Book Review: Black Gold Reminds Us Why We Breed, Race, and Dream

It was an era of controversial stewards' calls, late money affecting the odds before the break, and tracks facing increasing financial pressure from government.

It was a time when criticism of short field sizes was rampant, breeding operations continued to take risks on untested sires, and when sugar horses–those who didn't run often in order to preserve their stamina–were seemingly everywhere.

If that wasn't enough, the age witnessed the rise of the Kentucky Derby as an increasingly highly commercialized party, as debates raged over when Pimlico's Preakness Stakes should run.

The year wasn't 2023; it was hundred years prior in 1923. The more things change, the more…check.

To the historically driven, it's not anachronistic to find significant pieces of the past spurning the trash heap of history. Instead, they are resting comfortably on a tuffet and teed-up nicely for all of us in the present to witness, if we are willing to listen.

That is precisely what author Avalyn Hunter's new book, Dream Derby: The Myth and Legend of Black Gold, just out from the University Press of Kentucky's Horses In History Series, does as it takes in the larger events surrounding a colt named Black Gold, his dam Useeit and their owner Rosa Hoots. This is a monograph with a complex story around their march to what was then the 50th Kentucky Derby in 1924.

Chances are you've read Marguerite Henry's famous children's book, illustrated by Dennis Wesley, about the little black colt that could. First published in 1957, it went through numerous printings, but Hunter is not looking to supplant the plucky images that were created over the generations. For her, the story behind the legend isn't just one dusty fact after another.

Dream Derby is a splendid prism in which to view key American events leading up to and after World War I, as the nation spun into the turn of the Roaring '20s. We learn that horse racing's roads in North America were traveled regularly by dreamers seeking the winner's circle prizes from Mexico to Canada and everywhere in between.

Central to the plot is Black Gold's owner, Rosa Hoots. Raised in the ways of the Osage people in Oklahoma, she was a shrewd businesswoman in Tulsa at the time. Her husband passed away and left her Useeit, along with the prophecy that she would produce a Derby winner. She did send her mare to Kentucky and the resulting colt, named Black Gold, was a reference to the booming oil deposits that many of the Osage discovered after moving to reservation land.

Colby Hernandez lays the ceremonial wreath at Black Gold's grave after his win this year's Black Gold S. at Fair Grounds | Hodges Photography

Not only does Hunter do an excellent job explaining the complexities of racial discrimination associated with the subject of David Grann's 2017 bestseller Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI (which is a major motion picture from Martin Scorsese this fall), but she also examines the impact of the Tulsa race riots of 1921. She ably helps us to understand the world that Hoots inhabited and despite advances for women in categories like suffrage, it didn't mean the road was clear. As a horsewoman and not from the Eastern establishment, Black Gold's owner entered a world that is still dominated by men to this day.

The supporting cast is just as intriguing and chock full of characters worth mentioning. We find the hard-drinking trainer, Hanley Webb, who believed that cutting a hole in the stall next to his charge was essential, so he could use it as both an office and a bedroom to sleep as close as possible to his horse. There's 20-something jockey J.D. Mooney, who scratched and clawed his way back into Webb's good graces in order to pilot the best horse he ever rode. Who can forget Colonel Edward Riley Bradley? The founder of Idle Hour Stock Farm, Bradley's timely appearance in New Orleans after a Useeit victory brought the Hoots's mare to breed with his little-known sire Black Toney.

Also figuring prominently is the story of Churchill Downs's tipping point and the role played by Matt Winn. Hunter makes no bones about the integral role played by him. The Derby nearly perished into regional obscurity before his arrival in the early 20th century, and how different would everything be if that major cultural event never happened? Winn's savvy bookkeeping and courting of everyone from the racing press to the Eastern powerhouse breeders kept Churchill from going down–their pun at that time, not mine.

With the path to the 150th Derby upon us, reflection on what this sport meant then and what it means to us today can be grounding. The case of Black Gold and his rise to fame is just as alive today as it was then. In times like these, nothing like a reason to breed, race and dream.

Dream Derby: The Myth and Legend of Black Gold by University Press of Kentucky, 221 pages, September 2023.

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Letter to the Editor: Pan Zareta & Black Gold

No matter what age we live in, every chapter of life is a bittersweet, hard-fought existence counting successes and failures and in the end our mortal or animal flesh returns to the soil for the next generation to continue the struggle.

