2021 kentucky derby | Horse Racing Free Tips

This Side Up: If the Hardboot Fits…

Don't know about you, but I'm not really looking for a Hall of Fame horse out there. I would gladly settle for the one of those blurred snapshots of the adolescent sophomore crop, with plenty left to play for in the Preakness. Just so long as we can guarantee an evening of uncomplicated euphoria for connections of the fated horse among 20 who have already confounded the odds even to enter the gate for the GI Kentucky Derby (presented by Woodford Reserve).

Because they will be able to tell you, Saturday evening, that there's no such thing as an ordinary Derby winner. Okay, so this is not quite the race we pictured a few weeks ago, when Life Is Good (Into Mischief) and Greatest Honour (Tapit) and Concert Tour (Street Sense) seemed to be trapping champion Essential Quality (Tapit) in an asphyxiating triangle of brilliance. But nothing makes a backstretch professional madder than pundits announcing, even as the winner is hosed down, that this looks like it must have been an “average” Derby. If you think a Grade I race of any description can ever be easy, just try winning one. And then come back to us.

That said, personally I would welcome like an old friend a fairly nondescript Derby this time. Because the strands embroidered into the fabric of the race over the past couple of years could really do with some support stitching that offers a little less color, and maybe a little more durability.

To many of us, it felt more important last year to stage the Triple Crown races on their usual dates than at their usual venues. As it was, Churchill's three priorities at the time appeared to be Churchill, Churchill and Churchill, and their unilateral postponement to September (ultimately unavailing, with the turnstiles still locked) rendered the series a nonsense, with a nine-furlong Belmont in June, and a Preakness shoehorned into October.

As for the melodrama of the previous year, and everything that has since happened to one of the central characters, I get a headache just thinking about it. And you know what, whatever the race may owe the owners of its first disqualified winner, connections of Country House (Lookin At Lucky) would probably find someday winning the damned thing “properly” no less cathartic.

Actually there was nothing too ordinary about the year before, either, albeit at the opposite end of the spectrum of edification. For Justify (Scat Daddy) performed a vital service for the breed in underscoring the recent rebuke of American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) to those who had spent a generation peddling the heresy that a five-week Triple Crown had become obsolete. In fact, one of the incidental drawbacks of 2020 was that some, celebrating the intervals between races, were so quick to renew their complicity with the commercial erosion of the breed.

Somehow, then, this race finds itself on a streak of sensationalism. On the one hand, anything and everything that contributes to the Derby tapestry can only heighten the historic sense in both aspiration and achievement come the first Saturday in May. But right now it would feel great just to showcase some of the abiding virtues that have underpinned the breed, through good times and bad: above all, a fidelity to those attributes in the Thoroughbred that make this stampede–20 horses going flat out at the same, critical stage of their development, balancing speed and stamina on the fulcrum of the two-minute mark–the ultimate measure of its sustainability.

In other words, give me a hardboot winner.

This week our community grieved the loss of John T. Ward, Jr., 20 years after he saddled Monarchos to become the only Derby winner bar Secretariat to break two minutes. That was an old-school masterpiece, built on lore inculcated by two preceding generations: father, uncle, grandfather. Uncle Sherrill, for instance, had saddled his first winner at Kenney Park when just 18 and ended up ushering himself and Forego into the Hall of Fame.

Incidentally, colleague T.D. Thornton reminded us this week that Monarchos was followed by Giacomo four years later as the eighth gray winner. To say that Essential Quality would be ending a gray “drought” since, however, slightly overstates the matter from an English point of view. The Epsom Derby, first run in 1780, has been won by just FOUR grays–and none since 1946!

Arguably Ward's most significant legacy is Sky Mesa, as consistent a stakes sire as he is bred to be, Monarchos being one of many modern Derby winners to have disappointed at stud. Let's hope that promising starts by American Pharoah and Nyquist will help stop the rot, because we certainly we haven't had too many recent races like 2007, with a podium of Street Sense, Hard Spun and Curlin (not to mention Scat Daddy down the field).

O Besos training this week at Churchill | Horsephotos

The only horse in this whole field by a Derby winner is O Besos–and his sire, Orb, has just been sold to Uruguay, having been discarded virtually overnight by the market. From the family of Ruffian, I would love to see him have the last laugh on the fast-buck commercial breeders.

