Captain Bodgit Has Last Word by Taking Pulpit at the End

The alleged clone of Secretariat, the unbeaten Pulpit, ran like something much less Saturday at Gulfstream Park as Captain Bodgit won the Florida Derby by 2 1/2 lengths.

Pulpit had gone into the $500,000 race with three consecutive wins, but those came in closely spaced races. Perhaps his fourth start in eight weeks was too much to ask of a colt who had missed his 2-year-old season because of a stress fracture in his left foreleg.

On the other hand, Captain Bodgit had more seasoning as a 2-year-old than Pulpit has overall. Captain Bodgit raced six times last year, winning the Laurel Futurity and losing only in his debut. But this year, under new ownership, he had been third in both starts--including a two-length defeat to Pulpit here in the Fountain of Youth Stakes three weeks ago.

Consequently, Pulpit became the early favorite for the Kentucky Derby and was sent off at 2-5 Saturday. At 7-2, Captain Bodgit went into the Florida Derby a totally misunderstood horse.

For one thing, rumors of his bowed tendon were greatly exaggerated. For another, he’s a colt and not the gelding he was advertised to be at the post-position draw. Compounding the confusion, the sign painter at Gulfstream Park misspelled Captain Bodgit’s name on the boards that carried the names of the eight Florida Derby horses in front of the infield tote board.

Barry Irwin knows what he has. It was Irwin, Jeff Siegel and the Team Valor outfit in Pasadena that bought Captain Bodgit from Phyllis Susini for $500,000 early this year.

“His left front [leg] does look bad,” said Gary Capuano, who trained Captain Bodgit for Susini and was retained by Team Valor. “But it’s a cosmetic thing. It doesn’t bother him. There’s been no gap in his racing schedule.”

Still, Irwin thought that Captain Bodgit’s better races would be at longer distances than the 1 1/8-mile Florida Derby.

“I really didn’t think we’d win this race,” Irwin said. “My fantasy was actually winning the Kentucky Derby and getting on the covers of Life and Time magazines. I guess this proves that I can pick horses, but I don’t know anything.”

Ridden by Southern California-based Alex Solis, who rode Snow Chief to victory in the 1986 Florida Derby, Captain Bodgit registered a time of 1:50 3/5, a slow clocking over a fast track that had been dulled by heavy rain Friday. The winner paid $9.80, earning $300,000 to increase his purses to $469,749.

Frisk Me Now ran third, a neck behind Pulpit, and after them came Jack Flash, Wrightwood, Michelle’sallhands, Acceptable and Hurry The Dance.

Pulpit’s role as the favorite for the May 3 Kentucky Derby received a seismic jolt.

Irwin questions Pulpit’s ability to handle the 1 1/4-mile Derby distance. In what is expected to be the final Kentucky Derby prep for both horses, Pulpit will get another chance against Captain Bodgit in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 12.

One pre-race scenario for the Florida Derby was Pulpit and jockey Shane Sellers running off with an unchallenged lead, but instead he was fourth at the start, while Wrightwood, Frisk Me Now and Michelle’sallhands dictated a pace of :23 1/5, :47 3/5 and 1:12 for the first six furlongs.

Captain Bodgit, a mess in the gate, fell almost 20 lengths behind in the Fountain of Youth, but Saturday, as the last horse to be loaded, he broke alertly. He was in sixth place after a half-mile, nine lengths off the lead. Solis’ plan was to follow Pulpit.

“He was the horse to beat,” Solis said. “At the five-sixteenths [pole], my horse gave me a big kick. At the quarter pole, we almost ran over Pulpit.”

As Pulpit began to move on the leaders, Wrightwood and Frisk Me Now, nearing the top of the stretch, Captain Bodgit unleashed his rally from the outside. Frisk Me Now, who was 68-1, took the lead at the eighth pole, and Pulpit moved inside of him down the lane while Captain Bodgit and Solis stayed outside. Captain Bodgit passed Frisk Me Now in mid-stretch.

The Panamanian-born Solis, who moved to Southern California in 1985, rode his first U.S. races at Florida tracks and was the leading rider at Gulfstream in 1983 and 1984. He rode Captain Bodgit for the first time in the Fountain of Youth.

Sellers finished second with a heavy favorite for the third major race of the Gulfstream meet. He was also beaten twice here with Skip Away.

“Pulpit wasn’t the same horse as last time,” Sellers said. “When I asked him for a kick, it just wasn’t the same as he showed in his other races. I am still proud of him and I remain confident in his ability.”

Horse Racing Notes

In another race for 3-year-olds at Gulfstream, Confide won the seven-furlong Swale Stakes by 7 1/2 lengths, but he’s not considered a prospect for the Kentucky Derby. Trainer Ben Perkins Sr. said that he would continue to sprint Confide, probably in another seven-furlong race at Keeneland next month. . . . Country Rainbow finished second in the Swale, 1 1/4 lengths ahead of The Silver Move. . . . Louis Quatorze, running for the first time since his second-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, won the Creme Fraiche Handicap by 4 1/4 lengths over Strawberry Wine. . . . Open Forum, Smoke Glacken and Crypto Star are the favorites in today’s Louisiana Derby at the Fair Grounds.