Having earned his first graded-stakes victory aboard long-shot Rich Strike in the May 7 Kentucky Derby, jockey Sonny Leon will try to win his second graded stakes two months later with Fowler Blue in Saturday's $300,000, Grade 3 Indiana Derby at Horseshoe Indianapolis.
A Fowler Blue victory in the 1 1/16-mile stakes would be a surprise, but certainly not more than Rich Strike's triumph at 80-1 at Churchill Downs. Heck, Fowler Blue is only 8-1 in the morning line for the Indiana Derby, which attracted a field of ten 3-year-olds.
Fowler Blue is similar to the pre-Kentucky Derby Rich Strike in that he has been nibbling around the corners of stakes races, with a trio of fourth-place finishes. He does bring into the Indiana Derby one more victory than Rich Strike did into America's most famous race, with Fowler Blue taking an allowance race at Santa Anita on New Year's Eve.
Doug O'Neill is Fowler Blue's California-based trainer and himself a two-time Kentucky Derby winner with I'll Have Another in 2012 and Nyquist in 2016. He also is a two-time winner of the Indiana Derby with Irap in 2017 and Excessivepleasure in 2003.
“I'm excited to ride for Doug,” Leon said. “ He gave me the opportunity. We've got something special: We both have won the Kentucky Derby. Now I'm going to try to win an Indiana Derby, too.”
O'Neill admits he'd never heard of Leon until the Kentucky Derby shocker. That's hardly surprising. Leon's main base in recent years has been Cincinnati's Belterra Park in the spring and summer and Mahoning Valley near Youngstown in the winter.
Including riding extensively for Reed, Leon goes wherever he can find live mounts around the region, winning a career-best 226 races out of 1,125 mounts last year. Of his seven stakes victories in 2021, the biggest purse was $100,000.
But O'Neill saw enough of the Derby's two minutes to put the 32-year-old Venezuelan product on Fowler Blue in the $300,000 Texas Derby at Lone Star Park. That also was the gelding's first start for O'Neill.
“The honest answer would be no,” O'Neill said of any prior familiarity with Leon, adding of Fowler Blue's owner and co-breeder, “Bill Branch and I were talking about riders for the Texas race. After seeing his effort and liking his post-race stuff, we were like 'we'll give him a chance.' Definitely the Kentucky Derby this year, his ride put him on our map.”
And also entrenched in the record books as one of the greatest Cinderella stories in Derby lore. Rich Strike — claimed for $30,000 by trainer Eric Reed for owner Rick Dawson out of his second start — at literally the last minute got the scratch he needed to get into the starting gate, then rallied from last to bull up the rail to beat favored Epicenter by a half-length.
If Rich Strike benefitted from a brutally fast pace, Leon made all the right moves and avoided the wrong ones.
“It was really a talented ride, and he's got a lot of wins under his belt,” O'Neill said by phone. “He's a good kid. We're really happy to have him back on Fowler Blue. He knows the horse now, so we think it gives us an added benefit.”
Fowler Blue finished sixth in the Texas Derby, losing by a total of four lengths to victorious King Ottoman, who also is running back in the Indiana Derby. O'Neill is not discouraged, and neither is Leon.
“He's an honest horse. We took the blinkers off, and I think he maybe just didn't show the speed he needed to show,” O'Neill said. “So we've got the blinkers back on for this race. Sonny got a chance to know him. It's a winnable race.”
Said Leon: “Fowler Blue broke a little slow, his first time without blinkers. He finished really good in the Texas Derby. I know the horse now, and I think he's got a very good chance.
“Now he knows, who is Sonny Leon. Before that, he didn't know Sonny Leon because he's at Santa Anita, at the bigger tracks. I want to thank him for the opportunity he's giving me right now.”
Leon was named to ride Fowler Blue in Churchill Downs' off-the-turf American Derby on July 2. The gelding was scratched to await the Indiana Derby. But Leon still was a man in the spotlight, as the Derby winners were presented their engraved trophies.
Asked if it had sunk in what he and Rich Strike accomplished, Leon said: “I'm still Sonny Leon. I'm a family man. I ride at my local track, Belterra, sometimes Indiana, Cleveland. It's the same for Sonny Leon. I've been riding at smaller tracks all my life. Well now, we won the Kentucky Derby, everybody wants to know what is Sonny Leon? Who is Sonny Leon? I think everybody knows now who is Sonny Leon.”
The 20th season of live Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing extends through Wednesday, Nov. 23. Live racing is conducted at 2:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday with Thursday post times set for 2:10 p.m. A total of 12 Saturdays will feature live racing in 2022 highlighted by the 28th running of the Grade 3 $300,000 Indiana Derby and the 27th running of the Grade 3 $200,000 Indiana Oaks set for Saturday, July 9. For more information on live racing at Horseshoe Indianapolis, visit www.caesars.com/horseshoe-indianapolis.
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