In the infield of the Fair Grounds, near the finish line, stand two markers commemorating struggles we cannot fathom in our modern life. Both Pan Zareta and Black Gold are heroically immortal and long-forgotten Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame members and remind us of the transition of our country from frontier days to the industrial age. They were not from the same generation but are tied together by a thread of history completing their legacy and the New Orleans Fair Grounds' unique contribution to our culture.

In the days of organized racings ascendance during the early years of the 20th Century, match racing was the best way for a local horseman to make a living. County Fairs and weekend challenges provided opportunities for winning a bet or a small purse in area competitions. Fans would bet hand-in-hand or through organized “Calcutta” pools selling horses to the highest bidder.

Ben Jones learned about training horses through hands-on trial-and-error lessons. He learned his craft on the horses he could afford and honed his skills as he went. The Missourian's future success was set when telegraphed by his development of the race mare Belle Thompson. Belle Thompson was formidable on her Missouri circuit, so much so she had to travel far and wide to find worthy challengers.

Belle Thompson launched “Plain” Ben Jones as a horse trainer to stratospheric heights. His white Stetson and cowboy boots were attached to a large frame and a reputation for brawling. His initial path in life was for a career in the banking world but he preferred cattle and horses and most of all wagering on the horses. In his career, he trained six Kentucky Derby winners, five during his association with the legendary Calumet Farms. In 1941, he trained Whirlaway to a Triple Crown sweep. As part of his war-bond tour, a race named the Louisiana Handicap was created at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans and Whirlaway in his traditional closing finish raced to the finish line as the markers of Pan Zareta and Black Gold stood silent witness to the victory.

In an earlier day, during the spring of 1909, Ben Jones brought Belle Thompson to Chickasha OKLA on the old Chisholm Trail. They came to match a filly named Useeit. At best, Useeit was unproven and a heavy underdog. She was owned by Millard Holcomb, a rancher from the area. Useeit was small, plain and unimpressive. She showed gameness in the match against Ben Jones mare but was beaten off by the end of the race by several lengths.

The Osage Indians were native to the Oklahoma Territory with large land holdings and Rosa Hoots had family land used for ranching. Rosa was married to an Irishman named Al. Useeit had made an impression on Al and he was convinced she was a racehorse. He convinced Rosa to trade 80 acres of land to Millard Holcomb for the little two-year-old filly. Thus began one of the most romantic stories in the history of the turf.

The Hoots agreed to engage a local trainer named Hanley Webb. Web and Al Hoots oversaw the fillies' training and racing matches. Useeit developed into such a good sprinter, she, like Belle Thompson, needed to travel to find suitable competition. In her career, there was one mare she could not best, the Queen of Texas, Pan Zareta. By 1916, Useeit had won 34 races and had to travel far and wide for racing opportunities.

In those years, Terrazas Park in Juarez, Mexico ran organized racing under the regulation of the North American Jockey Club. These were wild times and the track on the border was a regular haunt of the bandit Pancho Villa. Ben Jones was known to wrap small stones in his horse's leg bandages to make them appear infirmed, so the horses wouldn't be stolen from their stalls or claimed.

Those times of small purses and bad actors created a hustler and sharps smorgasbord of opportunities. Legendary Kentucky horse trader Col P.T. Chinn was always thin on recourses and approached Villa about backing one of his horses for a percentage of the bet. Villa sent a messenger back to Chinn to reply the money was down but the horse must win. Chinn thought fast and sent a return message with his regrets but the horse had just contracted a case of colic and would not be able to race.

Another horse of Chinn's who was heavily backed with the bookmakers was disqualified for having a flagrant form reversal. The stewards suspended Chinn for the rest of the race meeting. When Chinn delivered his share of the coup to Villa, he explained his situation. The next afternoon, a group of Villa's soldiers stormed the stewards' stand chanting, “Chinn go back up!”  The stewards used wise discretion and restored Chinn for the remainder of the meeting.

Al Hoots, Hanley Webb and Useeit found themselves in Juarez in 1916.  A decision was made to enter Useeit in a claiming race after the racing secretary had asked for help filling the race.  Claims were not common in those days but they did occur. The race was run and a claim was dropped for Useeit. The new owner approached to collect his purchase but Hoots refused to turn over the horse. In ruling on the matter, the Stewards banned Useeit from ever racing again and banned Al Hoots from ever participating in organized racing again. Useeit's ban also included being banned from The Jockey Club registry, making any offspring she produced unable to be registered as a Thoroughbred.