Hometown trainer Greg Foley certainly fits the hardboot bill. His late father Dravo, who started out as a jockey and then trained for 48 years, saddled 1,123 winners as a stalwart of River Downs and Hazel Park. He never did turn up an elite performer, but Greg's sister Vickie won the GI Woody Stephens S. a couple of years ago, with Saturday's GI Churchill Downs S. entrantHog Creek Hustle (Overanalyze), and Greg has also raised the bar: his 1,429 winners since 1981 are now headed by Sconsin (Include), in the GII Eight Belles S. at the “Derby” meet eventually staged last September and set to face Gamine (Into Mischief) in Saturday's GI Derby City Distaff.

O Besos has to buck the Derby speed trend, established since his sire came from the clouds, but looked made for a test like this when closing through the final three-sixteenths in the GII Louisiana Derby in :18 2/5. Okay, the six-week lay-off isn't exactly old-school, but O Besos has been working like a horse sitting on a breakout. And if you think a horse like this could only win an ordinary Derby, well, suits me: Cinderella had to be measured for a slipper, but a hardboot would do just fine.

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‘Maybe It’s A Good Thing’: Derby Trainers Unconcerned About This Year’s Lasix Rules

The general consensus around the Churchill Downs backstretch this week has been that requiring hopefuls on the Road to the Kentucky Derby to race without Lasix has not been a major hindrance for the year's 3-year-old crop.

Precisely half of this year's Kentucky Derby field has never raced on Lasix, while all 20 entrants completed their final prep without the diuretic medication, which aids in preventing exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH) in racehorses.

“This may not be a popular opinion,” warned David Carroll, assistant to dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse. “I was pro-Lasix, but having seen that now, you know what, maybe it's a good thing. Maybe no race-day medication is a good thing. I think a lot of things we do, we're creatures of habit, and we have a tendency to do things because that's the way we've always done it, not the way it's meant to be, and not what's best for the horse.”

“I would say it's an individual thing,” said two-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Doug O'Neill. “And in an ideal world, if the horse doesn't have any kind of tendency to have any kind of nosebleed, running without Lasix, they do seem to come out of the races with more energy, and they get back to their normal exercise energy quicker. So they recover quicker, I think, without Lasix.”

Many trainers spoke out against the restriction of Lasix use for years before a ban was implemented for 2-year-old runners in many jurisdictions last year. Now, both the Triple Crown series and the Breeders' Cup Challenge series, as well as the World Championship races themselves, are all scheduled to be conducted without race-day Lasix. In several jurisdictions, all graded stakes races will be held Lasix-free.

“It's something, I think, we all in this sport kind of knew it was coming,” O'Neill said. “Just – if you look around the world, most of the big races around the world are run Lasix-free. So as much as I was apprehensive, like I think a lot of horsemen were and are, I think the longer we've done it, the more able to – I've been able to adjust.”

Some trainers have altered their pre-race and pre-workout regimens, while others say they have not.

“Obviously last year we started with the 2-year-olds not being on Lasix, so we really didn't do anything particularly different with them at all,” said Carroll. “From a personal perspective, we had a few that showed some traces (of EIPH), but no bad cases.”

“We have a little bit different diet leading up to works and races,” O'Neill said. “Just, we're more thoughtful of not having much in their stomach for exercise, which probably, we should have been thinking of that. Anyways, so just try to have them a little bit more light going into their works and races. It's definitely been something that we've been more conscientious of with no Lasix.”

While the majority of this year's Kentucky Derby trainers agreed that the Lasix ban wasn't harmful to the current 3-year-old crop, they remain concerned about requiring older horses, those who are used to running with Lasix, to now race without it.

“I think with this particular crop, for my cohort, it's not been an issue,” said Hall of Fame nominee Todd Pletcher. “I can't speak for everyone else, but I think some of the bigger concerns are around older horses that maybe have been running on Lasix for three, four, five years and then have to come off with it. But bleeding can be an issue for horses, with or without Lasix.”

“You have some horses that struggle with that,” echoed John Sadler. “I've had some older horses, and I have to say no more stakes for them. They've got to run in the easier races. They weren't capable of running without Lasix.”

“I do feel bad for the horses who have been racing on it for years, and now have to stop,” Carroll concluded. “For older horses now that have been racing on it for the last three to four years, I think that's really hard. I wish they'd made it more of a progression.”

