Big Al’s Express Sits Down on Job, Fails to Prove That He Can Race

Big Al’s Express, the colt who has never run a race, misbehaved in the starting gate before a workout Wednesday and failed to convince Churchill Downs’ official starter that he is experienced enough to run in Saturday’s Derby Trial.

“He broke all right,” starter Tom Wagoner said. “But before that, he sat down (in the gate) and was ‘goosey.’ It took two of my people to get him up. Rules are rules, and a horse who can’t handle the gate isn’t ready to race. I’m doing what I’d do for any other maiden on the grounds that acted like this.”

Unraced horses must routinely be approved by the track starter before they are allowed to run.

Tom Allen, the trainer and co-owner of Big Al’s Express, hopes to use the Derby Trial to prepare the colt to run in the Kentucky Derby on May 4. Wagoner said that if Big Al’s Express does better in the gate today, just a couple of hours before entry time, he would allow the horse to run in the Derby Trial.

After Big Al’s Express got rolling in company with two other horses Wednesday, he ran seven furlongs in a slow 1:31 over a track that was officially sloppy but seemed more muddy.

Maidens--horses that haven’t won, not necessarily horses that haven’t raced--have won the Derby three times, the last being Brokers Tip in 1933.

Big Al’s Express arrived at Churchill Downs last Friday after a four-day, 2,500-mile van trip from Stockton.