The threesome returned to Oklahoma. Even with the ban, Al's dream was for Useeit to be mated to a prominent Kentucky stallion Black Tony who stood at Colonel E.R. Bradley's Ide Hour Farm.  Bradley's breeding operation was iconic.

In 1926 Bradley became the owner of the Fair Grounds and was renowned as an innovator in the racing world.  Under his leadership, Fair Grounds became the first track with a steam heated grandstand, added retractable front glass, was the first to use a mechanical starting gate. Bradley experimented with barn designs to improve air circulation and make storage more efficient for barns at the track.

As Al contemplated the mating, he contracted pneumonia and died. Before his passing, he insisted Rosa promise to see the mating take place. Rosa wrote the Colonel and plead Useeit's case.  In addition to agreeing to the mating, she was asking Colonel Bradley to intercede with The Jockey's Club and reinstate Useeit to the stud book so the foal could be registered to race. She also wrote that since oil had been discovered on her land, she had funds to cover any expenses involved in the process.

Colonel Bradley was moved by the plea and agreed to the mating.  He also agreed to assist with having Useeit reinstated to The Jockey Club registry. When the colt was born, Bradley corresponded with Rosa Hoots describing the colt as black except for a faint white mark on the forehead. He also enquired if the colt was for sale. Rosa declined and with the discovery of oil on her land, chose the appropriate name of Black Gold. Bradley was also successful in allowing the foal to be registered, thus the next chapter of the story came to pass.

Rosa chose to continue the relationship with Hanley Web in the training of Black Gold.  Web oversaw the horses early years and breaking as a yearling. He then brought Black Gold to New Orleans to start his career on January 19, 1923 at Fair Grounds.

As a two year old, Black Gold won the Bashford Manor Stakes at Churchill Downs. This race has historically been a steppingstone to the Kentucky Derby.  As a three-year-old in 1924, Black Gold won Derby races in four different states. In New Orleans, the Louisiana Derby run at Jefferson Park; the Ohio Derby; the Chicago Derby; established a new American record for one mile and one eighth in the Latonia Derby, and the Kentucky Derby.

He was so heavily bet in the Kentucky Derby with the bookmakers, they were unable to lay the bets off and many were overwhelmed by their losses and put out of business. He became a national racing fan favorite of the populace.

His last race came in the Salome Purse as he prepped for the New Orleans Handicap at Fair Grounds. He broke down in deep stretch and breathed his last near the position of where his memorial marker would be placed. His adulation by the race going public was so great, many people came to the track as the word spread of his demise to get one last glimpse of the champion.  Legend has it, members of the public streamed onto the racetrack to snip pieces of his mane and tail for keepsakes of their hero.

He is memorialized by the infield marker at Fair Grounds and every year homage is paid with a dedication of roses on the site of the monument by the winning jockey after the Black Gold Stakes is run. The Thoroughbred Record acknowledged the greatness of Black Gold at the time in the following quote, “No more brilliant racehorse than Black Gold has been seen under colors the past decade. He was as game a horse as has stood on plates and answered the bugle's call.” It was more than seven decades before another horse won both the Louisiana Derby and Kentucky Derby.  His life has been chronicled in bestselling books and popular movies. His memorial was preceded by memorial marker of a queen, Pan Zareta.

Tippity Witchet, another Fair Grounds Hall of Fame member, had won eight in a row in Maryland when his groom “Hot Stuff” was asked about the obscurely bred little gelding's pedigree. The question was asked, “Hot Stuff, who's that Tippity Wichet by?”  Hot Stuff replied, “Well, generally when I see him, he's by himself.” The racing term was coined and was aptly used to describe Pan Zareta at the finish of one of the greatest match races ever run.

Pan Zareta was a foal of 1910. She was bred and owned by J.F. Newman of Sweetwater, Texas. She was named for Pansy Zareta, the daughter of the former Mayor of Juarez. Legend has it she raced with a solid gold bit and carried it through 151 starts over six seasons of racing. Her 76 wins, 31 seconds and 21 thirds are mind boggling, especially considering the weights she was assigned and the competition she faced.