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A Look Back At Mary Hirsch, Who Opened The Door For Female Trainers At Derby

When Vicki Oliver takes Hidden Stash to the saddling paddock on Saturday, she'll join a select group of trainers in Kentucky Derby history. Oliver will be the first female trainer to start a Derby runner in six years, and only the 17^th in the race's 147-year history. In interviews on the subject, Oliver has made it clear she's not ultra-keen on the female trainer angle – after all, horses don't spend much time fretting about the anatomy of their owners, trainers, or riders, and true horsemanship isn't ordained by chromosomes. In fact, the very first female trainer who blazed a trail for Oliver and others may have felt very much the same way.

The first female trainer to try for the roses came in 1937, well before it was possible for women to be jockeys and before it became routine to see them as exercise riders or grooms. Mary Hirsch was first woman granted a trainer's license in 1935 at the age of 22, after initially being rejected on the basis of her gender.

In just about every contemporary mention of Hirsch in the media, she was immediately introduced with what reporters apparently considered her primary credential to be a trainer – she was the daughter of legendary trainer Max Hirsch. It seems Max Hirsch had hoped his daughter would not fall in love with the family business. Mary Hirsch was sent to prestigious boarding schools and admitted once her father had discouraged her repeatedly from following him into the racetrack life. Despite her characterization by sportswriters though, Mary Hirsch didn't pick up training on the strength of her family's name alone. Her entire life had been a self-guided, rigorous preparation for nothing else. She had spent some of her early years living in a cottage on the grounds of Belmont Park, waking early with her father to help feed his horses and observe workouts. She rode jumpers and learned to gallop as soon as she was big enough, learned to shoe horses and read veterinary texts in her spare time.

When Max Hirsch realized he couldn't dissuade his daughter, he apparently decided to support her in her dream. She apprenticed in his stable for several years, and eventually began training her own string. Bernard Baruch, esteemed New York owner and client of Max, was the first to place horses with her. One account suggested that Baruch, disappointed with the finish of his promising sprinter Captain Argo under Max's conditioning, turned to Mary at the end of one race and asked if she could do better. She said she could, and would make Captain Argo a successful stakes runner. Baruch was one of her chief supporters, but Mary also bought her own runners.

Still, for several years, she had to run those horses in the name of her father or her brother, W.J. “Buddy” Hirsch. She was permitted to do all the preparation – managing horses' health and training schedules, riding them, instructing jockeys — all the regular duties of a trainer until the final minutes before a race when she was not permitted to handle her own horses or receive credit in the program. Her paper training was evidently no secret, as it was reported openly in newspapers.

At last, Mary grew embarrassed at having to give away the credit for her hard work. In 1934 Hirsch requested a license by The Jockey Club, which at the time was the regulatory body for racing in New York. Her application was tabled, (which in this case was formal speak for rejected without having to go through the unpleasantness of rejecting someone), so she sought licensure in Michigan and Illinois. For reasons that were never publicly detailed, she was successful there. She became the first woman to bring a string of horses to run at Hialeah, where she was also successful in being licensed. With a win there by Captain Argo, Hirsch returned to the board in New York, waving her license and asked them for a second time what they thought about a woman training racehorses. This time, the body agreed, which Hirsch said essentially afforded her an automatic in to wherever else she wanted to run.

At the start of 1937, she had built a reputation as an up and comer with a small operation. In 1935, Mary Hirsch had saddled winners of ten races for earnings of $10,365 (more than $200,000 today) and in 1936, she had 17 wins and $18,575 in earnings.

Her Derby hopeful was No Sir, a son of Sortie out of Westy Hogan mare Fib, both of whom were trained by Max Hirsch. Mary purchased the horse from Andy Joiner in the spring of his 2-year-old season and immediately sent him to victory in the East View Stakes. He became the first female-trained entry of the Flamingo Stakes, where he finished second, and was also the first female-trained winner at Saratoga in the Diana Handicap. Ahead of the 1937 Derby, Mary was confident, despite facing a monster in War Admiral.

“With ordinary luck and a good ride my horse can win it,” she told media in late April 1937. “No Sir has worked well since he came to the Downs, and has shown he can go the Derby distance. he has a world of early foot and I think can hold his own in the early stages against War Admiral and Pompoon when the three of them probably will be out there fighting for the lead.

“Yes, sir. No Sir has plenty of heart.”

Max Hirsch evidently did not attend the Derby, wanting Mary to “go it alone.” Mary noted in earlier interviews that while her father asked her for training advice and had at times put his stable in her hands while he traveled, her training decisions with her own horses were independent of his. It was perhaps important to her that she be seen as an independent thinker. The Akron Beacon Journal noted that Max's absence would also let her bask in glory in the winner's circle outside his long shadow.

