THOROUGHBRED RACING : Second Coming of Apollo Could Be First ‘Repeat’ Winner in the Kentucky Derby

Joe Hirsch, the executive columnist for the Daily Racing Form, occasionally measures modern horses against Hindoo, the winner of the 1881 Kentucky Derby. “The horse ran like the second coming of Hindoo,” Hirsch has been known to write.

Running at Santa Anita today, in the San Miguel Stakes, is the second coming of Apollo, who won the Derby the year after Hindoo. This 2-year-old colt doesn’t have to win another race to be known as the second Apollo, because that’s also his name, in an apparent oversight that the Jockey Club has been unable to explain.

The Jockey Club, the clearing house that approves what horses may be called, has a rule that the names of Kentucky Derby winners can’t be used again. But when Diane Keith, one of the owners of the latest Apollo, submitted the name, the Jockey Club’s research apparently didn’t go back to 1882, when the first Apollo, at 10-1 odds, upset Runnymede with what the Derby chart called a “cyclonic rush” at the eighth pole.

“Diane knew about the first Apollo,” said Harold Keith, Diane’s husband. “But she sent in the name, anyway, hoping that the record of the first horse had sifted through their machines.”

It used to be that when Diane Keith named horses, she would submit more than one name. “Most of the time, they would rule out our preferred names and give us the worst one we submitted,” she said. “So with Apollo, it was the first and only name I sent in. It was the perfect name for him. He has a golden tail, and he’s the sun god to us.”

Bred by his owners and trained by Gary Jones, who says that Apollo is the quickest 2-year-old he’s ever had, the Falstaff-Tumble Along colt’s career consists of two wins at Hollywood Park, including a five-length victory while running six furlongs in 1:09 on Dec. 6.

The original Apollo never raced as a 2-year-old and is still the only Derby winner who didn’t have any running experience as a juvenile. Apollo was also one of seven geldings to win the Derby, the last being Clyde Van Dusen in 1929. Apollo was a Kentucky-bred, but his bloodlines are so obscure that in his pedigree record the sire is listed as Ashstead or Lever.

The 19th-century Apollo might have rested as a 2-year-old, but once he was introduced to the races, there was no letup. In his Derby year, he went postward 21 times, and by the time he was retired in 1885, he had run 55 races. He had 10 victories and, with a Derby prize of $4,560, purses totaling $21,680. The Keiths’ Apollo has already earned $33,550.

“I wasn’t aware of the first Apollo’s record,” Harold Keith said. “How did they keep horses sound to run that many times?”

For one thing, they didn’t carry as much weight. Apollo had an impost of 102 pounds in the Derby, 24 pounds less than today’s conditions.

Another owner of Apollo redux is Leon Rasmussen, the bloodlines expert for the Daily Racing Form who retired in 1987 after 50 years with the newspaper. The Form continues to champion the Dosage Index, an oft-maligned system of eliminating Derby contenders that was popularized by Rasmussen. In simplest terms, dosage measures the speed and stamina of horses, based on a pedigree analysis that goes back four generations.

“Last year’s Derby was a remarkable one for dosage,” Rasmussen said. “Not counting Mister Frisky, who was in a separate category because he was a foreign (Puerto Rican) champion, there were only three horses in the field who had the right numbers. And those three (Unbridled, Summer Squall and Pleasant Tap) ran first, second and third. The horses without the required dosage finished far back.”

Gary Jones would be surprised if Apollo developed into a 1 1/4-mile horse, capable of winning the Derby.

Rasmussen was asked about his horse’s dosage. “He has a 2.20 index and a 0.58 center of distribution,” he rattled off. “That’s good. That puts him right in the middle.”

A further explanation of those figures will not be attempted. The curious can see the doctor of dosage. If Apollo continues running to his dosage, Rasmussen may be found in the Santa Anita winner’s circle about 4:30 this afternoon.

Horse Racing Notes

The three bettors who shared in a $250,000 pick-nine payoff at Santa Anita Wednesday offered to add a partner to their group after they had correctly picked the first eight winners on a $64 ticket. They asked him to put up $400 to buy in, but he declined and went home. . . . One of the winning bettors said he once missed a $1.3-million pick-nine payoff because his wife said that adding another horse would make the ticket too costly. The couple was on the road that day, listening to race results on the radio, when the husband said, “I’ll drive off the road if that horse wins.” He kept control of the car despite hearing the bad news.

Santa Anita will continue the pick nine with the guaranteed $250,000 minimum payoff. Because only $21,000 was in the pool on opening day, the track’s insurance company paid the difference to meet the guarantee. Santa Anita officials have declined to say what premium they pay for the coverage.

Gary Stevens could become the first jockey at Santa Anita to win a stake five consecutive times if Exploding Prospect wins the $100,000 Palos Verdes Handicap Saturday. Stevens has won the last four runnings of the Palos Verdes with Sunny Blossom, On the Line, High Brite and Bedside Promise. The high weights in the Palos Verdes field are both John Sadler trainees, Frost Free at 119 pounds and Valiant Pete at 117. Other starters are Burnt Hills, Tanker Port and Kipper Kelly.