She was purely a sprinter. In the course of her travels she set eleven track records and three world records. She won under the weights of up 146 pounds, carrying over 130 pounds on twenty eight occasions. It wasn't so much she carried the weight but how she carried the weights assigned.  She was called the “Queen of the Turf” because of spectacular performances under heavy weights. As reported by the Daily Racing Form on December 14, 1913:

“Just one week ago today J.F. and H. S. Newman's fast 3yo filly Pan Zareta equaled the American Record of 104 3/5 for five and a half furlongs in winning a race at Juarez.  On that occasion carried 124 pounds. This afternoon, with two more pounds up, she duplicated her brilliant performance of a week ago.  As in her preceding record equaling performance, she made all the pace and won easily, with plenty of margin to spare. It is evident, had it been necessary, Pan Zareta could have reduced the American record on either occasion.”

In her immortal match against Joe Blair at Terrazas Park in Juarez the race was described by the Daily Racing Form in this way:

“Pan Zareta's feat was made more notable from the fact that Jockey Loftus, misjudged starter Cassidy's intentions, held her back in check when the barrier went up, thereby allowing Joe Blair to obtain an advantage of several lengths right at the start.

Joe Blair's jockey, Acton, attempted to make the most of his advantage by letting his mount step right along, and the result was sensational from the time standpoint. The first quarter was run in 21 3/5, three eighths in 33 2/5, and half in 44 4/5.

As the final furlong was begun, Pan Zareta moved up on even terms with the flying pacemaker, wrested the lead from him and went on to victory by herself (the margin was five lengths), with jockey Loftus easing her up at the finish.”

It was said by old timers to be the most wonderful performance it had ever been their privilege to witness.

Pan Zareta was a traveler. She raced at Jaurez, Aqueduct, Salt Lake, Churchill Downs, Butte, For Erie, Coeur d' Alene, Lexington, Oaklawn, Jamaica, Fair Grounds and many other stops. In eleven starts in New Orleans at Fair Grounds, she won four and placed six times. In November of 1917, she shipped to Fair Grounds from Kentucky and contracted lung fever. A month later, she developed pneumonia and on January 19, 1918, she died in her stall.

As reported by the Times Picayune, “An air of mourning fell over the Crescent City and many people, horsemen and racing fans alike, were said to have openly grieved at news of her death. She was buried two days later beneath a giant live oak just inside the inner rail at the sixteenth pole.” Just as with the later internment of Black Gold, Fair Grounds named an honorary memorial race for Pan Zareta and the winning Jockey lays a tribute of roses on the monument as part of the winner's circle ceremony.

Pan Zareta and Black Gold's markers are iconic in FG history as memorials to two champions in an era of our history when the time of life was physically demanding and life was much harder for man and beast.  Horses were still at the center of man's productivity and a major focus of life.

As the years rolled forward and progress at the Fair Grounds demanded a Turf Course be added inside the main oval, the markers were required to be moved.  The mortal remains of Pan Zareta and Back Gold remain where they were laid to rest and now lie inside the sixteenth pole under the turf. It is a fitting tribute to the two champions of the Kingdom of the Heart to be part of the finish of races, even today.

A brief post script; in addition to Pan Zareta and Black Gold, there are two other horses of note buried in the infield at Fair Grounds: the 1977 New Orleans Handicap winner Tudor Tambourine who was owned in a partnership including Ruth Fertel, the founder of the Ruth's Chris Steak House chain. Mrs. Fertel was the first licensed female Thoroughbred trainer in Louisiana and a prominent horse owner for many years. Also posthumously interned in the Fair Grounds infield is 1978 Fair Grounds Oaks winner La Doree who was owned by Earl Scheib, a prominent West Coast owner for many years.

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Don’t Bet On Most Accomplished Colt Being Favored in Derby

The Week in Review by T.D. Thornton

Epicenter (Not This Time) is the first horse on this year's GI Kentucky Derby trail to arrive back in the proverbial clubhouse. His afternoon work is finished for the next six weeks, and he's earned his berth in America's most important horse race in a thoroughly professional manner that checks many of the boxes on the Derby desirability list.

