Time to analyze the 2021 Kentucky Derby field, in post position order, in the form of Haiku; a Japanese poem of 17 syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five.
To read previous editions of The Haiku Handicapper, click here.
#1 – Known Agenda
A nightmare post draw
Torpedoes a true win threat
Still play underneath
#2 – Like the King
His road to Churchill
Traversed over Tapeta
Hard to envision
#3 – Brooklyn Strong
A last-minute call
When does that idea work?
Won't be on tickets
#4 – Keepmeinmind
Soph slump in effect
Likes the track, but that feels like
A lifetime ago
#5 – Sainthood
Recovered nicely
After Turfway donnybrook
He'll pass a few late
#6 – O Besos
Won't be knocked around
He'll earn his graded stakes due
In the months to come
#7 – Mandaloun
Early momentum
Was doused by a Fair Grounds dud
Rebounds don't win here
#8 – Medina Spirit
Couldn't seal the deal
Once he got the starting gig
On Baffert's depth chart
#9 – Hot Rod Charlie
The parts appear there
Just not sure how much I trust
The Fair Grounds prep route
#10 – Midnight Bourbon
Last two running lines
Have the same end: Outfinished
Leave him on the shelf
#11 – Dynamic One
Rapid improvement
Might not take home the roses
But wait for the Spa
#12 – Helium
Has seen Thanksgiving
As much as he's seen a race
Since mid-October
#13 – Hidden Stash
A late-stage grinder
Can't hang with mid-tier hopefuls
Not a potent blend
#14 – Essential Quality
The unbeaten champ
Does little else but ace tests
Why would he stop now?
#15 – Rock Your World
Turf-to-dirt success
We'll know all we need to know
After the first turn
#17 – Highly Motivated
Nearly nipped the champ
A breakout win's imminent
Worth a small “win” share
#18 – Super Stock
Surprised at Oaklawn
Breaking his “check-getter” cred
Can't get too enthused
#19 – Soup and Sandwich
An uncommon sight
An Into Mischief that's gray
Might grab a mouthful
#20 – Bourbonic
Long-priced Wood winner
Needs the home stretch seas to part
Tough “win” strategy
Prediction
Champion retains
“Quality” resume grows
Then nine, seventeen
LOUISVILLE, KY – Despite heavy overnight rain leaving the Churchill Downs main track a sloppy mess, there was still plenty to take in during Thursday's GI Kentucky Derby/Oaks training session, including an appearance by the horse that has the big bulls-eye on his back.
Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}), Soup and Sandwich (Into Mischief) and Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) drew a nice crowd of admirers by the Lukas gap as the track was being sealed beneath ominous skies and humid conditions just a tick before 7:30 a.m.
With his tail tied, Medina Spirit (Protonico) was among the first to enter and had a nice bounce to his step jogging by the wrong way over the saturated surface.
Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse stood on the track to watch his duo of the stunning gray Soup and Sandwich and Helium (Ironicus) jog. You certainly know who the crew at TDN will be rooting for Saturday.
Casse exchanged pleasantries by the gap with team Medina Spirit–Bob Baffert and John Velazquez–as his pair made their way back to the barn.
Likely Derby second-choice Rock Your World continues to give off good vibes. With his high-knee action, you can see why the unbeaten GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby winner began his career on grass. Shades of Barbaro and Big Brown? That's where my money is heading.
Even with a pair of blinkers on, Hot Rod Charlie still gave the cameras and media lined up on the backstretch a glance passing by alongside his famous stable pony Lava Man. Hot Rod Charlie may arguably be reaching out the best over the surface during his gallops from all of the Derby horses this week. Ignore at your own risk.
The unbeaten morning-line favorite and champion 2-year-old Essential Quality (Tapit) doesn't exactly wow you during his training, but the last time we checked, it only counts in the afternoons.
His Brad Cox-trained stablemate and fellow 'Rising Star' Mandaloun (Into Mischief), however, has become a bit of a buzz horse despite a puzzling last-out sixth in the GII Louisiana Derby. That's how good he's looked in the flesh.
