Advertisement

Croll, 74, Choosy About His Chances : Kentucky Derby: Holy Bull’s trainer doesn’t seek the roses unless he believes he can win.

Share
TIMES STAFF WRITER

The avuncular, 74-year-old trainer of Holy Bull, the favorite for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, might be on this year’s Racing Hall of Fame ballot, but he is not a regular for the race that launches the Triple Crown.

Jimmy Croll trained horses for 33 years without having a Kentucky Derby starter. On the last day of March in 1973, that began to change.

Gulfstream Park ran the Florida Derby that day, and Croll saddled Royal And Regal for a three-length victory. In the next race, 30 minutes later, Croll sent out another 3-year-old, Mr. Prospector, who went six furlongs in 1:07 4/5--still the Gulfstream record.

Advertisement

Then Croll’s headaches began. His recollections of that first trip to the Derby sound more like Kafka than Camelot.

First, the owners of both horses wanted to run in Kentucky. Despite his Florida Derby victory, Croll wasn’t high on Royal And Regal as a Derby contender, and he definitely didn’t think Mr. Prospector should be shipped to Churchill Downs.

“We were going to ask Mr. Prospector to go from six furlongs to a mile and a quarter (the Derby distance),” Croll said. “That was ridiculous. This was a green horse. I all but got down on my knees to convince the owners that they shouldn’t go. I told them that we would embarrass the horse if we ran him in the Derby. But they told me that if I didn’t take him, some other trainer would. So I went along. I thought that maybe I could talk them out of it when we got to Louisville.”

In those days, the Derby Trial was run four days before the Derby, and Mr. Prospector finished second in the seven-furlong race. X-rays afterward showed he had suffered a cracked shin bone.

“He was good enough to win (the Trial) by 10 (lengths),” Croll said. “That was tough. I didn’t want him in the Derby, but I didn’t want him to miss it the way he did.”

That was the wrong year for any marginal 3-year-olds to be running in the Derby. The field was perhaps the deepest until this year. Sham, the Santa Anita Derby winner, finished 1 1/2 lengths behind Secretariat, the eventual Triple Crown champion and the yardstick ever since for comparing horses. Forego finished fourth in the Derby, then won three horse-of-the-year titles after Secretariat retired.

Advertisement

Croll’s Royal And Regal was eighth. Mr. Prospector came back to win stakes, but he is more renowned for being the best stallion since Northern Dancer. He has sired seven Eclipse Award winners, one North American horse of the year, Conquistador Cielo, and one Canadian national champion, Afleet.

Before this year, Croll had some good horses, but he made only one more trip to the Derby, finishing second with Bet Twice when Alysheba outran his colt in 1987. Bet Twice was a legitimate contender. That is what it takes to get Croll to Louisville in May.

Despite Holy Bull’s credentials--an undefeated record last year and a Florida Derby victory by almost six lengths this year--Croll said he wouldn’t have come 70 miles down the road from Keeneland if the gray colt had run poorly in the Blue Grass Stakes on April 16. Holy Bull won the Blue Grass, defeating Valiant Nature, one of the best West Coast 3-year-olds, by 3 1/2 lengths.

So, 21 years after that first, sour Derby experience, Croll is having fun at Churchill Downs. Some trainers of Derby favorites seldom appear in public without beads of perspiration lining their brows, but there is no pressure visible around Croll’s barn. One possible reason: The trainer of Holy Bull is also the owner, Croll having inherited the Derby horse and seven others after his client of 37 years, supermarket heiress Rachel Carpenter, died last year.

Croll doesn’t have to worry about some owner poking around the barn, asking how Holy Bull is doing every quarter-hour and submitting written riding instructions for their jockey on Derby eve.

Holy Bull arrived at Churchill Downs on Saturday and completed his important preparations Monday, working six furlongs in 1:14 3/5 with a closing quarter mile of 24 1/5 seconds.

Advertisement

“Yes, he was blowing afterward, and he got just a tad tired,” Croll said. “This is a cuppy track, and I was pleased with the work. We know he has speed, and the main thing is to keep him finishing strong. I think he’s all set to fire, and all we have to do is pull the trigger.

“A couple of days before a lot of the stakes races you run in, you wind up saying to yourself, ‘I wish we had done this, or I wish we had done that,’ ” Croll said. “But with my horse, it’s been different. I wouldn’t change one thing that we’ve done going into the Derby.”

Croll cited four California-based horses he perceives as Holy Bull’s chief challengers: Tabasco Cat, Valiant Nature, Brocco and Strodes Creek. Based on their running styles, Tabasco Cat should be closest to the front-running Holy Bull early; Valiant Nature and Brocco won’t be far behind and Strodes Creek will be making his move from farther back.

It’s unlikely many horses will try to match strides with Holy Bull early. Ulises, one colt that might challenge for the lead, was on the track in bright sunshine Monday, working out at the same time as Holy Bull. Ulises went five furlongs in 1:02 over a drying-out track that was hard hit by rain during the weekend.

Two other Derby probables worked six furlongs Monday, the same distance as Holy Bull. Valiant Nature was timed in 1:14 and Tabasco Cat in 1:15.

Holy Bull has won seven of eight starts, earning almost $1 million, and in all of his victories, from 5 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/8 miles, he has run out front. Croll has said repeatedly, however, that jockey Mike Smith can restrain Holy Bull if a horse tries to outrun them at the start.

Advertisement

That is an unlikely occurrence; no horse has beaten Holy Bull to the lead so far.

“Would your horse be in trouble if another horse made the lead?” Croll was asked.

“We’d be in no trouble,” he said. “The trouble would be for the horse on the lead.”

Horse Racing Notes

With his regular jockey, Gary Stevens, in from California to ride, Brocco worked five furlongs in an impressive 1:00 3/5 Monday. “It was an awesome move,” Stevens said. “This is by far the best workout of his career.” . . . Other five-furlong workouts produced times of 1:02 3/5 for Strodes Creek, 1:02 4/5 for Mahogany Hall and 1:02 for Ulises. . . . The pony that escorted Ulises to the track cut toward the rail and was in the path of Holy Bull for a few moments at the start of his workout. Holy Bull’s exercise rider, Bobby Perna, yelled at the other rider and the pony moved out of the way.

Owner Mike Rutherford, who put up a late fee of $6,000 to make Lakeway eligible for the Triple Crown races, will make the decision, but on Monday trainer Gary Jones gave several reasons why the filly shouldn’t run in the Derby, and no reasons why she should. Lakeway is expected to be a heavy favorite Friday in the Kentucky Oaks for 3-year-old fillies. Entries for the Oaks will be drawn Wednesday and the Derby draw is Thursday, so theoretically Lakeway could be entered in both races. It costs $10,000 merely to enter the Derby. Also, if Lakeway ran in the Derby, she would need a jockey, because Kent Desormeaux is committed to riding Soul Of The Matter.

Mike Battaglia, the Churchill Downs linemaker, has made Holy Bull the early 8-5 Derby favorite, with Brocco next at 3-1. Other probable morning-line odds: Tabasco Cat, 6-1; Southern Rhythm and Strodes Creek, both 8-1; Valiant Nature, 12-1; Powis Castle, Blumin Affair and Soul Of The Matter, all 15-1; and Go For Gin, Kandaly, Mahogany Hall, Meadow Flight, Smilin Singin Sam and Ulises, 20-1.

Advertisement