Epicenter's never-in-doubt dismantling of the GII Louisiana Derby field serves as a microcosm of his overall body of work: He's an adept breaker from the gate. His running style is speed-centric without a crazed need to seize the lead. He cranks out up-tempo quarter-mile splits without showing visible signs of duress. He can fight the entire length of the stretch (although he didn't need to in Saturday's even-keeled 2 1/2-length win), and he gallops out past the wire like he wants more.

You want additional attributes that suggest a blanket of roses on the first Saturday in May could be within this $260,000 Keeneland September colt's grasp? Epicenter, as a January foal with six lifetime races, has an edge as one of the oldest and most seasoned sophomores. His Beyer Speed Figures have ascended in each race without any wild fluctuations that might make them seem suspect. He's won four starts, including three around two turns, one each at nine furlongs and 1 3/16 miles, and one over the Derby surface at Churchill Downs.

Epicenter's only loss within the past six months came after he forced the issue from between foes in the GIII Lecomte S., held off a wall of horses at the top of the lane, repulsed a strong bid from the all-out favorite through the length of the long Fair Grounds stretch, then got nailed the wire by a last-gasp 28-1 shot (before quickly surging back in front several jumps after the finish).

The 102 Beyer this Winchell Thoroughbreds colorbearer earned in his Louisiana Derby romp is going to get a lot of ink. But here's an even more impressive set of metrics that won't get as much attention: Of all the two-turn Derby qualifying races run in 2022, regardless of the distance, only three of them have featured internal quarter-mile splits under 25 seconds each. Epicenter orchestrated two of those performances–his Louisiana Derby and Grade II Risen Star S. wins (The other prep with all sub-25-second quarters was the GIII Holy Bull S. at Gulfstream.)

Yet despite that impressive list of accomplishments, it's a likely bet Epicenter won't be favored on Derby Day.

More than any other race of the year, betting on the Derby is highly driven by headlines and easy-to-grasp media narratives. Recency bias also plays a big role, meaning the wagering public puts outsized emphasis on events that have just occurred at the expense of those farther back in the rear-view mirror.

Put another way, Derby bettors love to zero in on compelling story lines that have to do with explosive last-race wins by young colts perceived as sky's-the-limit contenders (especially if they have human connections who love to talk up their chances).

While Epicenter is a lot of things in racehorse terms, it would be a stretch to label him as “flashy.” Crank-it-out consistency is more his style, and those types of Thoroughbreds typically get overlooked because there's no wave of hype driving the wagering sentiment.

Six weeks is a small eternity in the lead-up to the Derby. As the glow of Epicenter's shining winter/spring campaign recedes, how many times between now and May 7 do you think trainer Steve Asmussen is going to have to politely address his 0-for-23 record in the Derby, the longest active drought on record? That one stat will be repeated over and over again, and even if you don't believe it's entirely relevant to Epicenter's chances, it will certainly serve to inflate his odds.

Epicenter's broad, bay shoulders must also carry the burden of the Louisiana Derby itself. Not only is the premier race in New Orleans one of the least-productive Kentucky Derby prep races in history, but it's also one that increasingly appears to be infused with weird juju.

The Louisiana Derby dates to 1894. Only two horses have won the Louisiana Derby and then the Kentucky Derby–Grindstone in 1996 and Black Gold in 1924. One Louisiana Derby runner-up–Funny Cide in 2003–also scored in Louisville. But that's it. No other horse who even competed in the Louisiana Derby–regardless of where he finished–has ever crossed the finish wire first under Churchill's twin spires.

Yet now, because of oddball circumstances, the Louisiana Derby is on the verge of having two of its also-rans within the past three years recognized as Kentucky Derby winners via disqualification–Country House in 2019 (because of Maximum Security's in-race foul) and Mandaloun in 2021 (pending the still-under-appeal drug DQ of Medina Spirit).

Country House never raced again after his Derby win via DQ. Grindstone also never raced again after his Louisiana/Kentucky Derby double, and when he died last week at age 29, he was the oldest living Kentucky Derby winner.

But the career arc of Black Gold is more improbable than both of those bizarre happenstances combined.

According to legend (as recapped in Black Gold's National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame bio), a horse owner in the 1910s named Al Hoots had a deathbed vision that his 34-for-122 mare U-See-It (sometimes spelled without the hyphens) would be bred to Col. E. R. Bradley's stallion Black Toney, and that the foal would win the Kentucky Derby. The mare had been so special to Hoots that he once–armed with a shotgun–refused to hand her over after she got claimed out of a race in Juarez, Mexico.