Both of the Cox runners went to the gate, and interestingly enough, Essential Quality's white-and-blue Godolphin branded blinkers were removed after his schooling session. He went on to gallop for about 1 5/8 miles afterward without the shades.
Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow)'s antics on the backstretch and paddock schooling sessions have been well-documented on Twitter this week–getting loose during bath time will do that–but he's had his eyes on the prize while training for what it's worth. Interesting longshot to consider.
Back at the barns, meanwhile, the easy-to-root-for native of Kentucky trainer Greg Foley chatted with Jeff Lifson and a group of West Point partners. The stretch-running O Besos (Orb) jogged a mile a bit earlier around 6:15 a.m.
King Fury (Curlin) seemed to be enjoying himself once again over the off going–he certainly did so last out in the GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. His handler smiled for a quick photo and asked the flashy, blaze-faced chestnut to pose as he was getting cleaned up outside of Ken McPeek's headquarters.
Have to love seeing that heavyweight champ Tyson Fury will be in his corner and did in fact take McPeek up on his Twitter invite to attend the Derby.
“It's always something I've been interested in, the biggest horse race in the world,” Fury told ESPN. “I've always wanted to go to the Kentucky Derby, never had the opportunity to do so. This is the opportunity to do so.”
With his ears up, Essential Quality's class and great mind were on display, never turning a hair before a group of media assembled for his bath.
With more heavy rain looming, his blue-and-white Godolphin cooler was on again shortly and it was back to his stall as training hours began to wind down.
William Strauss owns one-quarter of Kentucky Derby contender Hot Rod Charlie, last-out winner of the Louisiana Derby, and garnered instant social-media fame due to an ecstatic TVG interview filmed after the 3-year-old colt's front-running victory at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans.
“I'm an incredibly even-keel, non-emotional guy,” Strauss told the KHBPA's Jennie Rees earlier this week. “”I have a son that's 33 and a daughter that's 30, and even they were impressed by how I was 'trending' on Twitter from that interview. I don't know where that came from. I had no idea I even had that in me. People are always telling me, 'Oh, we've never seen you like that.' Well, I've never been like that.”
The co-founder and CEO of ProFlowers.com, an online flower company, Strauss has owned a share in two Breeders' Cup winners and a total of seven Grade 1 winners. There's something entirely different about having a horse headed for the first Saturday in May.
“Before I got involved in ProFlowers, I didn't know the difference between a flower and tulip, except for the first Saturday in May,” Strauss quipped. “I knew those were roses.”
He'd attended the Kentucky Derby before, as a guest of Chris McCarron in the year 2000, but said that experience pales in comparison to this year beneath the Twin Spires in Louisville, Ky.
“It was fun to come to the Derby, and it was a good life experience,” Strauss said. “But to have a horse in it, it's a completely different level of probably anything I've ever done in my life. I've not experienced or felt anything like I do now, having a horse in the Kentucky Derby.”
The other owners in Hot Rod Charlie include Gainesway Thoroughbreds; Roadrunner Racing, operated by the retired Silicon Valley advertising executive who worked with Steve Jobs on the Apple account three days a week, Greg Helm; and Boat Racing, operated by trainer Doug O'Neill's nephew, Patrick O'Neill, a 26-year-old Brown graduate and vice president for sales and strategic partnerships at Founder Sport Group.
Roadrunner Racing is comprised of a half-dozen retired country club members and their wives from Palm Springs, Calif., and led by Helm.
Boat Racing is comprised of a group of five fraternity brothers of Theta Delta Chi at Brown University who were also teammates on the football team: Eric Armagost, Dan Giovacchini, Reiley Higgins, Patrick O'Neill, and Alex Quoyeser. The syndicate was named for a drinking game they played in college.
At Tuesday's post-position draw, in which Hot Rod Charlie drew the nine-hole, Boat Racing led the chorus of cheers after the position was announced.
