Ordway’s Trouble in Florida Might Be Forgotten Today

Ordway is a horse who has been lost in the shuffle. And how quickly good horses wind up in the weeds. Only five months ago, he was the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Then he was voted the second-best 2-year-old colt in the country, behind Boston Harbor, the Eclipse award winner.

But Ordway ran only once during the winter in Florida, finishing last in the Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

Trainer David Donk, concluding that his horse needed a change of venue, shipped him back to Belmont Park, his home track, and the black hole of winter racing in New York sucked him up.

Ordway didn’t resurface until March 27, when his old late-running style almost resulted in a victory in the Gotham Mile at Aqueduct. Smokin Mel beat him by half a length on a day when other closers on the card didn’t have a prayer. Redemption may be just around the corner.

Pat Day, Ordway’s jockey, had an offer to ride the Louisiana Derby winner, Crypto Star, in today’s Arkansas Derby, so Robbie Davis has gotten the call from Donk for Ordway’s appearance in the $500,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.

This is all part of shakedown time for the Kentucky Derby on May 3. Besides the Wood and the Arkansas race, there is also today’s Blue Grass at Keeneland for other Derby contenders, including the prematurely anointed Pulpit.

Ordway, winner of last year’s Champagne at Belmont and third-place finisher after a tough trip in the Breeders’ Cup at Woodbine, has earned $466,700 and is the 2-1 second choice on the Wood’s morning line. Captain Bodgit, winner over Pulpit in the Florida Derby, is the 8-5 favorite, and Smokin Mel, whose stamina beyond a mile is suspect, is 8-1 going 1 1/8 miles. The 10-horse field also includes Accelerator, who is 5-1 and in a rut of four consecutive third-place finishes.

If the weather forecasters are better than many handicappers, the Wood may not be a true bill and might even be run without Captain Bodgit. It’s still winter here--the wind-chill reading the other day was 10 degrees--and today’s temperature probably won’t hit 50, with rain also on the way.

If the track turns to goo, Gary Capuano, who trains Captain Bodgit, said he will wait and run his colt next Saturday in the $150,000 Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico in Baltimore. Capuano is new to Derby doings, but he says he already has a horse that’s cranked.

“My horse could run in the Derby if it was tomorrow,” Capuano said Thursday.

Ordway needs to get more conditioning from the Wood than Captain Bodgit does. Donk’s colt has run only twice as a 3-year-old, and the 37-year-old trainer, a former assistant to Belmont Stakes legend Woody Stephens, has drawn a line through the Hutcheson.

“It was horrific,” Donk said. “He lost his tongue tie in the post parade, and his wind got shut off. I threw [the race] out. I brought him back to New York after that, not because of the heat in Florida, but because I thought the Gulfstream track was too demanding to train over. Horses that go from south to north frequently do well, and that’s what this horse did. He ran a good race [in the Gotham].

“He doesn’t have to win [today], he just has to run well [to go to the Derby]. I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t.”

If Ordway runs at Churchill Downs, he will be coupled in the betting with Pulpit, because Claiborne Farm owns Pulpit and bought a 25% interest in Ordway after the Breeders’ Cup. Ordway, a son of Salt Lake and Priceless Countess, a Vaguely Noble mare, was bought for $80,000 at a Keeneland auction by Philip DiLeo and William J. Punk Jr., Manhattan investors who grew up together in Brooklyn. They now race Ordway in partnership with Claiborne.

During his 5 1/2 years with Stephens, Donk was around good horses such as Forty Niner, second to Winning Colors in the 1988 Derby, and Creme Fraiche and Danzig Connection, the last of Stephens’ five consecutive Belmont winners in the 1980s.

“Working with Woody, you got a feel for what it was like to be in big races,” Donk said. “You got to appreciate the pressure of the moment. You were up close to a stable that was constantly preparing horses for big races. It gave me a real good idea of what the tension of game day is all about.”

In 1991, when Stephens was forced to reduce his stable because of ill health, Donk went out on his own. Some of Stephens’ best clients, owner-breeders such as Henryk de Kwiatkowski, who now owns Calumet Farm, and Jim Ryan, sent horses Donk’s way.

Donk goes into today’s Wood with the basic philosophy that Stephens instilled in him. “It’s like Woody said,” Donk said. “We’re in a game where you win a few and you lose a lot.”

Horse Racing Notes

Traitor is missing the Wood and is also out of the Kentucky Derby. The colt’s appetite is poor and he has lost weight. . . . Trainer Bobby Frankel will be trying to win the Wood with Activist, who has run only twice, a third-place finish at Santa Anita on March 9 and an 8 1/2-length victory at Aqueduct nine days ago. . . . Ordway drew the rail, and outside him in the gate are Accelerator, Droopy Stone, Activist, Jack At The Bank, Captain Bodgit, Smokin Mel, Twin Spires, Hoxie and Wild Tempest.

Today’s Arkansas Derby, which has drawn 11 horses, is a wide-open affair. Phantom On Tour, winner of the Rebel at Oaklawn Park on March 22, might go off as the modest favorite. Also running are Pacific Bounty, winner of two stakes in Northern California, and other California shippers, Deputy Commander and Brave Act. Crypto Star, Direct Hit, Stop Watch, Zede, River Squall, Star Of Halo, and Thatsusintheolbean complete the field.

At Keeneland, Pulpit’s six challengers are Jules, Acceptable, Wrightwood, Celtic Warrior, King Crimson and Stolen Gold. . . . Riley Griffiths, the trainer of King Crimson, got the kind of phone call someone with a three-horse stable doesn’t need. Embroidered, recently bred to Marquetry, ran into a fence at a Kentucky farm and was killed. The mare was the champion 2-year-old filly among California-breds in 1994.

The Daily Racing Form reports that Chris Antley will resume riding next week at Keeneland. Antley had been riding on the Southern California circuit, but hasn’t been in a race since Oct. 12.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Wood Memorial Where: Aqueduct. Distance: 1 1/8 miles. Purse: $500,000. TV: 4:30 p.m. (delayed), Ch. 7.

THE FIELD

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PP. Horse Jockey Odds 1. Ordway Davis 2-1 2. Accelerator Smith 5-1 3. Droopy Stone Alvarado 30-1 4. Activist Migliore 12-1 5. Jack At The Bank Pezua 30-1 6. Captain Bodgit Solis 8-5 7. Smokin Mel Luzzi 8-1 8. Twin Spires Barton 20-1 9. Hoxie Chavez 30-1 10. Wild Tempest Velazquez 8-1

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