THOROUGHBRED RACING / BILL CHRISTINE : Dehere Must Contend With 14-Year Jinx

In the 1970s, a reliable way to win the Kentucky Derby was to be voted champion 2-year-old the year before. Riva Ridge, Secretariat, Foolish Pleasure, Seattle Slew, Affirmed and Spectacular Bid all followed up 2-year-old titles with Derby victories. Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed even went all the way, sweeping the Triple Crown.

Then came the 1980s, when the worst way to win the Derby was to be voted 2-year-old champion. Starting with Rockhill Native in 1980, 14 consecutive juvenile champions have failed to win the Derby. Only eight even made it to the race at Churchill Downs.

Naturally, this subject came up again last week, after Dehere edged out Brocco for the 1993 2-year-old Eclipse Award. Brocco’s owners and trainer were disappointed by the vote, because their horse had soundly beaten Dehere in their only head-to-head meeting, but if the Eclipse-Derby jinx holds for the 15th year in a row, not winning the title is a godsend.

Bob Brennan has been this way before. The owner-breeder of Dehere was counting on that colt’s sire, Deputy Minister, for the 1983 Derby. As the champion 2-year-old, Deputy Minister won eight of nine starts, seven of them stakes. He was North America’s champion juvenile and Canada’s horse of the year, but in February of 1983 he wrenched an ankle while training in Florida and didn’t win another stake until he was a 4-year-old.

“Just when we had gone through hypnosis to forget about what Dehere has to go through, you’ve reminded us again,” Brennan joked. “Seriously, I don’t know if there’s a jinx or a curse or whatever you want to call it. It just may be that horses can change dramatically from their 2-year-old to their 3-year-old years. The competition gets tougher. I know this year there’s a very talented group. There are a lot of tigers out there.”

After Spectacular Bid won both the 2-year-old title and the 1979 Derby, this is the way the 14-year Derby drought for 2-year-old champions has unfolded:

1980--Rockhill Native, the 2-1 favorite, ran fifth at Churchill Downs. He was trying to become the first gelding to win a Derby since 1929. (Genuine Risk, the Derby winner in 1980, was the first filly to win it in 65 years. She was undefeated in four starts as a 2-year-old).

1981--After winning the Florida Derby, Lord Avie had leg problems that kept him out of the Kentucky Derby and never won another stake. (Pleasant Colony, the Kentucky Derby winner, finished fifth, 13 lengths behind Lord Avie, in the Florida Derby).

1982--Deputy Minister missed all the Triple Crown races. (Gato Del Sol, the Derby winner, had won the Del Mar Futurity, but ran at Churchill Downs with only two victories in 12 starts).

1983--Roving Boy was the unluckiest of 2-year-old champions. Besides missing the Derby because of a fractured cannon bone, he returned to the races that fall, won a stake at Santa Anita and then didn’t survive emergency surgery after breaking down just past the finish line. (Derby winner Sunny’s Halo won five races in Canada as a 2-year-old, but was winless in six U.S. starts).

1984--Undefeated as a 2-year-old, Devil’s Bag was a disappointment in Florida, won the Derby Trail while lugging out through the stretch and was retired a few days later with a chipped knee. (His stablemate, Swale, also had a star-crossed career. He won the Derby and died of unknown causes about six weeks later, after winning the Belmont Stakes).

1985--Chief’s Crown was always close in the Triple Crown--third in the Derby and Belmont and second in the Preakness. (Spend A Buck, third in the first running of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, 1 1/2 lengths behind Chief’s Crown, couldn’t be caught in the Derby).

1986--Tasso, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, aggravated a hoof injury while running in the Wood Memorial and missed the Derby. (Ferdinand was two for nine, including only a maiden victory as a 2-year-old, when he won the Derby).

1987--Capote caught a virus after winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and was eased to the wire in the Derby. He was retired after going winless in six starts as a 3-year-old. (Alysheba, winner of one of 10 starts going into the Derby, had a breathing problem corrected by surgery about six weeks before the race).

1988--Running the best race of any of these 14 2-year-old champions, Forty Niner ran out of ground and lost by a neck to Winning Colors at Churchill Downs. (The Derby-winning filly ran only twice as a 2-year-old).

1989--Easy Goer won three preps as a 3-year-old by 24 3/4 lengths, but was 2 1/2 lengths short on Derby day. (Sunday Silence’s Derby prep was an 11-length win in the Santa Anita Derby, only his second stakes start).

1990--Rhythm missed the Derby because of throat surgery. (Unbridled won the Florida Derby, but was three for 10 before he ran at Churchill Downs).

1991--Fly So Free had won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the Florida Derby, but he was second to Strike The Gold in the Blue Grass and ran fifth against him in the Kentucky Derby. (Strike The Gold lost by 32 1/2 lengths in his first two starts before winning his only race as a 2-year-old).

1992--Arazi underwent surgery on both knees after his Breeders’ Cup Juvenile victory and returned from France to run eighth in the Derby. (Lil E. Tee had only one stakes victory before the Derby).

1993--A hoof injury prevented Gilded Time from running in the Derby. (Sea Hero, seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, had been five months without a victory until he won the Derby).

Horse Racing Notes

When Alex Solis begins a five-day suspension Saturday, it will mean that the four top jockeys in the Santa Anita standings will all be inactive because of riding infractions. Kent Desormeaux and Chris Antley began five-day suspensions Wednesday and Chris McCarron starts a five-day suspension today. Solis and Desormeaux are tied for the meet lead with 21 victories apiece, followed by McCarron and Antley, who each have 20. . . . Laffit Pincay will take McCarron’s place aboard Bien Bien in Saturday’s San Marcos Handicap, and on Sunday at Gulfstream Park, where McCarron had been scheduled to ride Dehere in the Hutcheson Stakes, Jerry Bailey is likely to get the assignment. . . Eual (Pinchy) Wyatt Sr., who was the leading trainer at Hollywood Park in 1938, the first year the track was open, died Tuesday at his home in Miami, Fla., after a long illness. Wyatt, 82, the father of Eual Wyatt Jr., Hollywood’s racing secretary, also trained in the Midwest and in Florida, retiring in the early 1980s.