Shoe and Whittingham Appear Confident They Can Repeat Derby Win

Temperate Sil, still looking fresh, was coming off the Churchill Downs track Wednesday morning after working a mile in 1:40 3/5. As Bill Shoemaker rode the 3-year-old roan to the barn, somebody asked him how the colt felt.

“Like a horse,” said Shoemaker, who’s got a million of ‘em--horses and jokes.

Back at Barn 41, while Temperate Sil was cooling out, it was noted that this horse is quartered in the same place where Ferdinand hung out before he gave Shoemaker and trainer Charlie Whittingham the victory in the Kentucky Derby last year. In this year’s Derby, a week from Saturday, Shoemaker and Whittingham will be trying to become the first jockey-trainer combination to double up in the race since Ron Turcotte and Lucien Laurin kept smelling roses with Riva Ridge and Secretariat in 1972-73.

“Are you superstitious about being in the same barn?” Whittingham was asked.

“No, just cautious,” Whittingham said.

If the 74-year-old Whittingham were superstitious, his numerology would be against him. He was born on April 13, 1913; last Sunday, with Rosedale, he won the San Juan Capistrano Handicap at Santa Anita for the 13th time; and now he’s running a horse in the 113th Derby.

Last year, Ferdinand surprised the public, although Whittingham and Shoemaker were privately confident. He paid $37.40 to win. This year, having won the Santa Anita Derby, Temperate Sil will be no secret. In fact, Phil Hauswald, who trains Arkansas Derby winner Demons Begone, says that Temperate Sil is the horse to beat and predicts that he’ll be the favorite. Only two jockeys--Eddie Arcaro and Bill Hartack--have won the Derby five times, and Shoemaker could tie their record this year.

“If he runs like he did in the Santa Anita Derby, he’ll be the horse to beat,” said the 55-year-old Shoemaker, who left Louisville after Wednesday’s workout to return to Hollywood Park. The trip was worth it. Through the magic of jet transportation and three time zones, Shoemaker arrived at the track less than two hours before the opening-day feature and guided Jamoke to a one-lenth victory over Persevered.

There are so many horses that have legitimate chances to win this year’s Derby that it won’t help a handicapper to compare just one race, but Shoemaker reviewed the Santa Anita Derby and the Arkansas Derby, anyway.

At Santa Anita, Temperate Sil finished more than seven lengths ahead of Lookinforthebigone, who was fourth while making his first stakes appearance in only his third race.

In the Arkansas Derby two weeks later, Lookinforthebigone set the pace, as he had at Santa Anita, then finished second, 3 1/2 lengths behind Demons Begone.

“We beat the same horse and we beat him easier,” Shoemaker said.

Pat Day, however, riding Demons Begone in the Arkansas Derby, only had to give his colt a hand ride to the wire against Lookinforthebigone. But in fairness to Shoemaker, Temperate Sil did put away Lookinforthebigone sooner--before they reached the quarter pole--in the Santa Anita Derby.

Demons Begone will be the only Derby starter who’s won all of his races as a 3-year-old. Temperate Sil didn’t win at all this year until the Santa Anita Derby, running fifth and third in his first appearances since capturing the Hollywood Futurity last December.

“Those first two races were a combination of things,” Shoemaker said. “The off tracks, the horse’s conditioning, they were all factors.”

Whittingham worked Temperate Sil a year later to the day that he gave Ferdinand his last extended workout prior to the Derby. There was a difference in that Temperate Sil’s mile came unescorted; Ferdinand had worked in company with Hidden Light, Whittingham’s top filly.

“Ferdinand is lazy in the mornings; you have to give him something to run at,” Whittingham said. “We sacrificed a good filly, we cooked her so that she didn’t run much in the Kentucky Oaks the day before the Derby, but she’s come back to do all right.”

Wednesday’s workout was not without incident. On the first turn, there were three horses galloping in front of Temperence Sil, and Shoemaker, who would have preferred staying along the rail, moved his mount out to split the resistance.

“It didn’t help and it didn’t hurt,” Shoemaker said.

Whittingham said that Churchill Downs’ track was on the dull side Wednesday morning. Before Temperate Sil went out, at a little past 8, there was a pall over the barn area, because of a horrible collision at dawn between two inexpensive horses. One of them, a 3-year-old filly, is not likely to race again and may have to be destroyed because of injuries.

“My horse got something out of the work,” Whittingham said. “He’s got good speed. If we can draw a decent post (away from the outside in an approximate field of 16) and get position, he won’t be as far back early as Ferdinand was.”

One post Whittingham wouldn’t want is No. 13. But not because he’s superstitious. It’s just that no Derby horse has finished first out of that spot since 1947.