As racing fans well know however, there was no toppling War Admiral in his 3-year-old prime, and No Sir finished a disappointing 13^th.

Mary Hirsch continued on. She took over the training of Thanksgiving, a promising 3-year-old owned by Anne Corning, after a freakish lightning storm injured several horses in Max Hirsch's barn at Saratoga. In 1938, Mary took the horse to win the Travers in the fastest time since Man o' War. According to racing historian and turfwriter Brien Bouyea however, Mary Hirsch received little to no credit for her record-setting win there, and many papers erroneously reported Max as the trainer.

Hirsch's acceptance by the New York Jockey Club opened doors for others. A 1938 Daily Racing Form note mentioned seven women who had subsequently been granted licensure from New York to Nebraska.

Despite phenomenal success, Hirsch's training career was relatively brief. In 1940, she married Charles McLennan, racing secretary at Hialeah Park, Havre de Grace, Keeneland, Suffolk Downs, Pimlico, and Washington Park. After the wedding, Hirsch turned her horses over to her father and brother and retired. The couple had two children and Hirsch, now McLennan, turned her energies to homemaking. The call of the track proved irresistible however, and in 1949, she returned to the track as an owner when her youngest child entered school. Her father gave her Chinella, a King Ranch yearling whose management Hirsch took on enthusiastically.

There was relatively little coverage of Hirsch's life after that. At the time of her death in 1976, an obituary revealed that she and her husband had bred horses at their Cowpen Farm near their Towson, Md., base until just before his death in 1971.

“Her dad was a tough act to follow,” her son, Charles McLennan Jr., told the Lexington Herald-Leader's Maryjean Wall in 2000. “And she had several brothers prominent in the horse business. It was a man's world at the time.”

After No Sir's run in the Derby, it would be another 12 years before a woman would saddle a Derby horse (Mrs. Albert Roth, as she was billed in official records, whose Senecas Coin did not finish). Dianne Carpenter remains the only woman to have sent runners to the race twice – in 1984 with Biloxi Indian and 1988 with Kingpost.

Shelley Riley remains the best finisher among female trainers after Casual Lies finished second in 1992. Kristin Mulhall sent Imperialism to a third-place finish in 2004 and Kathy Ritvo sent Mucho Macho Man to third in 2011.

It's only a matter of time before a female trainer claims the roses. Whoever manages the task, she will no doubt feel the same way Mary Hirsch did about the profession of training. When asked in an [otherwise uncomfortably misogynistic] interview with the Louisville Courier-Journal in 1937 “What this trainer's life is like for a girl, anyhow,” Hirsch replied with the only true hint the public ever got of her feelings on the 'female trainer' angle.

“For a man or woman … I love it!” she said.

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Attorneys File Complaint With Kentucky Commission To Block Sheikh Mohammed From Derby

Human rights attorneys have filed a formal complaint with the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, asking the state agency to ban Sheikh Mohammed and his morning line favorite, Essential Quality, from the Kentucky Derby. The attorneys claim Sheikh Mohammed is guilty of human rights abuses in the cases of two of his adult daughters who allegedly tried to leave his household and were forcibly returned to Dubai.

In 2019, Sheikh Mohammed's wife Princess Haya fled Dubai with her two children and sought a divorce through a British High Court. Court proceedings, which Sheikh Mohammed attempted to keep out of the public record, determined in 2020 that the ruler of Dubai had indeed kidnapped his two daughters and also that he “conducted a sustained campaign of fear, intimidation and harassment” of Princess Haya, who was granted a divorce.

The same legal team, which includes the University of Louisville Human Rights Advocacy Project, filed a similar complaint last year but was denied since it was based on media reports rather than findings of a court.

State racing commissions can and do consider a licensee's criminal history at the time of a license application, but it remans unclear whether these findings would apply to an existing license in the same way. Writing for the Lexington Herald-Leader, columnist Linda Blackford questions whether the commission should get involved in such a complaint, which attorneys point out is designed mainly to draw attention to the plight of the sheikh's family.

“Thoroughbred horse racing has always been full of princes and potentates, scoundrels and scam artists; where would the racing commission even begin to start turning away the morally compromised?” wrote Blackford. “And speaking of that, do we really think the racing commission should even get close to geopolitical power plays?”

Godolphin representatives have already indicated the sheikh has no plans to attend this year's Derby.

Read more at the Lexington Herald-Leader

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