“We (the trainer and his sizable contingent of owners, including five former college football players who are in their 20s) decided we were going to give it a pump no matter what post we drew,” O'Neill told Churchill publicity. “But we're delighted with the nine. It's a real good post. And the way they load this field, it means we won't be standing in the gate very long. They'll put us in, then one other and we're gone. We're really happy with it.”
Owners of Hot Rod Charlie cheer at Tuesday's post position draw
Hot Rod Charlie is a half-brother to Eclipse Award-winning sprinter Mitole, so early expectations for the son of Oxbow were for him to enjoy shorter distances. He sold for just $17,000 as a short yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky February Mixed Sale, and was pinhooked through the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling sale, at which he brought a final bid of $110,000 from bloodstock agent Dennis O'Neill, the trainer's brother.
Though it took him several starts to break his maiden for two-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Doug O'Neill, Hot Rod Charlie did so in impressive enough fashion in his fourth race that O'Neill sent him straight to Keeneland for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Sent off as the longest shot in the field at 94-1, Hot Rod Charlie finished second, beaten just three-quarters of a length by Champion Essential Quality.
“We were so happy to finish second, which I've never been happy to finish second at anything in my life, but it's what it symbolizes,” Strauss explained. “It symbolized that we were a legitimate horse on the Derby trail. That's when we realized we had something there, and he could really be good, and he's continued to get better and better, and he's a happy horse.
“I tell people that it's like the first time that you're in love. It's the first thing that you think about when you wake up, it's the last thing you think about when you go to sleep, and you think about it every minute in between. Literally it's been like that since the Breeders' Cup race.”
This year, Hot Rod Charlie had a bit of a rough trip when finishing third, beaten just a neck for the victory, in the G3 Bob Lewis Stakes at his home track of Santa Anita Park in late January. O'Neill sent the colt to Fair Grounds to contest the G2 Louisiana Derby in March, and Hot Rod Charlie grabbed the lead shortly after the start and held it all the way through to the wire, earning himself the coveted spot in the starting gate for this Saturday's Kentucky Derby.
Hot Rod Charlie will get a new pilot for the Run for the Roses, Flavien Prat, who was awarded victory in the 2019 Kentucky Derby when the horse first across the wire, Maximum Security, was disqualified.
Strauss is feeling confident that Hot Rod Charlie and Team O'Neill, including Hall of Fame racehorse-turned-stable-pony Lava Man, who shipped to Louisville with the colt, are up to the task.
The “Coach,” Hall of Famer Lava Man, ponies Kentucky Derby contender Hot Rod Charlie at Churchill Downs
“If we cross that finish line first, if we're fortunate enough and lucky enough, and the horse is good enough, stay tuned,” said Strauss. “I just don't know; I've never showed that kind of emotion before, and I don't know what's ahead of me.
“I was fortunate enough to open Wall Street one time when we took our company public, and that was pretty exciting. It's far more exciting to have a $20,000 claimer cross the finish line first. It's that adrenaline rush, it's the competition… and just to be around the horses in the mornings. They all have such different personalities, and you can come feed them a carrot. There's just something very, very special about this whole game.”
LOUISVILLE, KY – With the first Saturday in May just days away, TDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack caught up with the connections of leading GI Kentucky Derby contenders to get some of their 'Early Impressions.' In this edition, we check in with Hermitage Farm General Manager Bill Landes and Ocala, Florida, horseman Eddie Woods.
Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) found another gear in the stretch to punch his ticket to Louisville in the GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby. Last year's 94-1 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile runner-up, a $17,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky February yearling turned $110,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall yearling pinhook by Bob and Sean Feld, is a product of the late Edward A. Cox, Jr.'s breeding program. The half-brother to champion sprinter Mitole (Eskendereya) was bred and raised on Cox's behalf by Hermitage Farm. Cox purchased Hot Rod Charlie's second dam, the unbeaten SW Glacken's Gal (Smoke Glacken), for $250,000 at the 2008 KEEJAN sale. After bringing $240,000 from WinStar at the 2018 KEENOV Sale, Hot Rod Charlie's dam Indian Miss (Indian Charlie) brought $1.9 million from OXO Equine, in foal to leading sire Into Mischief, at the 2020 KEENOV sale. Two-time Kentucky Derby winning-trainer Doug O'Neill trains Hot Rod Charlie for Roadrunner Racing, Boat Racing and William Strauss.
