Florida Derby : Romero and Brian’s Time Combine for $67.60 Upset

Randy Romero has been trying to win a Kentucky Derby since 1980, with no higher finish than a seventh in three tries.

Now, after two races run within 75 minutes of each other Saturday at Gulfstream Park, Romero is suddenly looking at a couple of 3-year-old colts who might lead him to the winner’s circle at Churchill Downs.

In the eighth race on a hot, humid afternoon in South Florida, Romero was dumped by his mount, Seeking the Gold, just as they were entering the track for the post parade, but the colt went on to win the race by a neck, running 7 furlongs in a brilliant 1:21 3/5 and extending his unbeaten streak to four races.

Seeking the Gold went off the 7-10 favorite. One race later, in the $300,000 Florida Derby, Romero was riding Brian’s Time, who was not to be confused as a favorite. But, despite being a winner of only two minor races in five starts, Brian’s Time carried Romero to victory by a neck over Forty Niner in a race that made the Kentucky Derby picture as confusing in Florida as it is in California.

With both Brian’s Time and Seeking the Gold likely to continue their move toward the Kentucky Derby via New York, Romero may eventually have to make a difficult decision, but it’s a spot that any jockey in the country would relish.

Romero got the chance to ride Brian’s Time for the first time only because Jerry Bailey, the colt’s jockey in four of his previous starts, was in Arkansas, riding Proper Reality, another 3-year-old, in the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park. Bailey also won his race, but his share of the winner’s purse was $3,642, while Romero collected $30,000--10% of Brian’s Time’s $300,000 purse--at Gulfstream.

Forty Niner, last year’s champion 2-year-old colt, finished second for the second time in three 1988 starts--in the other race he beat Notebook by a nose in Gulfstream’s Fountain of Youth--but he ran a strong race, not losing the lead until Romero’s right-handed whipping urged Brian’s Time ahead a couple of jumps before the wire.

The disappointment in the Florida Derby was Ruhlmann, who went off the 9-5 favorite based on a speedy win in the El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows. Despite working well over the Gulfstream strip since his arrival here 10 days ago, Ruhlmann was no better than fourth in the early going, then stopped to a walk and wound up eighth in the 10-horse field. There was a report after the race that Ruhlmann had bled from the lungs.

Notebook, after battling Forty Niner for the lead just as he had in the Fountain of Youth, finished third, two necks behind the winner. After the first three horses, the order of finish was Cherokee Colony, Sorry About That, Buoy, Evening Kris, Ruhlmann, Frosty the Snowman and Twice Too Many.

Brian’s Time, paying the third-highest win price in the 37 runnings of the Florida Derby, paid $67.60, $22.20 and $8. He had been considered by some players because of a fast-closing finish three weeks ago in the Fountain of Youth, in which he ran fourth behind Forty Niner, Notebook and Buoy. Forty Niner, the 3-1 second choice, paid $4.60 and $3.40, and Notebook returned $3.80.

Brian’s Time ran 1 1/8 miles in a so-so time of 1:49 4/5. Bred and owned by Wally Phillips, a son-in-law of Darby Dan Farm’s John Galbreath, he is a son of Roberto, an English Derby winner, and Kelly’s Day, a Graustark mare.

There were 7 stakes on Gulfstream’s 12-race Florida Derby program and Romero won 4 of them, breaking the national record of 3 that had been set by Larry Snyder at Louisiana Downs in 1981. Romero, 30, also won two stakes here Friday. His winners Saturday besides Brian’s Time and Seeking the Gold were Cadillacing, in a division of the Davona Dale, and Native Mommy, in a split of the Buckram Oak Handicap.

Romero declined to speculate about whether he’d choose Brian’s Time or Seeking the Gold if the time came, and he also wasn’t interested in comparing the horses.

“He ran better today than he ever has,” Romero said of Seeking the Gold. “He finished up real strong. I’m pretty sure he can go a distance because he relaxes real well. Coming out before the race, he saw some (television) cameras (just to the right of the end of the path) and jumped up and hit the rail.

“The other colt, I just let him run his own race. He’s good enough that I knew he was eventually going to get into it, and that’s what he did, finishing up nice.”

Forty Niner and Notebook ran 1-2 down the backstretch, with Cherokee Colony moving up to third by the time they approached the far turn. Brian’s Time was ninth after a half-mile, 11 1/2 lengths behind Forty Niner, and he was still 11 lengths back, in eighth place, after three-quarters.

Brian’s Time, running on the outside, began to accelerate on the turn and by the top of the stretch he was fourth, only three lengths back.

“He’s small and unassuming, he’s not a flashy horse,” said Brian’s Time’s trainer, John Veitch, who won the Florida Derby with Alydar in 1978. “But he likes to dig in. I knew the distance and the weight would be difficult for him. He picked up 6 pounds (to 118) off the last race. He answered some questions for us today.”

Ruhlmann only raised questions for his trainer, Bobby Frankel.

“If he’s the kind of horse who needs to be in a good spot in order to win, then he’s not the horse we thought he was,” Frankel said. “He wanted to run early. But then when he started backing out of it on the turn, I knew we were in trouble.”

Pat Day, Ruhlmann’s jockey, said that they were pinched in a traffic jam on the first turn.

“Then after he got clear, he was lugging in and quit running,” Day said.

Frankel did better in the race after the Florida Derby, but had to settle for second with another favorite, Aberuschka. Native Mommy, a 13-1 longshot, beat her by six lengths with Romero, that day-long spoiler, in the saddle.

Horse Racing Notes

John Veitch feels that it’s too early to make comparisons between Brian’s Time and Alydar. “But he’s as courageous as Alydar right now,” the trainer said. . . . Brian’s Time is named after the 3-year-old grandson of his owner, Wally Phillips. . . . The attendance was 32,035. . . . After Seeking the Gold spilled Randy Romero before his race, the colt was returned to the paddock and examined by the track veterinarian. His odds went down from 4-5 to 7-10 during the delay. “He scraped one of his back legs, but he was all right,” Shug McGaughey, Seeking the Gold’s trainer, said. “I told Randy to scratch him if he showed anything wrong after he got back to the track.” . . . Veitch took over the training job for Darby Dan Farm and Phillips four years ago. “I wasn’t surprised by the odds on Brian’s Time,” Veitch said. “There was a champion (Forty Niner) in the race, plus a few horses who had accomplished quite a bit. We were the new kids on the block.”