Among the pleasures of attending the lead up to Derby are the memorable moments that become indelible on your memory for years to come. Whether it’s a quiet moment with awestruck members of ‘small time’ outfits that have arrived at the front door of history, or an uproarious impromptu press gathering around a racing legend, being on the Churchill backstretch in the days before the big race are really why you come here.
Today’s moments came fast and furious, beginning and ending with as ubiquitous a Derby figure as we have, Bob Baffert. As Steve Haskin and I waited by his barn for Pioneerof the Nile to come out for a jog, the stories started rolling from the cosmopolitan, white-haired cowboy who is in search of his 4th Derby win.
Baffert got to talking about buying horses during the Derby run-up, and after a chestnut Derby worker cantered past, let it be known that he had a shot at purchasing Summer Bird from his owner-breeder. A vet recommendation kept Baffert from closing the deal, but that led to the more interesting tale of how Ernie Paragallo almost ended up as Silver Charm’s owner.
Bloodstock vampire Buzz Chace had followed Silver Charm after Baffert had purchased him, and was interested in buying the modestly pedigreed Silver Buck son for his top client at the time, the long-reviled and currently-disgraced Paragallo. A deal was coming together during the lead up to the 1996 Derby with Baffert having the 2 year old Silver Charm available for viewing in his barn at Churchill as he prepared Cavonnier for the rose run.
But before a deal could be consummated, Chace and Paragallo were distracted by the embroglio of Unbridled’s Song’s barking dogs. Had Unbridled’s Song not had the egg bar shoes to deal with Derby Day or the problems that they presented them and Jimmy Ryerson, Chace and Paragallo might have ended up with back to back Derby winners. Instead, Baffert brought the inexpensive Silver Charm up to top owner Bob Lewis who said immediately that he’d take the colt.
You could say the rest was history, but that isn’t totally true. Baffert explained to Lewis that the gray was already named Silver Charm, a moniker Baffert thought ordinary. Baffert told the famously genteel Lewis that with the colt being by Silver Buck out of a Poker mare, they could call the colt ‘Pokerforabuck’. “Ah, now Bob,” said Lewis, “I don’t know… I don’t think Beverly would be too keen on that name.” Silver Charm stuck.
Being on the Churchill backstretch means having the opportunity to move from three time Derby winning trainers like Baffert to guys like Tim Ice, a trainer in his first Derby in his first year as a trainer out on his own. And with Baffert having had a shot at buying the horse he trains for Dr. Jayaraman, meeting Ice as Summer Bird cooled out from a workout had an immediate urgency.
“Baffert should have called me if the vet didn’t like Summer Bird,” Ice laughed. “I’d have told him there was nothing wrong with this colt.” Ice is a tall and laconic type that strikes me instantly as a Southwestern version of Mike Trombetta. It was on my first Derby visit as a member of “At the Races” that spending time around Trombetta, his team of three and Sweetnorthernsaint, kindled an annual interest in the people that are coming to their first Derby.
For Ice, the experience of making it to the Derby is still sinking in, and he readily admits that it was the owners who pushed him to try the Arkansas Derby. The late running effort in just his third career start propelled Summer Bird, Ice and journeyman rider Chris Rosier into this improbable spot. Ice certainly didn’t think he’d be saddling a Derby starter when he sent the camera-friendy Birdstone rednut to a March 1 maiden special weight win at Oaklawn.
Being in Louisville is leaving Ice predictably awestruck as he records his own indelible moments. Nick Zito, who of course trained Summer Bird’s sire Birdstone, made a point of visiting Ice upon the young trainer’s arrival. “It was so classy,” Ice said. “That he would come seek me out and welcome us, wish us luck and offer his barn to us. I really appreciated that.”
Watching the legends around the backstretch is a show in itself, and Zito is one of those that commands attention whether he has a Derby horse or not. This year he does not, though Just a Coincidence will go in the Withers and has the look of a stakes horse in waiting.
As the morning wound down, I ran back into Baffert, still holding court where I left him an hour earlier. As D. Wayne Lukas rode away on his oversize pony, Baffert was already laughing. “He said they asked him to be on Dancing with the Stars,” Baffert snickered about his conversation with “DWL”. I asked Baffert if he didn’t believe Lukas. “That’s Wayne,” he said. “You take everything he says and divide by 4.”
Baffert wasn’t through skewering legends this day either. Having launched into a War Emblem tale, Baffert dropped a bomb on Pat Day when he came over to say hello. “You know you could have ridden War Emblem?,” Baffert told a stunned Day. “You could have ridden 2 Derby winners instead of just Lil E. Tee.”
Moments later, Baffert’s admission gained credence when Day’s long time agent Doc Danner entered the conversation. With Day looking at his former book holder open-mouthed, Danner grudgingly admitted that Baffert had not only called him with the offer to give War Emblem to Day, but that Baffert warned him that Day’s Wood Memorial winner Buddha, wouldn’t even make the Derby.
As Baffert tells his stories, I admittedly revel in the retelling of moments and players that are part of racing history. Simultaneously, I think about a guy like Tim Ice who may be making the only Derby visit of his career, or starting a string of visits to Louisville the way the soon to be enshrined Baffert was when sophomore Cavonnier and juvenile Silver Charm were in the same shed only 13 years ago.