Known Agenda (Curlin) has really taken his game to the next level since adding blinkers for Todd Pletcher in two starts this term, headed by a powerful performance in the GI Curlin Florida Derby. The St. Elias homebred, out of GI Vanity H. heroine Byrama (GB) (Byron {GB}), RNA'd for $135,000 as a Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling. Byrama was acquired privately by St. Elias after RNA'ing for $725,000 at the 2013 KEENOV sale. With the COVID-19 pandemic throwing a wrench into the 2-year-old sales schedule last spring, the chestnut, originally ticketed for the canceled Gulfstream Sale with consignor Eddie Woods, was instead held on to by his breeder Vinnie Viola and taken to the races. Last year's GI Kentucky Derby/GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner and Horse of the Year Authentic was a graduate of Woods's training program. Woods also trained and pinhooked 2008 Derby winner Big Brown ($60,000 FTKOCT yearling turned $190,000 KEEAPR 2yo).
HOT ROD CHARLIE:
“This guy early on was beset with gastrointestinal issues–maybe three days of age–and then again in the summer of his foal year, and had to go to the clinic two times for treatment, and therefore he was setback, physically. When we got him straight, Mr. Cox had already decided to disperse at Keeneland November, but was gonna take the worst of it with this guy pushing him there. We were all in agreement, and I said, 'Let's just pass and I'll get him sold.' I tried to sell him privately and then eventually the Fasig February deadline came and we had to find a home for him and that's where we were.
I can tell you this, from that October of his weanling year, however, he was not going backwards, he was progressing, but he was just behind. But every step he was making was forward. And that's what I told the Felds when they bought him [at Fasig February] and that's what I told everybody that I tried to sell him to, that he was heading the right way that his gastrointestinal issues were taken care of.
His record speaks for itself, he really hasn't looked back from that fall. Everything has been positive and forward. I told the Felds after they bought him, 'You guys stole another one.' He was always a solid colt.”
Looking back now, did Hot Rod Charlie remind you of his now-famous half-brother Mitole at all?
“It was too early to tell. Mitole was pretty straightforward. We didn't have this horse long enough for me to make that impression. To the people that I tried to sell Hot Rod privately to, I did say that he had a half brother that looks well above average.
The sad part of it all is Ed Cox would've absolutely been thrilled following Mitole and Hot Rod Charlie. Oh my God. He wouldn't have bragged. He wouldn't have patted himself on the back to the point he needed Tommy John Surgery. He wouldn't have done that. He would've taken quiet delight that he was the breeder of two really nice horses.
I'm sorry he missed it. We sold Hot Rod in February and Ed died in March. I'm sad about that.” –Bill Landes
KNOWN AGENDA:
“He was a really laid-back horse–a very quiet, good-moving horse. He was pointing to the [Gulfstream] sale, but it was questionable whether he had enough speed to be a proper 2-year-old sale horse. I don't know if the 2-year-old sales would've been the ideal environment for him. But he always moved good and trained good. He just lacked the little bit of sharp toe. When the sale was canceled, he went into a different program and just went along nicely.
I think in this year's Derby, every one has a chance to be a Derby horse. It's that kind of race. He'll run a good race. He'll be closing and he'll get the trip, which I suspect a lot of them won't. The faster they go, the better off he'll be.
It's great for our program and our team. The one consistency we've seen with the Derby horses and the horses that run well in the Derby is that they're really classy acting. They have great composure and they handle all the turmoil that comes with it– prepping for the Derby and the whole day in itself.
He's incredibly laid back–I spoke with Todd [Pletcher] at one of the 2-year-old sales about him and he said he's the same now as he was then.” –Eddie Woods
