- Cain Shoots For Stars with "Revolver Six"
If hard work and personal fortitude were the sole criteria for glory in thoroughbred racing, Don Cain would likely have a champion in his sophomore colt Revolver Six. Cain, a self-made success in the Kentucky coal business, drew into Saturday's WEBN Stakes at Turfway with his homebred son of Fort Chaffee and is just hoping for the best with the maiden.
In 2003, racing found a feel good story with Funny Cide and the hijinks of the "little guys" Sackatoga Stable crew. If Revolver Six makes any noise on the Derby Trail, Cain and his operation will make Sackatoga look like Will Farish's Lane's End.
Like the game's best runners, the hardscrabble Cain is 100% Kentucky- bred. But when this owner-breeder-trainer shows his true colors, it's the monotone shade of charcoal black, not the azure tint of fabled bluegrass.
"We came from what you might call moderate means," explains Cain. If you've ever been through Kentucky's coal country, you'll know what that implies: big family, company store poor, black lung mortality. After growing a small coal supply enterprise into a thriving concern, Cain started in the thoroughbred business 12 years ago, "Something to do after our kids grew up."
Starting with an inexpensive broodmare, Cain bred one foal a year and raised them to racing age. He's had a number of winners, but is hoping to do bigger things with the offspring of Resist Risk, an unraced daughter of Roanoke he purchased in 1999. Resist Risk has dropped 2 colts and a filly, all by Fort Chaffee, the 7-time winning son of Mr. Prospector. The first, Revolver Two, struggled with nerves on the racetrack, washing out in the paddock before his starts. "Six" came next and then the filly. Resist Risk is in foal currently to Dance Brightly, another Mr. Prospector who was the first foal from the great 1991 Champion and Canadian Triple Crown winner Dance Smartly.
Revolver Six, who bucked shins in his October debut at Keeneland, is "more laid back than his brother," according to Cain. "He's smart, well built and very nice looking. We like him a whole lot." After pin firing his shins, Revolver Six was turned out. When brought back to the Training Center near Turfway two months ago, the colt was anxious to run. In a recent workout you won't find in the Form, the chestnut zipped 5f in 1:01 according to the clockers. "I actually got him in 1:00.1, and he did it real easy," adds Cain.
While the owner expects "Six" to outperform "Two" on the track, the self-effacing Cain is quick to point out that the foray into racing has been a constant learning process. "We didn't know anything when we started," he says. "Hell, we could have had Secretariat and not done anything."
Cain has tried to build his operation without spending barrels of money by breeding the best dams he has to the best sires he can afford. In Revolver Six, he has bred a colt with an impressive pedigree profile that boasts a throwback DI of 1.25 (10-2-16-6-2) and a .33 CD. His 4 great-grandsires are Raise A Native (top line), Nijinsky, Pleasant Colony and Stage Door Johnny. His tail female line goes back to a Hail To Reason mare. He connects to the family that has produced Thunder Gulch, Hill Gail, Miss Grillo and Eight Thirty. While the colt should love distance and have success on turf, Cain has seen enough from him to believe he has dirt speed when he needs it and stamina to carry it.
Severe cold threatens the WEBN Stakes, but if they run, solid Kentucky jock Axel DaSilva gets the call on Revolver Six. "I've used Axel before," said Cain, "I like him and have confidence he'll know what do with this horse." Having drawn into the full field, DaSilva will have to pilot Revolver Six from the extreme 12 hole for the 8 furlong test. "I'm not scared of putting a maiden in a stake like this," says Cain. "We'll let him go and see what we have."
If Cain likes what he sees from the 50-1 morning line longshot, he'll wheel him right back into the Battaglia at Turfway in three weeks, the middle leg of the track's popular series that concludes with the Lane's End March 20. Cain knows he has a good one in Revolver Six and knows there's only one shot at glory for 3 year olds. When asked if he could see his soph in the Blue Grass Stakes or the Kentucky Derby, Cain laughed. "It would be nice, but really I just want him to get around safe and come back whole. We know our limitations in this game."
But if the dilligence and hard work appropriately reward Don Cain, it may show that when you start out in life deep underground chisling coal, the sky truly is the limit.