beat boys in footraces. But by late summer, he says, the colts have passed the fillies and they remain stronger until the next fall, when the fillies catch up. So the fillies at Derby time are behind the colts in development. "I think the Kentucky Derby is a little too early for everybody, but especially for fillies," Penna says.

Jolley believes that. And he was concerned about Genuine Risk, more delicate than most. "More like Candice Bergen than Billie Jean King," he says. He also feared the Derby would be a cavalry charge of 20 horses, making the race even tougher for her, and that among the chargers would be Prince Valiant, the Blue Grass candidate he thought might emerge as the star. For all these reasons, then, Jolley didn't want to go. And then, suddenly, the whole picture changed.

The day was Thursday, April 24, Blue Grass Day. That morning for the first time since the Wood, Jolley sent Genuine Risk to the racetrack. She galloped strongly under Vasquez. "She damned near ran off with him," Jolley says. Physically, she had recovered from the Wood. He also watched the Blue Grass, watched as Prince Valiant struggled home last in a field of 11, and Rockhill Native won in a performance roughly comparable to Plugged Nickle's in the Wood. Jolley also figured that several also-rans in the Wood wouldn't be making the trip to Louisville, and he was right. Soon after the race, eight trainers announced they wouldn't be going, reducing the field to 12 horses. So Jolley was now training a filly who was fit again and facing a manageable Derby field that included two favorites who hadn't shown they wanted to go a mile and a quarter, one of whom had beaten her only a length and a half. "And she's bred to go the distance," Diana Firestone said.

So they were Derby-bound. Over the next few days Jolley grew more comfortable with the idea. In the week before the Derby he still expressed concern, but he was confident she could run with the colts. "You're not saying blindly, 'This is a great filly and I'm going to run her against Forego,' " he said one day. "You're going into a situation you've weighed very carefully. There's no big standout. She's alert, bright. I think she's got a hell of a shot, I really do."

So did Bert Firestone. "I wouldn't try for the Derby if I didn't think we had a good chance," he said. "I've run twice and been second twice. If there was a Secretariat or Spectacular Bid here, she wouldn't be. But here I give her a very good chance."

That was at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Two hours later, there was his filly swallowing Plugged Nickle and Rockhill Native, coming off the turn for home and holding off Rumbo in the last few jumps. Rockhill Native finished fifth after staying in the hunt most of the way, and Plugged Nickle, the co-favorite, came in seventh after fading in the stretch. After Rumbo was Jaklin Klugman and Super Moment. Genuine Risk's winning time of 2:02 was the ninth-fastest Derby ever run, and she bettered Spectacular Bid's 1979 time by two-fifths of a second. She also earned $250,550.

For Vasquez, the day was filled with memories. In 1975 he had teamed with Jolley to win the Derby with Foolish Pleasure. In July that year, Vasquez rode the great filly champion Ruffian in the match race at Belmont Park—against Foolish Pleasure. Ruffian was leading by half a length after 3½ furlongs when she broke down. She was destroyed the next day. "I won't compare Ruffian to Genuine Risk," he said. "I never will."

Later in the evening, there was a champagne party at the barn. Genuine Risk stood watching from the stall door. The Preakness will be run in two weeks, and Jolley was ruling nothing out, if nothing in. He said, "I'll tell you this; she's not nearly as tired now as she was after the Wood. We'll see. You have to play her like a violin."