Several years later, after Hoots died, his widow, Rosa Hoots, did indeed breed U-See-It to Black Toney. When oil was discovered a short time later on her Oklahoma property, Mrs. Hoots became wealthy overnight, and in the spirit of the fortuitous oil strike, she named the colt Black Gold. As her husband had predicted, Black Gold won the 1924 Kentucky Derby, making Rosa the first woman to breed and own a Derby winner.

Black Gold was retired to stud but was not fertile. He sired exactly one foal, a colt. It was killed by a lightning strike.

At age six, Black Gold was returned to the racetrack for an ill-fated comeback. He went 0-for-4, and in his final start at the Fair Grounds, on Jan. 18, 1928, he suffered a catastrophic injury and was buried in the track infield.

The Louisiana Derby hasn't been short on talent in recent decades. Some pretty nice winners out of that race–Risen Star, Peace Rules, Hot Rod Charlie–blossomed into Grade I victors without winning the Kentucky Derby. Asmussen himself even trained two eventual Grade I grads who won the Louisiana Derby, namely Gun Runner and Pyro.

This spring, Epicenter has a chance to rewrite the Derby map that links New Orleans and Louisville. And if you like his chances in the aftermath of his Louisiana Derby score and what he's shown us so far, just wait another month and a half for his price to ripen come Kentucky Derby day.

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This Side Up: Horses, Not Humans, Back At The Epicenter

First things first: let's give their chance to the guys off the bench.

Okay, so there are going to be plenty of eyeballs rolled now that three of Bob Baffert's four Derby migrants are joining a former assistant, on the same circuit, with a total of 38 starters to his name this year—especially as it was the handling of another Baffert medication violation that reportedly caused the scuffle between this same gentleman and a fellow trainer at Clocker's Corner one morning last April. (Both were fined $500.)

The wiseguys will doubtless be finding a mischievous prompt in the name of one of these horses, Doppelganger (Into Mischief). But let's remember that Tim Yakteen learned the ropes not from one Hall of Famer, but two; and that the racing gods owe him, big time, after the harrowing loss of his breakout horse, Points Offthebench (Benchmark), in his final work before the Breeders' Cup. What might have been can be judged from that horse's posthumous Eclipse Award, while Yakteen has more recently reiterated what he can do, from modest resources, with Cal-bred Horse of the Year Mucho Unusual (Mucho Macho Man).

(Click below to hear this column as a podcast.)

The horsemanship of Rodolphe Brisset, meanwhile, has already made a significant contribution to Baffert's Classic resumé, in laying the foundations for the Triple Crown campaign of Justify (Scat Daddy).

So while these four horses are hardly following Life Is Good (Into Mischief) to a big rival on the East Coast, we should respect whatever combination of principle and pragmatism has governed their departure from Baffert's barn. You (and he) can argue about the level of his culpability, in piling so many storm clouds over his community, but Baffert deserves its gratitude in at least stating that his own interests—even where coinciding with precepts as critical to the functioning of our society as fairness in the workplace and the courtroom—are transcended by those of the sport, his investors and their horses.

In claiming personal credit as the impetus for their transfer, then, Baffert definitely gets some here. After all, we've repeatedly urged that the real test of decency in this situation was faced by Baffert himself—and not the friends and patrons who found their good fortune, in having a Derby horse, haplessly turned into some kind of public examination of character or fidelity. All parties had to remember that these horses are only passing through their stewardship, and that many, many others have had a stake in breeding and raising them.

To that extent, in fact, one hopes that the grooms who have been tending these horses have been given the opportunity of sharing their loan to other trainers. But it's edifying, regardless, that their boss and his patrons have in effect acknowledged that the Derby is bigger even than Bob Baffert; and not persevered in a stance that implied things to be the other way round.

First and foremost, no doubt, that represents sound business. Certainly it feels way too much to hope that a similar breadth of perspective might now also prompt Baffert just to accept that it would be far better for everybody—perhaps even for his own sanity—to call off his lawyers, without having to cede an inch in terms of his grievances; to take his sanctions on the chin; and to reset.
As it is, he has already lost the services (and permanently, one imagines) of the G1 Dubai World Cup favorite; and must instead rely on a less theatrical but splendidly stubborn animal to draw the sting of Life Is Good.

