Derby Training Games

In the weeks leading up to the Kentucky Derby, training takes center stage. The prep races are in the books, and all that's left is for the Derby Trainers to apply the final strokes and make sure they don't mess up the masterpiece they hope to unveil on the first Saturday in May.

But how does one analyze the training methods of different trainers? Why do some horses win the Derby off aggressive training, while others respond to a more conservative approach? The answer is, there are no answer. It all boils down to knowing the trainers and being confident that they have the experience to know their horses and do what's right for them.

The reason it is so difficult to know the right way from the wrong way is that the training methods of the past masters have faded with the years. Today's trainers have no handbook to follow and are pretty much on their own, relying mainly on gut instinct and experience.

Before we can even begin to discuss today's training methods, we have to look back at how horses used to be trained up to the Derby. Only then will we realize just how conservative modern-day trainers are and how much they baby, or are forced to baby, the Thoroughbred of today.

If you're surprised to learn that Calumet Farm Derby winners Whirlaway, Citation, Ponder, Hill Gail and Tim Tam all ran in the one-mile Derby Trials Stakes four days before the Kentucky Derby, with Citation, Hill Gail and Tim Tam winning the race, "rest assured you ain't seem nothin' yet", as Al Jolson used to say.

Citation not only won the Derby Trial in 1:37 2/5 but came right back and blew out three furlongs in :36 3/5 the morning before the Derby. How much did this take out of him? After winning the Derby, he worked six furlongs in 1:13 three days before the Preakness, then blew out a half in :51 in the mud the day before.

Whirlaway worked a half in :48 2/5 the day before the Derby Trial, then breezed a half in :50 2/5 the day before the Derby, meaning he had two races at a mile and 1/4 miles and two workouts all within five days.

Then there was Greentree Stable's 1942 Derby winner, Shut Out, worked 1 1/8 miles in 1:53 four days before the Derby, then worked five furlongs in 1:01 1/5 the morning before the race. The next year, Count Fleet worked a mile and a quarter in 2:07 four days before the Derby, then worked a half in :49 the day before the race. Like Citation and Whirlaway, he went on to sweep the Triple Crown.

By now you've gotten the point. It was a different game back then. Either horses were tougher or the trainers were tougher. Or both. Are today's Thorough-breds so fragile, for whatever reason, that some trainers are now afraid to work them the week of the Derby?

Ironically, the two recent Derby winners who were trained the most conservatively, Monarchos and Fusaichi Pegasus, won only one of six combined starts the remainder of their careers. Monarchos raced just once after the Belmont Stakes, and Fusaichi Pegasus was forced to miss the Belmont and retired after a disappointing effort in the Breeders' Cup Classic.

So, how does one train a horse for the Kentucky Derby?

"You have to go by the individual," said Nick Zito, who trained two Derby winners, Strike The Gold in 1991 and Go For Gin in 1994. "I have a theory that good horses train themselves. But we do baby horses now more than before. I know it sounds like a broken record already, but they don't make them like they used to. The environment has changed, and you have more horses bleeding. To make matters worse, the tracks are too hard, and no one does anything about it."

"Unlike the old days, there is a commercial market now. Owners want to see things happen right away, and the horses are being bred for speed. You don't see the homebreds like you uset to. Back then, you knew what kind of horses you had and what kind of families they came from. All these factors combined is why we have to baby the horses."

No matter how you look at it, there is no one specific way to train a horse to win the Kentucky Derby. Each trainer relies on his own judgment and comfort level.

On one hand, you can have a Fusaichi Pegasus and a Monarchos, who were given just one workout in the three weeks between the Wood Memorial and the Derby. Monarchos in fact, had only a half mile breeze in :48 4/5 eight days before the Derby. Fusaichi Pegasus spent 15 days galloping, walking, and rolling in a sand pen each morning as confused media members wondered when, and if, he was ever going to work. When he finally did, he went an easy six furlongs in 1:14 3/5. Both Neil Drysdale, trainer of Fusaichi Pegasus, and John Ward, trainer of Monarchos, are known for their conservative training methods, and they were not about to alter their style for the Kentucky Derby.

On the other hand, you have more aggressive trainers such as Bob Baffert, who likes to work his horses fast, and you can count on his Derby starters being tough and fit coming into the race. He gave his first two Derby winners Silver Charm (1997) and Real Quiet (1998) two stiff five furlong works and one stiff six furlong work at Churchill Downs. Both came right back to win the Preakness two weeks later. Although Real Quiet ran no more as a three year-old following the Belmont Stakes and Silver Charm only once, both returned at four to win major stakes.

War Emblem, whom Baffert purchased three weeks before the 2002 Derby, had ankle chips, and although he was retired at the end of his three year-old campaign, he did win the Haskell Invitational that summer and competed in the Pacific Classic and Breeders' Cup Classic.

And then, you have a veteran trainer like Barclay Tagg, who in some days is conservative and other ways aggressive. While Tagg is careful about where and how often he runs his horses, his training methods can be vigorous.

