HORSE RACING / THE KENTUCKY DERBY : Opportunity Found When Mentor Is Lost

No one was more shocked than Juan (Paco) Gonzalez when trainer Joe Manzi died in the spring of 1989.

“He had been so happy when he left us at the barn that morning,” Gonzalez said. “The only thing I remember differently about that day was that he stayed at the barn until around 10 o’clock. It wasn’t like Joe to be there that late. He was a trainer who started early and finished early.”

Manzi, who was in his early 50s, had a history of heart trouble. Gonzalez came from Mexico in 1964 and spent more than 20 years in California as Manzi’s exercise rider and assistant trainer.

On Saturday, Gonzalez will saddle Mane Minister, one of the lesser-regarded West Coast horses at Churchill Downs, in the Kentucky Derby--a race Manzi twice failed to win.

If Manzi had not died, Gonzalez probably wouldn’t be running a horse in the Derby or supervising a large stable of horses for John Toffan and Trudy McCaffery, the Vancouver, Canada, twosome who began buying thoroughbreds two years ago.

“I was happy working with Joe,” Gonzalez said. “I didn’t have any plans to go out on my own with horses.”

Joe Manzi’s son, Dominick, took some of his father’s horses, and Gonzalez also wound up with some, but when Bob Hibbert, one of Manzi’s biggest clients, didn’t send his 2-year-olds to him, Gonzalez knew that he would need to find some business elsewhere.

“It was through circumstances that we wound up with Paco,” said Toffan, a former Canadian stockbroker who sold a large gold mine to a Toronto firm in 1989. “When Joe died, we had only one horse with him, On The Delaware, who was always good in the morning but never ran well. He’s making a great jumper for somebody now. Paco took him over after Joe died, and then when we started buying more horses, we sent them to Paco.”

Toffan and McCaffery now have more than 40 horses, and Gonzalez is their private trainer. They paid $93,000 for Mane Minister, a son of Deputy Minister, the American and Canadian 2-year-old champion in 1981.

Although this is Gonzalez’s first Derby starter, he doesn’t need a map to find his way around Kentucky or Churchill Downs.

In 1977 Gonzalez came to Keeneland, with Manzi and Cathy’s Reject, to run in the Blue Grass Stakes. “Run Dusty Run (who would finish second to Seattle Slew in the Derby) won the race,” Gonzalez said. “I knew we didn’t have a chance when it rained a whole lot and the track was a real mess.”

Cathy’s Reject finished sixth in the Blue Grass. In 1987, Gonzalez was with Masterful Advocate, the Manzi trainee who finished 12th in the Derby. Gonzalez also galloped Roving Boy, the champion 2-year-old of 1982 who was injured and didn’t make the Derby.

“Joe Manzi worked hard for a lot of years,” Gonzalez said. “I just wish he could have been around when these people (Toffan and McCaffery) had come along, because they are willing to spend a lot of money to get good horses.”

Sal Gonzalez, the trainer’s younger brother, was aboard Mane Minister Wednesday morning for a sparkling workout. The colt was clocked in three furlongs in 34 3/5 seconds, he went on out in 47 seconds for half a mile and he was pulled up in 1:01 3/5 for the extra eighth of a mile.

By contrast, two of the Derby favorites worked Wednesday. Fly So Free went half a mile in a sizzling 46 3/5 seconds, but Strike The Gold was timed in only 51 2/5.

“He’s never worked like this in his life,” Sal Gonzalez said of Mane Minster. “I could feel we were going fast, and I was trying to hold him and not choke him down. He was under a pull all the way, and my arms started to stiffen up trying to pull him up. He could have gone faster, but that’s not what we wanted.”

Alex Solis, who has the mount in the Derby, rode Mane Minister in his last two starts, a victory going a mile on an off track at Santa Anita and a fourth-place finish, behind Dinard, Best Pal and Sea Cadet, in the Santa Anita Derby. Four races before, Mane Minister won the Santa Catalina, giving Paco Gonzalez his first stakes winner.

Dinard, who beat Mane Minister by 4 1/2 lengths, will miss the Derby because of a ligament injury, but Best Pal and Sea Cadet are in the field.

Mane Minister battled with Sea Cadet for the lead in the Santa Anita Derby, contrary to his customary late-running style. “He’s not used to being on the lead,” Paco Gonzalez said. “But we drew the rail and there wasn’t much choice. I think we’ve got a good chance Saturday. We’ll need good luck, and he’ll have to run his best race. He’ll need to run the race of his life.”

After 18 years of fast tracks, the Derby has been run in the mud the last two years. The forecast for Saturday is for warm weather, with partly cloudly skies and the chance of thunderstorms.

“Rain would help our chances,” Gonzalez said.

Horse Racing Notes

Trainer Nick Zito minimized the slowness of Strike The Gold’s workout. “He went the last eighth (of a mile) in an open gallop,” Zito said. “This is the way we did it before he won the Blue Grass, and this is the way we’re doing it for the Derby. I liked what he did.” . . . Trainer Scotty Schulhofer minimized the quickness of Fly So Free’s workout. “It looks like they were all working fast,” Schulhofer said. “He came back good, and it doesn’t look like it took anything out of him, so I’m very happy with that.” Trainer David Cross put all workouts in perspective after his Quintana worked half a mile in 52 seconds. “Perfect, just what I wanted,” Cross said. “But of course, that’s what every trainer says after his horse works.”

Corporate Report galloped 1 1/2 miles and appears ready for the Derby, after suffering a bruised heel on Sunday. . . . The post-position draw for the Derby today is expected to involve 16 horses: Fly So Free, Strike The Gold, Hansel, Best Pal, Sea Cadet, Corporate Report, Mane Minister, Quintana, Lost Mountain, Another Review, Wilder Than Ever, Green Alligator, Happy Jazz Band, Alydavid, Forty Something and Paulrus. . . . Corey Black, the former California jockey who headed to New York after leading the recently completed Keeneland meeting, has been named to ride Alydavid. . . . Shane Sellers will ride Paulrus.

Lite Light is favored among 10 3-year-old fillies entered for Friday’s $250,000 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. Others in the field are the Brian Mayberry-trained entry of Ifyoucouldseemenow and Garden Gal, Nalees Pin, Private Treasure, Til Forbid, Sweet Sarita, Risen Colony, Polish Holiday and Withallprobability, who was undefeated until Lite Light beat her in the Fantasy at Oaklawn Park. . . . Itsallgreektome, last year’s champion male turf horse and winner of the Elkhorn at Keeneland in his last start, carries 123 pounds, the same weight as Defensive Play, in Friday’s $150,000 Early Times Turf Classic. Others in the 12-horse field are Pedro the Cool, Rushing Raj, Opening Verse, Cozzene’s Prince, Pirate Army, Shy Tom, First Rate, Lotus Pool, Star Trail and Vaguely Hidden. Shy Tom is next in the weights with 118 pounds. . . . Another stake on the Friday card is the $150,000 Louisville Budweiser Breeders’ Cup for fillies and mares. It has drawn Trumpet’s Blare, Lady D’Accord, Fit For A Queen, Overturned, Crowned, Topsa, Train Robbery and Flags Waving.