Country Grammer (Tonalist) will be carrying the same silks as poor Medina Spirit (Protonico), who has posthumous representation in this field through two of his principal crop antagonists. For if it's the “Black Gold” beneath the surface that has effectively summoned Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) and Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) to the desert, then you might say they are on pretty familiar ground. True, in helping to make the GII Louisiana Derby the strongest trial last year, they left undisturbed the status of the champion bearing that name, whose remains are interred in the Fair Grounds infield, as one of only two horses to win both that race and the Run for the Roses. Because Mandaloun (Into Mischief) gave no indication, that day at least, that he would be the one to benefit when Medina Spirit was effaced from the record.

The picturesque tale of Black Gold, named for the discovery of oil in Oklahoma, is much cherished among those who took local pride in the revival last year of the New Orleans road to Churchill. How poignant, then, is the loss this very week of the only other horse to do the double, Grindstone (Unbridled), just days after acceding (from Go For Gin) as the oldest living Derby winner.
That distinction has now passed to the 28-year-old Silver Charm (Silver Buck), as it happens in the same week that he was joined at Old Friends by his old rival Swain (Nashwan). Those two sure have a few memories to mull over together, notably the gray's photo-finish success in the 1998 Dubai World Cup.

In carving his name below that of Grindstone in the Derby roll of honor, Silver Charm represented something of a baton switch between Wayne Lukas and Baffert, albeit the senior of the two came back a couple of years later with his fourth winner in Charismatic (Summer Squall)—and could yet redeem this whole mess if Secret Oath (Arrogate) can become his fifth.

Incidentally, both Charismatic and Grindstone were out of mares by Drone, who as a son of Secretariat's sibling Sir Gaylord, duly magnified the Somethingroyal distaff brand. Somethingroyal's replication (twice) in the famous family of Summer Squall made Charismatic's failure at stud a dismal disappointment, though he was typical of the old-school priorities driving the Japanese investment that has ultimately produced 22 starters on the World Cup card.

There are never any guarantees with these animals, as we know. Black Gold's one and only foal was killed by lightning. On the other hand, the Derby trail is this spring celebrating the dynasty founded by Storm Cat, himself of course out of a Secretariat mare, through one of the final foals of Giant's Causeway and at least a couple of colts by Not This Time, including Louisiana Derby favorite Epicenter.

One of my more wearily familiar complaints is that the starting points system has stripped the sprint speed out of the first Saturday in May, and Epicenter certainly looks eligible to emulate Medina Spirit and several others to have lately controlled, pretty much at their leisure, what was previously just about the most extreme test of all for a maturing Thoroughbred. As we've discussed before, Epicenter has some copper-bottomed European stayers seeding his bottom line and somebody, somehow, is going to have to press him hard and long if he is to be softened up sufficiently for Call Me Midnight (Midnight Lute) to pounce late again.

Funnily enough, Call Me Midnight himself represents a very similar blend of American dirt speed and European grass stamina, his third dam Slightly Dangerous having produced an Epsom Derby winner among several other Classic protagonists. Someday, perhaps, people will notice how often this kind of formula, once standard but now sadly neglected, still pays off when given a chance.
In the meantime let's hope that the Louisiana Derby, in tribute to the passing of Grindstone, consolidates a revival also underlined by the return to the card, in an excellent race for the GII New Orleans Classic, of last year's fourth Proxy (Tapit).

Proxy! Now there's a word that nobody should be misusing over the coming weeks, as the Baffert exiles make a belated bid to get on the Derby trail. Why shouldn't Baffert and his supporters give an opportunity to people who are on his side, people he respects and wants to do well? It will be much easier to root for these horses, this way; and they know they will never win the cynics round anyway.

If not everybody is going to love the solution, that's tough. At least the Baffert team has resolved the impasse and, if only in one regard, finally started to move things on a little. And that deserves reciprocation. So let's give Yakteen and Brisset due respect. And—quaint, crazy notion—let's restore our attention, and that of the fans, from the flaws inevitable with any and all human judgement, our own included, and back onto these beautiful horses.

The post This Side Up: Horses, Not Humans, Back At The Epicenter appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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