Tagg, who basically is a homebody and shuns media attention, did not ship Funny Cide to Churchill Downs until the Wednesday before the race. But Tagg did breeze him five furlongs in :58 2/5 at Belmont before shipping to Kentucky. He also gave the New York-bred gelding a sharp half-mile breeze in :47 1/5 before shipping to Baltimore for the Preakness. And for the 1 1/2 mile Belmont Stakes, he worked him five furlongs in :59 2/5 in the mud and a blistering :57 4/5 four days before the race. Many trainers felt that last work cost Funny Cide any shot at the Belmont. The horse is now four and still going strong.

As for the almost mandatory blowouts the day before the Derby, those days are gone forever. The last two trainers to work their Derby winner two days before the race were 72-year-old Mack Miller, and old-school trainer who breezed Sea Hero three furlongs in :36 3/5 before the 1993 Derby, and 76-year-old Charlie Whittingham, who drilled Sunday Silence a half in :46 3/5 before the 1989 Derby.

Calumet's "Plain" Ben Jones would have been proud of the approach. It's a good bet you won't see that again for a long time, as trainers of today want no part of working their horses right before the Derby. In 2001, Tom Albertrani gave Godolphin's Express Tour a half-mile blowout two days before the Derby. But the horse was so sharp he got away from his European rider and worked in a fast :47 and change, much to the dismay of Albertrani. Years ago that would have been a routine work.

Horses are now considered fragile products, and most trainers want to get them to the starting gate so badly that they will do their best to keep them out of harm's way. But that's easier said than done.

Just ask Northern California trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, who came to the Derby with the exciting Event of the Year in 1998 only to see the colt fracture a knee in a workout eight days before the race. Hollendorfer returned in 2000 with Globalize and watched in disbelief as the colt went out for a simple gallop two days before the race and got kicked by his own pony, suffering a bad gash that forced him out of the race.

Because of the fear of injury, such as the ones that befell Hollendorfer's horses, it seems as if trainers are becoming more conservative. By racing their horses lightly all winter and spring, many come to Churchill Downs with horses unprepared mentally and physically for a race as grueling as the Derby. As the old-time trainers fade into history and a new, younger generation of horsemen emerges, it will be interesting to see how long it takes for one of them to win the Derby.

It is no coincidence that the last 18 Derby winners were trained by veteran horsemen, and that seven of the nine Derbys run from 1991 to 1999 were won by only three trainers: D. Wayne Lukas, Bob Baffert and Zito, all of whom focus all their attention on the Derby long before most trainers ever begin giving it a second thought.

Zito says "eats, sleeps, drinks, and bleeds" the Kentucky Derby. Baffert and Lukas can say the same, and as a result they have been able to reap the rewards for their obsession. But that obsession has to be combined with great skills as a horseman, the confidence in one's ability, and the ability to remain focused under extreme pressure. And all these things come with experience.

In the weeks leading up to the Derby, trainers are basically walking through a hall of mirrors, trying to find the portal that leads to the Churchill Downs winner's circle. Many young or inexperienced trainers have felt sure they knew where that portal was, but all they wound up doing was crashing into the glass.

Mike Puype, an up-and-coming young trainer, was confident that his brilliant front-runner, Old Trieste, could take the 1998 Derby field on a merry ride. The trainer gave him a six furlong work six days before the race and couldn't believe it when the colt went in a scorching 1:09, which was two-fifths of a second off the track record set 12 years earlier.

Crash! As Puype walked away, he said, "I don't know whether to laugh or throw up."

A work that fast will often take too much out of a horse that is about to run 1 1/4 miles in the most mentally and physically draining race in the country. On the other hand, a work that is too slow will often mean a horse is not sharp enough mentally and physically to handle such a rigorous task. So, trainers want to see a good solid work - not too fast and not to slow - where the horse is enthusiastic and comes home in good time.

Not to take anything away from Puype, but Old Trieste's work is just an example of walking into a mirror just when you think you've got it all figured out. In short, you just dont't see veteran trainers losing the Derby in a workout. Several years earlier, another Derby newcomer, Gerald Romero, worked his Louisiana Derby winner, Dixieland Heat, seven furlongs with brother Randy aboard. When Randy passed by the clocker's stand following the work, he was told the horse had worked in a agonizingly slow 1:35.

Meeting the press afterward, Randy said he thought the track was too slippery and aborted the work, giving the colt a two-minute lick instead. Of course, no one believed that, because if that were the case Randy would not have asked the clockers for a time. Crash!

The next day, the Romero brothers worked Dixieland Heat six furlongs in a so-so 1:15, confirming the belief that the previous day's work had gone haywire and they now had to doing something fast to try to rectify it. Dixieland Heat wasn't going to win the Derby anyway, but this was just another example of how to lose control of a work at a crucial time.

So, here we are ready to embark on another Kentucky Derby. Will this be the year a non-veteran trainer finally gets the job done? Will the Derby winner be the result of conservative or aggressive training?

All we know is that when a trainer sees that elusive winner's circle in front of him, he better have his arms outstretched to make sure it's not just another mirror.